BJP supporters attack Congress leaders’ house in Bellary, set fire to cars

In the first instance of serious pre-poll violence in Karnataka, the house of a former BJP MLA, who joined the Congress recently, was attacked by a mob of BJP supporters in Bellary on Friday evening.

About 30 to 40 persons shouting pro-BJP slogans hurled stones at the residence of Anil Lad, a prospective Congress candidate from Bellary assembly constituency, damaging the windowpanes before torching three cars parked outside the house.

The attack on Anil Lad’s residence comes barely three days after he quit the BJP and joined the Congress party. In his complaint to the police, Anil Lad, a leading mining contractor in iron ore-rich Bellary, has blamed former Minister B Sriramulu, a BJP leader from Bellary, for engineering the attack on his house.

Lad told reporters that Sriramulu, who was the Tourism Minister in the JD (S)-BJP coalition, came to the house on Friday evening minutes before the attack. “Though I went outside to receive him, Sriramulu began threatening me without any provocation. He asked me to leave Bellary or face the consequences. But, within minutes after his departure, a group of people, shouting pro-BJP slogans, attacked my house and set fire to three cars parked in front of my house”, Lad said.

Based on Lad’s complaint, the Cowl Bazar police station in Bellary has registered a case against Sriramulu and 40 others on charges of threatening and arson. By Saturday afternoon, the police had rounded up 20 persons in the connection.

But, Congress leaders are demanding the immediate arrest of Sriramulu, who is roaming freely after the attack.

Meanwhile, Sriramulu has denied his role in the attack and accused Lad of leveling false allegations against him to gain publicity. “I never threatened him. For the sake of publicity, he may himself torched his cars and is putting the blame on me”, Sriramulu said.