Ballari: Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar in Wednesday said that the Congress party’s fact-finding committee report had found out that removal of the Valmiki banner had triggered the Ballari violence.
Addressing a press conference, the DCM said, “The decision of the local leaders to erect a statue of Maharshi Valmiki was right. The people of the district had welcomed the statue into Ballari with celebrations from December 24 to 29. A banner was installed on January 1 about the Valmiki statue. If Janardhan Reddy or Sriramulu had any objections to Valmiki or the community, they should have approached the Corporation Commissioner, police department or the MLAs about the banners. Instead, they have forcibly removed it themselves. Our party workers went to install the removed banner which is when the violence has happened. The banner was torn under the leadership of Janardhan Reddy and Sriramulu.”
“I have not come here to issue any derogatory statement against anyone. The police have acted strong and the law will take its course. The police have arrested all concerned in this case. The issue of private security of leaders is also being discussed,” he added.
Z-Category Security Only Issued By Centre
Police protection has been given to MLAs and MPs. Janardhan Reddy has got five police personnel for security. Two personnel in Ballari, one in Koppal, one for his wife, one for Somashekar and two personnel for Sriramulu have been deployed. Janardhan Reddy has said that there was a conspiracy to kill him, but he has not given any complaint regarding this. His gunmen can also file a complaint. He has demanded Z category security and I did not know who issues this category of security. I learnt that the Centre issues it. Let him take it, I don’t have any objections,” he said.
Don’t tarnish the image of Ballari
“Ballari has a glorious history, don’t tarnish its image. We have already advised our party leaders and workers. BJP leaders are big people and I will leave it to them. The district had suffered a lot for several decades and it had affected the economy of the district. It had recovered over the last ten years,” he recalled.
“Inauguration of the Valmiki statue was given to Urban Development department. Leaders from all parties attended the event to welcome the statue sculpted by Arun Yogiraj of Mysuru. But Sriramulu had refused the invitation for the programme. It is left to him,” he explained.
Who said two postmortems had taken place?
“Kumaraswamy has alleged that there were two post mortems, I don’t know who gave him that information. I have spoken to the medical officer and there was only one application for the post mortem. I don’t know why Kumaraswamy is issuing false statements. Kumaraswamy and BJP leaders of Ballari are embracing each other now, but we know their relationship in the past,” he said.
“We have informed all our party workers not to be provoked. Our MLA is young and hot blooded and he went to check with his party workers, but he has not misbehaved anywhere,” he added.
Our party is with the deceased worker
Speaking to reporters after visiting the family of deceased Congress party worker Rajashekar Reddy, the DCM said, “The party is with his family and we stand by them at this hour of distress.”
