Former Karnataka Chief Minister and ex-BJP state unit president B S Yediyurappa said he would appear before the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on Monday in connection with a Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) case. On Friday, the Karnataka High Court had restrained the CID from arresting Yediyurappa in the case and directed the veteran BJP leader to appear before the agency. “I’m appearing for an inquiry on Monday. Unnecessarily some tried to create confusion, I don’t want to blame anyone, everyone knows the fact,” Yediyurappa said. “People will teach a lesson to those indulging in conspiracies.” The Special Investigation Team of the CID had moved the First Fast Track Court seeking an arrest warrant against him since he failed to appear for questioning last week. According to the police, Yediyurappa has been booked under the POCSO Act and Section 354 A (sexual harassment) of the Indian Penal Code based on a complaint by the mother of a 17-year-old girl who alleged that he molested her daughter during a meeting in February this year at his residence. Yediyurappa, who has denied the charge, said he would fight the case legally. He has filed two separate petitions in the High Court, seeking anticipatory bail and quashing the FIR. In context: The POCSO case against Yediyurappa is likely to be dealt with cautiously by the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government and the BJP leadership itself, given his stature as the state’s top Lingayat leader and ex-CM, as reported by Johnson T A. The sidelining of Yediyurappa by the BJP leadership ahead of the May 2023 state polls was widely believed to have damaged the BJP’s prospects. Several BJP leaders who lost the Assembly elections, especially from the camp of party national general secretary (organisation) B L Santhosh, alleged that a “tacit understanding” between Yediyurappa and Congress leaders caused their defeat. Following the Assembly poll debacle, the BJP leadership brought Yediyurappa back to the forefront of the party’s affairs by appointing his son B Y Vijayendra as the state BJP president in November 2023. On Saturday, reacting to the BJP and its ally Janata Dal (Secular)’s accusations that the Congress government was indulging in vindictive politics, Siddaramaiah said, “When they (BJP) booked cases against us, was it not targeting? Against me, against D K Shivakumar (Deputy CM), Rahul Gandhi (Congress leader) cases were booked, what should that be called? … Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has been sent to jail. Should that be called hate politics or love politics? It is they (the BJP) who indulge in vindictive politics. We will never do vindictive politics.” Meanwhile, the Karnataka BJP is staging protests across the state on Monday against the recent hike in petrol and diesel prices, B Y Vijayendra said on Sunday. The Karnataka government on Saturday hiked sales tax on fuel. Petrol prices have gone up by Rs 3 per litre and diesel by Rs 3.5 per litre. Gadkari in Srinagar On Monday, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari is set to chair a high-level meeting in Srinagar to review developmental projects in Jammu and Kashmir. Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and Union Minister of State Jitendra Singh will also attend the meeting. The meeting will focus on the upcoming Amarnath Yatra and the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway ahead of the yatra to the holy cave shrine, which is set to begin on June 29. This will be the ministers first meeting in J&K since the Lok Sabha election results were announced. On Saturday, he had met Sadr-i-Riyasat of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir Karan Singh The meeting falls on the same day as Eid ul-Adha, for which former CM and National Conference president Omar Abdullah criticised the BJP. “He would never do this on Diwali in UP or on Ganesh Chaturthi in Maharashtra. Very insensitive but then we’ve come to expect no better from this BJP government and its J&K branch,” Abdullah wrote on X on Sunday. – With PTI inputs
