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Mangaluru: Congress leader to preside over VHP’s Hindu convention

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Mangaluru: Vijayanath Vittal Shetty, a prominent congress face in the Mangaluru North assembly constituency will preside over ‘Hindu Samajostava’, which is scheduled to be held on Sunday, March 1 here at Nehru Maidan, in the city.

The convention is organized by Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajarang Dal, right-wing groups which are affiliated to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). 

The organizers confirmed the participation of Vijayanath Vittal Shetty, who will preside over the ceremony. In addition to it, ‘controversial speaker’ and spiritual guru Sadhvi Saraswathi will be part of the programme.

Bajarang Dal leader Sharan Pumpwell told newskarnataka.com that the programme is likely to be attended by over two lakh participants. Ganesh Rao, educationalist is the honorary president of ‘Swarna Jayanthi committee and Vijayanath Vittal Shetty is its president. Over ten seers will take part in the convention; he said and added that there will be a procession from Jyothi circle which will be accompanied by tableaux.

Congress leaders keep mum

Recently, a local congress leader Hemanth Shetty, who floated a right wing organization called ‘Bharatiya Hindu Parishad’ (BHP), drew flak from a section of congress leaders, who termed it as ‘anti-secular’. Interestingly, Vijayanath Vittal Shetty’s decision to preside over a convention, which is hosted by BJP’s Vishwa Hindu Parishad is likely to put the congress in the soup.

Except District in-charge minister B. Ramanath Rai, most of the prominent congress leaders refused to comment on it. Mr. Rai said that sharing a stage with a communal oriented programme is against the discipline of congress. If Mr. Shetty joins them, he will no more be a congressman. We will not spare him”, he said sternly.

While, former union minister B. Janardhan Poojary declined to answer. “I will comment on it after few months. The party will teach a lesson to him (Vijaynath Shetty), he said. Besides, in the past, Poojary had criticized Vijaynath for always wearing a ‘saffron lungi’, which is Vijaynath’s signature style.

Veerappa Moily refused to comment on it, while efforts to reach Oscar Fernandes went in vain.

RSS good for the country: Vijaynath Vittal Shetty

When newskarnataka.com asked Vijaynath Vittal Shetty, he said the congress did not give him any responsibility for over two years. “I am just a party worker there. Even if the congress throws me out, it will not make any difference to me. For me, religion is first. But, I am secular, which is why I joined the Congress. If anyone delivers hate speech at the convention, I will boycott the programme”, he said. Besides, Mr. Shetty praised the RSS, saying it has done good work for the country. 

In 2012, Vijayanath Vittal Shetty, joined Congress in the presence of Oscar Fernandes, B. Janardhan Poojary, B. Ramanath Rai and UT Khader.

 

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