Criminal intimidation case against Karnataka BJP leader Eshwarappa over ‘shoot down anti-nationals’ remark

The complainant alleged that he heard Eshwarappa making the “provocative remark” while referring to Suresh and Kulkarni’s recent statements that “South India may seek to be separated from India if there is injustice in the allocation of Central funds to the southern states”.

According to the police complaint, Eshwarappa said at the public meeting: “D K Suresh and Vinay Kulkarni are saying they will seek separate nationhood for South India. Let him (Congress state president and Suresh’s brother D K Shivakumar) remove the two anti-nationals from their fold if they have the courage. If this thing happens again, I would like to state through this meeting that I would request Narendra Modi to bring a law for shooting down people like D K Suresh and Vinay Kulkarni who make divisive statements.”

Responding to the complaint, Eshwarappa said he did not say that D K Suresh should be shot dead and only asked for a law to facilitate action. “Several such cases have been filed against me in the past, I will not be bothered by them,” he said.

Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar said his brother would not be deterred by the threats of the BJP leader. “D K Suresh is not a person who can be scared by threats. We have settled many such threats in the past,” he said.

Eshwarappa, who was sidelined by the BJP for the 2023 state elections on account of his advancing age, is attempting to get a nod for his son K E Kantesh to contest the Lok Sabha polls from the Haveri seat, which borders his home district of Shivamogga.

A hardcore Sangh loyalist, Eshwarappa built his political career as one of the poster boys of the right-wing in Karnataka. A fiery orator, the Kuruba leader is known to be among the BJP leaders in Karnataka who are loyal to the RSS and the BJP.

The senior BJP leader has over the years made several public remarks that are seen as being controversial and divisive.

Amid the hijab row in Karnataka in February 2022, when Shivakumar claimed that a saffron flag was put up in a government college in Shivamogga by Right-wing activists, Eshwarappa had stated that the “saffron flag could one day replace the national flag”.

The Congress had demanded filing of a sedition case against Eshwarappa in February 2022, when the BJP was in power in Karnataka, over the flag remarks but no case was filed.