Date:22/04/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/04/22/stories/2006042200280500.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Congress complains to Chaturvedi against State Government

Special Correspondent

The memorandum by the party highlights major law and order related incidents

Bangalore: The Congress leadership on Friday complained to Governor T.N. Chaturvedi over the alleged failure of the Janata Dal (S)-Bharatiya Janata Party Government in the maintenance of law and order and urged him to draw the Centre's attention to the matter for action under the Constitution.

A five-page memorandum, signed by KPCC president M. Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly N. Dharam Singh and Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council H.K. Patil, was submitted to the Governor.

The memorandum highlights three major law and order related incidents capping with the two-day violence following the death of film actor Rajkumar. It said the three events clearly exposed the total inability of an "inexperienced Government."

The sight of Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy being jostled around by the crowd and finally advised by the police to return without participating in the funeral of Rajkumar and the unseemly spectacle of the Deputy Chief Minister's car being stoned while on his way to the funeral venue had created a record of sorts in the history of the State, it said.

Thanks to the electronic media, the whole nation was a witness to the unbridled violence and the failure of the Government in maintaining law and order.

The memorandum said within a short span the Government had been in office "we have already witnessed its failure, perhaps deliberate on some occasions to prevent the mayhem. The communal flare-up at Bhatkal in Uttara Kannada district recently is another incident. There is a long history of communal conflict at Bhatkal". The Government's unwillingness to take action to stop the mineral loot in Bellary was another.

The Congress said the BJP-JD (S) Government had pursued a narrow political agenda targeting it in particular and specifically some of its leading functionaries while disguising its own mismanagement and inefficiency arising out of inexperience. The inexplicable delay on the part of the Government in finalising with the Rajkumar family on various matters pertaining to the funeral was shocking.