Bengaluru: Union Minister D V Sadananda Gowda on Wednesday alleged that the protest rally held by thousands of people belonging to the Vokkaliga community here against the arrest of senior Congress leader D K Shivakumar was an attempt by somebody to take advantage of the situation.
The former Chief Minister, who also belongs to the Vokkaliga community, noted that the case involving Shivakumar is under investigation, an FIR had already been filed and he has been produced before the Court. “Now, it’s not fair on my part to comment. I think they have to go for legal solutions; and they should not hit the streets (to protest), that’s what I feel,” Gowda told PTI.
Asked if he thought the issue was taking “caste colour”, the Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister said: “I don’t know about all those things… this issue… somebody wants to take some undue advantage of the situation, that’s all.”
Thousands of people belonging to the Vokkaliga community took out a protest rally here against the arrest of Shivakumar and to express solidarity with him. Vokkaliga and Lingayat are the two dominant communities of Karnataka.
Shivakumar, an influential Congress leader of Karnataka and a former Minister, was arrested on 3 September by the Enforcement Directorate in an alleged money laundering case and has been in the custody of the agency since then.
