Siddaramaiah Assures Legal Action Against BJP Leader For "Shoot Traitors" Remark

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday said legal action will be taken against senior BJP leader and former minister KS Eshwarappa for his statement demanding a law to shoot 'traitors DK Suresh and Vinay Kulkarni'.

The Chief Minister wondered whether this was the language of a leader belonging to a national party.

During an event in Davangere on Thursday, Mr Eshwarappa said, "I want to appeal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to bring a law to shoot the two traitors - DK Suresh and Vinay Kulkarni, who want South India to be a separate country." He even dared Congress to expel the ‘two traitors' from the party ‘to keep the flocks together somehow'.

Suresh is a Lok Sabha member from Bengaluru Rural constitutency and Vinay Kulkarni is Dharward MLA.

Reacting to the statement, Siddaramaiah told reporters that Mr Eshwarappa does not know any language other than ripping, beating and killing.

"We will take legal action against him (Eshwarappa). He says he is trained in the RSS. Is this his training? He says shoot down DK Suresh. Is this the language of a leader belonging to a national party? Should we call them seasoned politicians?” the Chief Minister said.

Suresh, the brother of Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, has stoked a row with his recent statement that southern states would be forced to demand for a separate nation if the ‘injustice' in distribution of funds is not rectified by the Centre.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)