The DMK sought action against Karandlaje for alleging that a person from TN was responsible for the blast at a cafe in Bengaluru on 1 March.
Shobha Karandlaje. (X)
The Election Commission (EC) on Wednesday, 20 March, directed the Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) to take immediate and appropriate action on the DMK’s complaint about the alleged Model Code of Conduct (MCC) violation by Union minister and BJP leader Shobha Karandlaje.
The poll panel also sought a compliance report on the matter within 48 hours.
The DMK sought action against Karandlaje for alleging that a person from Tamil Nadu was responsible for the IED blast at the Rameshwaram Cafe in Bengaluru on 1 March.
In a letter sent to the CEO, DMK organisation secretary RS Bharati said that Karandlaje’s statement violated the MCC.
Underlining that the EC has the power to enforce the MCC and ban candidates from campaigning for violating the same, the DMK sought appropriate action against Karandlaje.
The DMK said that the minister’s statement generalised the people of Tamil Nadu as “extremists”.
During a protest in Bengaluru on Tuesday, she had said that “law and order in Karnataka has deteriorated. People who come from Tamil Nadu plant bombs here, people from Delhi chant ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ slogans and people who come from Kerala were involved in acid attacks.”
She later apologised for her remarks and said she was retracting her comments.
Earlier in the day, the Madurai police booked her for “promoting enmity” between different groups followed by a complaint by one Thiagarajan.
Her remarks had drawn sharp criticism from Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin and other DMK leaders.
The DMK said that she made baseless allegations despite the NIA, which is probing the case, not identifying the culprits behind the blast.
“It generalises the people of Tamil Nadu as extremists, and seeks to create hostility and enmity between two communities, i.e., the Tamilians and the Kannadigas. The allegations made in the statement are of a grave nature, and have the potential to engender violence against the Tamil community,” said Bharati in the letter.
“The utterances of the minister, instilling hatred in the Kannada community towards members of the Tamil community, and are in blatant violation of the MCC,” he added.
He said that the statement of the Union minister was intended to create an environment of hatred and enmity between the people of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
(With PTI inputs)
(Edited by Muhammed Fazil)
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