Social Welfare Minister B. Sriramulu defended some Ministers who went to court seeking injunction against defamatory content against them, saying that some political forces were trying to target them to tarnish them.
“Some political forces are indulged in character assassination of Ramesh Jarkiholi and other Ministers, only because they defected from the Congress to the BJP,” the Minister said in Hubballi on Sunday. “Those Ministers have gone to court now as they have got a hint that they could be targets of such propaganda too. That explains why they have sought injunctions,” he said.
“Such incidents bring pain and embarrassment when we realise that there is such propaganda against those who brought our party to power by sacrificing their positions. But we hope that they will get justice in inquiries and the court,” he said.
He suspected that such political forces were likely to make allegations against leaders who left the Congress to join the BJP. “We all know that the allegations against the leaders are baseless. But if they were allowed to be broadcast, then the leaders will suffer great insults. That is why they have gone to court,” he said.
To a question, he said the six Ministers who had sought injunction were not afraid of the broadcast of CDs in which they could be featured, but for other reasons that could bring them insults. “No one has a right to indulge in the character assassination of others, including of politicians,” he said.
He said he could not predict who else would be targeted as he was no astrologer. He said he would not comment about Mr. Ramesh Jarkiholi as the matter was being investigated.
“Questions as to why such issues crop up during B.S. Yediyurappa’s tnure as CM are irrelevant. We should instead focus on managing such issues,” he added.
