Pro-Pak slogan case, 7 interrogated & statements recorded: K’taka CM

BENGALURU: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said in the Assembly on Thursday that the police have interrogated seven people and recorded their statements in connection with the case of raising of pro-Pakistan slogans in the Vidhana Soudha premises.

Reacting to the BJP legislators, who staged a protest in the well of the House at the beginning of the Assembly session, CM Siddaramaiah said, “We have taken the matter seriously. We are in no way inferior to BJP when it comes to patriotism. The action is being taken as per the law.”

“The investigation is ongoing. We have taken a suo moto case. If a report from the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) proves the charges, whoever it may be, the action will be taken,” he explained.

Dr. G. Parameshwara, the Home Minister said the FSL report was sought as the media was giving different versions. “The government is not supporting anyone and we will not protect anybody,” he stated.

Leader of Opposition R. Ashoka ridiculed the statements of CM and Home Minister by saying, “After inviting them and recording the statements, the police should have also given them ‘biryani’ and then sent them off.”

“The government should have booted them into the prison. Instead of lodging sedition charges against the accused, the government has lodged petty IPC sections against them,” he said.

The BJP MLAs raised ‘Congress down’, ‘Congress guarantee’, ‘Desh drohi guarantee’, ‘Har har Modi’ slogans in the well of the House.

Ashoka further said, “No action has been taken in the Pakistan Zindabad sloganeering case. The government should have passed a message to the Pak sympathisers and anti-nationals. The Rajya Sabha elected member Syed Naseer Hussain should be arrested. Do we have to sit quietly even as the state legislature turns out to be a hub of terrorism?”

“There is no seriousness at all regarding the development from the government. The Congress is still in the denial mode that such an incident had occurred.”

As CM Siddaramaiah started making a statement on the budget amid the chaos in the House, the BJP leaders staged a walkout.

BJP MLA Arvind Bellad said that they believe that the FSL report in this regard will be fabricated. Munirathna, BJP MLA said that “people were telling him that those who were behind the 2008 serial blasts in Bengaluru were also behind the ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ sloganeering case. Even as Home Minister Parameshwara has all the information, no action is being taken.”