Sringeri MLA T.D. Raje Gowda has alleged that former Minister D.N. Jeevaraj was involved in the recent incident of placing a banner, taken from a mosque, on Adi Sankarachaya’s statue in Sringeri. “The BJP leader intended to disturb communal harmony and peace for gaining political mileage ahead of gram panchayat elections,” he said.
Speaking to presspersons in Sringeri on Tuesday, Mr. Raje Gowda, a Congress MLA, said for the last two-and-half-a-years, Mr. Jeevaraj had engaged in “activities of disturbing peace.” “If the latest incident had triggered violence, many innocents would have suffered. I am deeply hurt by these developments. If he (Mr. Jeevaraj) makes it clear that I was his target, I would decide to quit active politics after consulting my supporters, in the interest of peace and harmony in the constituency”, he said. He also appealed to the former Minister “not to repeat such incidents.”
Mr. Raje Gowda said soon after he learnt about the statue incident, he collected information from the police and told them that whoever was involved in the incident should be caught and punished, irrespective of caste, religion or party affiliation. “The BJP leaders accused me of the incident even as the police investigation was on and made baseless charges against me”, he remarked.
Congress leader Sudhir Kumar Murolli said that the police should investigate who instigated Milind, the accused, to remove the banner from the mosque and place it on Adi Sankaracharya’s statue. “The SP says the accused took the banner to use it as a blanket, but later placed it on the statue. This cannot be accepted. The police should investigate the incident and catch hold of all those behind this act”, he said.
AICC secretary B.M. Sandeep, Congress leaders Nataraj and others were present in the press conference.
