Bangalore: On Wednesday, October 14, Bengaluru police registered an FIR against H Kusuma, Congress' RR Nagar candidate for the by-polls, Siddaramaiah and some escort staff of senior Congress leaders for violating the model code of conduct. In response to this, KPCC president DK Shivakumar has expressed outrage and accused BJP of using the police like puppets.
Shivakumar said that BJP was taking part in 'low-level politics' due to the fear of losing the elections. According to him, a similar practice was employed by their former MLA Muniratna. He said, "It is our fault that we nurtured this former MLA. He has misused the police to file cases against workers of Congress, JDS and BJP too. We were helpless when women corporators came to us with complaints against him. Hence, it is our fault too. But we will not be deterred. This isn't just an atrocity against our debutante woman candidate, but also an attempt to scare our workers into not campaigning," he further added.
While the FIR was registered due to Siddaramaiah's escorts allegedly forcing their way through the barriers, security barricades were set up 100 metres around the BBMP office. Shivakumar has expressed anger at the way it was done. According to him, if the FIR was truly filed for the above reasons it should have been filed against the escorts, Siddaramaiah or himself. "Why target our candidate who had come to file her nomination papers? She has not violated any model code of conduct," he said.
He also said that Congress will approach the ECI about the same.