Soon after a Bengaluru court issued an arrest warrant against former Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa in a Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act case registered against him, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) accused the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah-led Congress government of doing “politics of vendetta”.
Addressing the media in Bengaluru, former BJP national General Secretary CT Ravi said the Siddaramaiah government is pursuing the case after four months in retaliation for dragging Rahul Gandhi to court in a defamation case.
The case was registered against Yeddyurappa on March 14. The 81-year-old Yediyurappa has denied the charge and said he would fight the case legally.
“Is this not politics of hatred? CM Siddaramaiah claimed he wouldn’t pursue the politics of hatred, but now he is doing just that. The people of the state will question this. The people are asking why the government was inactive for four months after the POCSO case was lodged against Yediyurappa. Home Minister G. Parameshwara had even stated that there was no substance in the case,” Ravi said.
The BJP leader also claimed that it is an open secret that since Rahul Gandhi was dragged to court in Bengaluru, the Congress wants the BJP to be dragged to court as well.
“We will honour the court order in Yediyurappa’s case. But this is a political conspiracy. The alleged incident took place on February 2, and the case was lodged in March. Yediyurappa had gone to the police station to record his statement. But the police told him that it was not necessary, and later recorded his statement at his residence,” Ravi said.
Commenting on the matter, N. Ravikumar, BJP MLC and the party chief whip in the Legislative Council, said that there is no substance or truth in the case.
“Home Minister Parameshwara had said that the complainant is mentally challenged and has lodged more than 60 cases against IAS/IPS officers, and politicians. The government itself had said that this case was not important. Despite Yediyurappa conveying to the police that he was ready to give a statement, the police asked him not to come to the police station and later collected his voice sample in April,” he said, adding that the entire matter is a conspiracy hatched by the Congress in retaliation to Rahul Gandhi being dragged to court in a defamation case.