Bengaluru: Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Sunday hit out at former BJP MP Pratap Simha for moving the High Court against the state government’s invitation to writer Banu Mushtaq to inaugurate the Dasara festival, calling it an effort to remain politically relevant.
Dasara celebration will begin in Mysuru from September 22 and culminate on ‘Vijayadashami’, which falls on October 2.
Mysuru district administration on Wednesday formally invited Mushtaq despite objections from some sections, including the opposition BJP.
Speaking to reporters here, Shivakumar said, “Pratap Simha has been ignored by his own party. He needs to be relevant in politics and hence he is doing such things. The court will hear the case and take a decision.”
Mushtaq, a prominent Kannada writer, is the author of ‘Edeya Hanate’. Its English translation ‘Heart Lamp’, translated by Deepa Bhasthi, won the Booker Prize.
Simha, a former MP from Mysuru, on Saturday accused the Congress government of making a “unilateral decision” without consulting key stakeholders, including the erstwhile Mysuru royal family.
He had requested the High Court to issue directions to withdraw the invitation extended to Mushtaq, citing public outrage and the potential to disrupt communal harmony.
Criticising the BJP, Shivakumar said: “They don’t have anything else to do politics. If they are so concerned about the state, let them go to Delhi and bring funds for many irrigation projects and Bengaluru development. They can also get approvals for the Mekedatu, Mahadayi and Upper Krishna projects.”
Referring to the Dharmasthala issue, he alleged that the BJP was misusing the matter to cover up its own infighting.
“We brought out the truth in the Dharmasthala case. The BJP is making it a scapegoat to hide its internal feud. It is the BJP which is conspiring against Dharmasthala. The masked man is a BJP worker. If Dharmasthala has been insulted, it is by the BJP and its leaders,” he said.
A controversy erupted after a complainant, later identified as C N Chinnaiah and arrested on charges of perjury, claimed burying a number of bodies, including those of women with signs of sexual assault, in Dharmasthala over a period of time.
On criticism of the government’s decision to use ballot papers in local body elections, Shivakumar countered, “In a couple of days, I will place before you a law which the BJP introduced. The law introduced by the BJP itself states that either the EVMs or ballot papers can be used for elections. What is wrong in following the law?”
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