BJP meet attacked by Karnataka Rakshana Vedike members

"KRV Members"

04/02/2009 Bangalore: The BJP's "Snehamilana" programme organised on Wednesday to entice Telugu speaking people of the city at Chowdaiah Memorial Hall in Malleswaram turned ugly when 30 Karnataka Rakshana Vedike (Gowda group) objected to party leader Venkaiah Naidu speaking in Telugu and English while all the other leaders spoke in Kannada. The Vedike activists raised slogans, demanding a Kannada speech.

While information minister Katta Subramanya Naidu and MP HN Ananthkumar addressed the prominent leaders of the Telugu community in Kannada, Venkaiah Naidu began his speech saying 'namaskara' but switched over to Telugu and later English.

The KRV activists, who have been targeting Naidu for a long time now because of his non-Kannada origin, suddenly began protesting by raising slogans like 'Naada drohi Naidu ge dhikkara, Kannada drohi Naidu ge dhikkara and Kannada matanadada Naidu ge dhikkara' (Down with anti-Karnataka, anti-Kannada Naidu).

"We did not target the function, but Naidu. We do not have anything against BJP leaders from Karnataka. Since Naidu belongs to a different state, we targeted him," said KRV spokesperson Sanneerappa.

Naidu has been a Rajya Sabha member from Karnataka twice now. "Despite being elected from Karnataka, Naidu has not done anything for the state. It is not just him. We have always protested against outsiders like Naidu and Rajiv Chandrashekhar who have come to our state to file nominations," he said.

Soon, some of the BJP workers confronted the KRV, asking them to leave the place as the function was exclusively organised for Telugu speaking citizens. When the KRV persisted with their demand, the police caned the crowd, thus resulting in great din and consequent confusion at the venue.

The police arrested 15 KRV activists and soon brought the situation under control, following which the function proceeded.

Also Read