Mangaluru: Slamming District In-charge Minister B Ramanath Rai for alleging that the BJP had insulted the Billawa community by making use of Koti-Chennaya pictures for publicity sake, District Spokesperson for BJP Harikrishna Bantwal on January 17 questioned the morality of the former to accuse the party, especially when he did not deter from publicly insulting veteran Congressman B Janardhana Poojary, a Billawa leader.
The BJP has already apologised for having used the Koti-Chennaya images, said Bantwal predicting a Mahisasura-like doom for Rai in the coming elections. The people will don the role of the Devi in the upcoming elections and finish Rai who happens to be the Mahisasura, said Bantwal referring to elections as a Yakshagana performance.
He was addressing a press meet at BJP office here on Wednesday.
Lashing out further at Rai, Bantwal questioned why he and the Congress part had earlier used pictures of Bhramashree Narayana Guru in Bantwal for publicity sake. Wasn’t driving Janardhana Poojary to tears on a public platform not an insult to the Billawa community, he questioned.
He also alleged that Rai was responsible for Poojary having lost the previous elections. Vinakumar Sorake, a member of Billawa community lost his ministerial position due to Ramanath Rai and Oscar Fernandes,he opined
BJP has given most seats to Billawa candidates like Prabhakar Bangera, Sunil Kumar, Kota Srinivasa Poojary and Rukmaya Poojary.
Harikrisha Bantwal also dared Rai that if he had true respect for Billawa community and loved the Muslim community, he should provide a ticket to either a Billawa or a Muslim in Bantwal constituency, adding that BJP does not discriminate and treated all castes and religions equally.
BJP leaders Jithendra Kottary, Sathish Prabhu and others were present during the press meet.
