Udupi, (The Hindu): Shobha Karandlaje, MP, on Friday said that the Siddaramaiah government had turned a blind eye to ‘jihadi’ forces which were fomenting communal tension and targeting and killing Hindu activists in the State.

Speaking to presspersons here, Ms. Karandlaje alleged that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was encouraging ‘jihadi’ forces and was ‘anti-Hindu.’ Despite the communal clashes, which took place at Honnavar in Uttara Kannada district a couple of days ago, the Chief Minister went on with his programmes inaugurated a record number of projects on Wednesday and Thursday. A youth, Paresh Mesta, 21, went missing two days ago in Honnavar during the clashes and was later found dead. His body was recovered on Friday, she said.

Ms. Karandlaje alleged that the police had deliberately suppressed the news of Mesta’s death so that the Chief Minister’s programmes went on unhindered. “Mr. Siddaramaiah knew about it but went about his programmes as if nothing had happened. In case, Mr. Siddaramaiah did not know about it, this would mean that the Intelligence Department of the State government had failed. Never before have we had such an anti-Hindu Chief Minister,” she said.

Several Hindu activists were injured in the communal clashes in Honnavar on Wednesday. While two were admitted to a hospital in Manipal, others were admitted to a hospital in Honnavar, she said.

To a query, she said that the derogatory statement of the Congress MP Mani Shankar Aiyar, only showed the mentality of the Congress party. The leaders of the Congress party felt that they were entitled to rule the country because of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty. It was nothing but a reflection of the priority to dynastic politics given by the Congress. Mr. Aiyar’s suspension was nothing but a diversionary tactic, Ms. Karandlaje said.