Opposition demands Krishna146;s head

With the news of former minister H Nagappa8217;s death in the forests reaching Bangalore on Sunday evening, Opposition parties came down he...

With the news of former minister H Nagappa8217;s death in the forests reaching Bangalore on Sunday evening, Opposition parties came down heavily on the state government and demanded the resignation of Chief Minister S.M. Krishna for what they termed as 8216;8216;total negligence and failure to handle the kidnapping crisis.8217;8217;

Opposition leader in the state Assembly and BJP leader Jagadish Shettar said: 8216;8216;The Krishna government has lost the moral right to continue in office. It has failed in handling the crisis which led to such a situation.8217;8217;

8216;8216;Unlike in Dr Raj Kumar8217;s abduction crisis, the government was not serious in securing the safe release of Nagappa.8217;8217;

While, JDU Parliamentary Board Chairman B Somshekar said he was 8216;8216;shocked by the tragedy8217;8217; and demanded Krishna government8217;s resignation on moral grounds, state president C Byre Gowda held Krishna government responsible for the incident.

8216;8216;It has not been serious from the beginning itself. Nagappa8217;s death could have been avoided if the government had withdrawn cases against Kolathur Mani and sent him as an emissary. There are many previous instances of withdrawing cases, this would not have been the first time.

8220;Despite our requests, the government failed to act in time and all our efforts to secure Nagappa8217;s release failed,8217;8217; he said.

BJP leader B.S. Yediyurappa said the chief minister has not shown any interest in releasing Nagappa. During Raj Kumar8217;s abduction crisis, he had held discussions with his Tamil Nadu counterpart, but nothing of that sort took place this time, he said.

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8216;8216;First, the government was very slow in getting Mani out on bail and after that, the CM refused to send Minister Raju Gowda as emissary as demanded by the brigand. At all stages, the government failed to act responsibly. It also failed to pay heed to the appeal made by religious heads.8217;8217;

An emergency meeting of the JDU has been convened in the city on Monday to discuss the issue.

Holding the state government responsible for Nagappa8217;s death, JD S secretary general, C Narayanswamy said if the government has taken steps it had taken during Raj Kumar8217;s abduction such a situation could have been avoided.

The government with the assistance of the Centre and Tamil Nadu should intensify its operations against Veerappan immediately, he said.