Karnataka coalition comes under strain after BJP chief is arrested

The arrest of hundreds of Sangh Parivar activists including BJP’s Karnataka unit President D V Sadananda Gowda and two party legislators when they tried to take out a procession from Chickmagalur to the disputed shrine in Bababudangiri on Tuesday evening has brought the JD (S)-BJP coalition Government in Karnataka under a strain.

Though the police released the arrested BJP leaders and activists later in the night on Tuesday, the party’s office bearers as well as a couple of Ministers are apparently finding it difficult to stomach the arrest of the chief of the party, which is a partner in the ruling coalition.

Apart from coming down heavily on the Chickmagalur district administration for “depriving them of their religious freedom for the sake of appeasing minorities”, the BJP leaders have urged Chief Minister H D Kumarawamy to immediately convene the Co-ordination committee meeting of the two parties to sort out the issue.

Karnataka’s Minister for Water Resources K S Eshwarappa, who belongs to the BJP, convened a press conference yesterday to seek a Co-ordination committee meeting. If the Chief Minister does not respond to the party’s demand for a Co-ordination committee meeting, the party will hold its BJP Legislature Party meeting and decide its future course of action, Eshwarappa threatened.

BJP spokesperson Suresh Kumar issued a press statement in Bangalore criticizing the State Government for arresting Sadananda Gowda and legislators C T Ravi and Shobha Karandlaje. He threatened an agitation against its own Government. “The Government will have to face an agitation over the issue”, he added in the press statement.

A livid Eshwarappa too wondered how the police can arrest the chief of a party, which is a partner in the ruling coalition. “Who ordered the police to arrest the President of our party ? Did the orders come from the Home Minister? All these matters have to be clarified at the Co-ordination Committee meeting”, he said.

It may be mentioned here that more than 700 Sangh Parivar activists including the BJP’s Karnataka unit chief and two legislators were arrested by the police on Tuesday evening whey tried to take out a the Shobha Yatra, which is now been renamed as Sankeerthana Yatra, in defiance of prohibitory orders imposed in Chickmagalur.

The district administration had denied the Sangh Parivar outfits permission to take out the procession in view of the threat to communal harmony. Prohibitory orders had been imposed and congregation of people or taking processions was banned in a radius of 5 kms from Chickmagalur from Monday to Wednesday.

But, the Sangh Parivar activists gathered at Kamadhenu Ganapathy Temple in Chickmagalur and began taking part in a procession by following a vehicle carrying the idol of Datta. Barely had they traveled 100 metres, the police stopped them, leading to high drama and war of words.
When the activists remained adamant on completing the procession despite the prohibitory orders, the police arrested them