Some in Congress govt. involved in conspiracy against Dharmasthala, alleges Joshi

Alleging that some in the Congress government in the State were involved in conspiracy behind the Dharmasthala episode Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Pralhad Joshi has sought to know why none except the ‘masked man’ had been arrested in the case.

Addressing a press conference in Hubballi on Saturday, Mr. Joshi said that already the masked man had revealed the names of some including the one who had given him the skull and from whose house it was brought and other details. However, none named by the masked man had been arrested so far, he said.

The Union Minister said that the State government had erred from the beginning by constituting SIT in a haste. “Any exhumation has to be carried with the permission of the magistrate. But they went on digging without having any solid proof and allowed misinformation campaign to continue unabated. The names of Vittal Gowda, Girish Mattennavar, Thimarodi, and Sameer have cropped up during investigation and none of them have been arrested so far. If SIT arrests them and investigates further, in all probability the names of some in the Congress government will crop up. So the government is trying to cover up the whole issue. It may not be surprising if the masked man is declared mentally unstable and the investigation is wound up,” he said.

Mr. Joshi also alleged that there was involvement of people from other States along with those from within the government and that’s why all efforts were being made to cover up the issue.

On allegation that the Dharmasthala episode was the outcome of internal differences between few leaders in BJP and Sangh Parivar, he said that there was no such thing. The Union Minister also declined to comment on the ‘silence’ of RSS leader Kalladka Prabhakar Bhat on the Dharmasthala issue.

On the demand for handing over the case to NIA, Mr. Joshi said that any instance of involvement of terror outfits would require investigation by NIA. “I have previously demanded a court monitored inquiry into the whole issue and I reiterate the same,” he said.

On allegations of ‘unemployed’ BJP leaders were involved in instigating communal violence, Mr. Joshi said that the appeasement politics by Congress was the reason for incidents of communal violence. “Minister N. Chaluvarayaswamy himself had mentioned about of conspiracy by outsiders in the Maddur incident. Do they mean to say that Mr. Chaluvarayaswamy is unemployed?” he asked adding that it was Muslim appeasement to the extreme which was the reason for communal violence.

On banning DJ sound systems during Ganesh Chaturthi festival, Mr. Joshi said that this time many of the Ganesh mandals followed the order despite initial objection. “The State government which implements Supreme Court’s direction strictly during Hindu festivals, is however silent on the early morning ‘azan’ on loudspeakers. Do they have separate rules for Hindus and Muslims?” he asked.

On prefixing Hindu caste names before ‘christian’ in the forthcoming caste census, Mr. Joshi said that government should also mention about the hundreds of castes among the Muslims before beginning the socio-economic and educational survey. MLA Mahesh Tenginakai, Mayor Jyoti Patil were present.