"Cooker blast in Mangaluru is BJP�s diversionary tactic": DK Shivakumar

"Cooker blast in Mangaluru is BJP�s diversionary tactic": DK Shivakumar

mangaloretoday.com

Mangaluru, Dec 16, 2022: Karnataka Congress chief D K Shivakumar has courted controversy over his remark that the pressure cooker blast in an autorickshaw in the city of Mangaluru which injured a terror suspect on November 19 was an attempt by the BJP to divert attention from a voter data theft scam.

 

The Congress leader in a media interaction on Thursday alleged that the low-intensity blast caused by an improvised explosive device (IED) was prematurely termed an act of terrorism by the state police on November 19 and that it was part of an attempt by the BJP to divert attention from a voter data theft scam allegation made by the Congress party on November 17.

“The cooker blast was an attempt to divert attention from the vote-gate issue. They think people are fools. They are provoking the sentiments of people for electoral gains,” Shivakumar said.

On November 19 an accidental blast occurred in an autorickshaw in the city of Mangaluru when a suspect, Mohammed Shariq, 23, who is accused in two separate cases of unlawful activities was carrying a pressure cooker IED in a bag in the vehicle. The blast caused 40 percent burns to the terror suspect.

The blast occurred two days after the Congress party raised the issue of the alleged theft of voter data in Bengaluru by a private firm Chilume Trust that was awarded a voter awareness programme contract by the civic body, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).

Soon after the blast, Karnataka director general of police chief Praveen Sood termed the incident of the accidental blast in the autorickshaw an “act of terrorism” on social media even as there were unanswered questions on the intent of the injured suspect in the blast.

“Is it an act of terror like in Mumbai, Delhi, or Kashmir? By showing the blast in a big light the BJP wants to win votes. The BJP has no big achievements to show to voters,” the Karnataka Congress chief told reporters at the Press Club of Bengaluru.

Meanwhile, the BJP lashed out at the Congress leader and said his remarks were evidence of the anti-national position taken by the Congress party to win minority votes in the 2023 Karnataka assembly polls.

“In his fear of the BJP, Congress president D K Shivakumar has revealed his love for terrorists,” state BJP chief Nalin Kumar Kateel said in an official statement on Friday.

Reacting to Shivakumar’s statements, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said that the statement of the Karnataka Congress president that the blast is a cover-up or an attention diversion exercise did not show him in a good light. He criticised the Congress party for its “policy to support terrorism and go soft on terrorist incidents” keeping the minority votes in mind.

“The cooker bomb issue is very clear; when a person puts all ingredients needed for a bomb in a cooker and there is an explosion then it is apparent that there is an attempt to cause a blast. The suspect has changed his identity several times and he has multiple cases against him. He is a person known to have terror links. He has links outside the country as well,” CM Bommai said.

The chief minister asked the Congress party to make it clear whether it is in favour of terrorists or those patriots who fight for the country. “This kind of attitude diminishes the morale of the country and the police force. Such an attitude should not be shown by patriots,” he said.

The Karnataka CM said that the voter data theft case in Bengaluru which Shivakumar alluded to involves a firm that was given a footing in electoral work by the Congress party in 2017.

“First of all, the voter data theft case involves an organisation that was first given permission to do work with the BBMP by the Congress party. Secondly, it is the Congress party that indulges in the creation of illegal votes. All the constituencies where illegalities have occurred are well known. The Election Commission of India now has the technology to look at pictures and verify if there are double votes,” Bommai claimed.