Will visit Masood and Fazil’s houses, says Bommai
Bommai and several BJP leaders had visited Nettaru’s house on July 28, and handed over a cheque of ₹25 lakh from the government and an additional ₹ 25 lakh from the party.
Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai on Monday said that he will visit the residence of Masood and Fazil in the coming days after coming under criticism from all quarters on the discrimination meted out by the state government in dealing with the recent murders in Dakshina Kannada district.
“In the coming days, I will definitely visit their homes,” Bommai said on Monday in Bengaluru.“Ours is a national party. Nationalism is our stand. There is no question of discrimination against anyone,” he said.
The statements come after three murders were reported from the communally sensitive region of coastal Karnataka.
On July 19, Masood B, 19, was attacked by unidentified people in Dakshina Kannada and died two days later in a hospital. On July 26, Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BYJM) worker Praveen Nettaru was killed by bike-borne assailants in the same region.A day after, 23-year-old Fazil was killed by masked attackers in the busy Mangalpete locality of Surathkal in the northern part of the coastal district.
The three killings have added to the tensions in the region.
Bommai and several BJP leaders had visited Nettaru’s house on July 28, and handed over a cheque of ₹25 lakh from the government and an additional ₹ 25 lakh from the party.
However, while Bommai was in the Dakshina Kannada district, the chief minister did not visit Masood’s house in the same village nor did he meet with Fazil’s family.
Meanwhile, former chief minister and Janata Dal (Secular) or JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy on Monday visited the homes of Masoor, Nettaru and Fazil.
Kumaraswamy said that Bommai should behave like the “chief minister of Karnataka and not of the BJP”, criticising the latter for not visiting the homes of the other two victims.
Kumaraswamy said that he had some expectations from the chief minister to build confidence between the two major communities and contain the possibility of more such killings.
“The chief minister was here (Bellare in Dakshina Kannada) till that evening (July 28) and met Praveen’s family and offered his condolences. We have no problems with the compensation amount and let them give more, I have no problem with that. But as chief minister, when you are physically present here, there was another murder in Surathkal,” he said.
“That day if the chief minister would have visited the spot and given that community also some confidence, it would have shown that this is an inclusive government and no one would have doubted his behaviour,” Kumaraswamy said.He added that Bommai should not be a chief minister to “impress” anyone.
