Udupi, (The Hindu): Shobha Karandlaje, MP and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, said on Friday that the atmosphere of fear prevailing in the State was driving away investment. Addressing presspersons here, Ms. Karandlaje said that the investors were scared because of the poor handling of the law and order situation in the State. The number of atrocities and cases of sexual assault had seen a rise in the last four-and-a-half years.

In the light of all these, the BJP would be taking out the Jan Suraksha Yatra from Kushalnagar in Kodagu and Ankola in Uttara Kannada. The government was protecting organisations such as the Popular Front of India (PFI). The State government was also mired in corruption, she said.

Ms. Karandlaje said that Union Minister for Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi would participate in the “padayatra” of Jan Suraksha Yatra in Udupi on March 5. Ms. Gandhi would also inaugurate the Sakhi One Stop Centre for women in distress at 1 p.m. on Monday.

This was the first such centre sanctioned by the Union government to the State. A passport centre would be inaugurated at the Head Post Office in Brahmavar at 2.30 p.m. on March 5, Ms. Karandlaje said. Later, Ms. Karandlaje flagged off the Ujjwala Rath here which will cover Udupi district to create awareness of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala LPG Scheme of the Union government.

She said that so far, 11,460 beneficiaries had been provided with gas stoves, regulators and LPG cylinders under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana in the district. Another 22,140 beneficiaries were eligible to benefit under the scheme in the district. After the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government came to power at the Centre, six crore new LPG connections had been provided. Another three crore beneficiaries were likely to get the benefit of the Ujwala scheme in the country, Ms. Karandlaje said.