Karnataka CM wants Congress leaders to clarify if they are in favour of terrorists

KPCC president D.K. Shivakumar hits back saying he never defended terrorism

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai asked the Congress to clarify if the party is in favour of terrorists, or patriots who are working against them, and accused the Congress of following ‘appeasement politics’ at the time of elections.

This came a day after KPCC president D.K. Shivakumar accused the BJP government of using the Mangaluru cooker bomb blast to divert attention away from its failures. On December 16, Mr. Shivakumar clarified that there is no question of defending terrorists, and that his statement is being misconstrued.

“Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjuna M. Kharge should clarify if they are in favour of terrorists or patriots,” the Chief Minister told mediapersons in Bengaluru on the sidelines of Vijay Diwas celebrations. “Questioning the arrest of terrorists and the line of investigation will work as morale booster to terror organisations. It is proved that the person was carrying all bomb-related items in a cooker with an intention to carry out a blast in Mangaralu. He had tried to mask his identity, and it is clear that he had links both within and outside the country,” the Chief Minister said.

Mr. Bommai said, it does not augur well for a person of the stature of KPCC president to state that the incident was used as a diversionary tactic. “It is the habit of the Congress to see terror activities as a non-serious issue. It had criticised the hanging of a terrorist. It is the old tactic of Congress that has an eye on votes of minorities.”

On December 16, clarifying that he had not justified the Mangaluru cooker blast, KPCC president D.K. Shivakumar said, “Our leaders were victims of terrorism. We are committed to the unity, integrity and harmony of the country, and I do not tolerate terrorism.

“The BJP uses such incidents to mask its failure and diverts the attention of voters. I only said that the BJP used the incident to divert attention from corruption and voters’ data theft issue. I did not ask thegGovernment not to investigate the blast. I also said that the BJP used the incident to divert the attention from the dissidence in the BJP by (former Chief Minister) B.S. Yediyurappa.”