Puttur Congress unit in trouble

The Congress unit in Puttur near here appears to be heading for trouble after the party leadership decided to expel block Congress president Kavu Hemanath Shetty from the post for floating a Hindu outfit named Bharathiya Hindu Parishad (BHP) for protecting the interests of Hindus.
Party office-bearers including block Congress vice president Shahul Hameed and other leaders in the area Ismail Salmara, Praveen Bhat Aranya, Sabu Saheb and U Lokesh Hegde, had resigned from their posts in protest against the decision, party sources said.
Eight Congress councillors of Puttur Town Municipal Council (TMC) had also sent their resignation letters to the State Minister Ramanathatha Rai who is the Dakshina Kannada district-in-charge, in protest against the removal of Shetty from the post on January 31.

Shetty had claimed that BHP, launched on January 14, was an outfit to counter the growth of Sangh Parivar organisations. Several Congress leaders including former Union Minister Janardhan Poojary had come out against Shetty saying that the formation of such an organisation was against the secular ideals of the Congress.
The TMC councillors in their resignation letter said that they were pained over the recent developments and were not happy with the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committe's decision to expel block Congress president Shetty who had strived hard for the party's victory in the last assembly elections.