K'taka Police not Siddaramaiah's 'private militia', he must be 'castigated' for overstepping: Amit Malviya

Bengaluru, April 28 (IANS) In-Charge of BJP’s National Information and Technology Department, Amit Malviya, on Monday slammed Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah for trying to “slap” a police officer during a Congress rally, saying that the state police is not the CM’s “private militia”.

“The Karnataka Police is a professional force, not Siddaramaiah’s private militia. How dare he raise his hand to slap a cop in uniform? He should be castigated for overstepping his authority as Chief Minister and should apologise to the officer on duty. Shameful,” Malviya wrote on X.

Earlier, Siddaramaiah lost his cool and raised his hand in front of party workers against the Additional SP, following the disruption of his speech at the Congress convention in Belagavi by the BJP women workers over his alleged remarks, ‘no need for war with Pakistan’.

Karnataka BJP state chief B.Y. Vijayendra has termed Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's reaction to the development as “goonda-like behaviour”.

BJP state spokesperson Ashwathnarayan also criticised Chief Minister Siddaramaiah for attempting to assault the Additional SP at a public meeting in Belagavi, calling it an “unfortunate incident”.

He alleged that a situation has arisen where “goons” are “harassing” and attacking police officers, and such incidents will continue.

He accused the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah of setting a precedent for such events by attempting to publicly assault the Additional Superintendent of Police.

Ashwathnarayan also responded to Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar’s warning of not allowing BJP leaders to hold public events, saying they would not be intimidated by such “goonda-like threats”.

He emphasised that the members of their party had fought in regions such as Jammu and Kashmir and were not afraid of threats.

He challenged Shivakumar to stop them in Kanakapura first. Kanakapura is the native of the Deputy Chief Minister.

Earlier, the BJP women workers disrupted the speech of Siddaramaiah at a protest meeting organised by Congress in Belagavi against the Union government’s alleged price hikes, anti-people policies, and anti-national administration.

While Siddaramaiah was delivering his address, BJP women workers started raising slogans against him, condemning his statement that ‘India should not go to war with Pakistan’.

--IANS

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