A file photo of Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai
Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai asked the Congress to clarify whether the party was on the side of terrorists, or patriots who are working against them, and accused the Congress of playing ‘appeasement politics’ at the time of elections.
This came a day after the KPCC president DK Shivakumar accuses BJP government of using Mangaluru cooker bomb blast to divert attention from its failures, On 16 December, Mr. Shivakumar clarified that there was no question of defending terrorists, and that his statement was being misinterpreted.
CM wants Sonia Gandhi to clarify stand on terrorists
“Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun M. Kharge should clarify whether they are on the side of terrorists or patriots,” the chief minister told media persons in Bengaluru on the sidelines of the Victory Day celebrations. “Questioning the line of arrest and investigation of terrorists will only serve to boost the morale of terrorist organizations. It has been proved that he was carrying all the bomb related material in a cooker with the intention of detonating it in Manglalu. He had tried to hide his identity, and it is clear that he had links both within and outside the country,” the chief minister said.
Mr. Bommai said, it is not good for a person of the stature of the KPCC president to say that The incident was used as a distraction tactic, He said, ‘It is the habit of the Congress to treat terrorist activities as a non-serious issue. It criticized the hanging of a terrorist. This is an old trick of the Congress which keeps an eye on the votes of the minorities.
Committed to Unity: DKS
On 16 December, clarifying that he did not justify the Mangaluru cooker blast, KPCC president DK Shivakumar said, “Our leaders were victims of terrorism. We are committed to the unity, integrity and harmony of the country and I do not tolerate terrorism.
“BJP uses such incidents to hide its failure and divert the attention of voters. All I said was that the BJP used this incident to divert attention from the issue of corruption and data theft of voters. I did not ask the government not to investigate the blast. I also said that the BJP used this incident by (former chief minister) BS Yeddyurappa to divert attention from the discontent in the BJP.