Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah today accused BJP of spreading 'lies' over the murder of a panchayat member in Dharwad to tarnishthe image of minister Vinay Kulkarni as he was involved in a movement seeking religion tag to the Lingayat community.
His comments came on a day when BJP staged protests in different parts of the state demanding the resignation of Kulkarni and a CBI probe into the case.
Kulkarni is at the forefront of the movement, demanding separatereligion tag to dominant Lingayat community, which isconsidered to be the BJP's support base in north Karnataka.
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"It is a conspiracy by (state BJP President B S) Yeddyurappa and his party totarnish his (Vinay Kulkarni) image as he is involved in the Lingayat movement. There is nothing against him," Siddaramaiahtold reporters in Gadag district.
BJP during the recently concluded Assemblysession had raised the issue of "pressure" exerted on thefamily of Yogish Gowda, who was hacked to death last year, towithdraw the case allegedly at the behest of Kulkarni, a charge denied by him.
Siddaramaiah dismissed allegations that the Adviser to the Home Minister was trying to cover up the issue.
"They (BJP) are just going around spreading lies. BJP people have made spreading lies their profession. They don't know to speak the truth," he alleged.
Hitting the streets over the issue, BJP staged demonstrations demanding resignation of Kulkarni.
Yeddyurappa led the brief protest in Vijayapura district and said similar agitation was staged in all districts.
BJP raised the issue in the assembly last week in the backdrop of the family recently claiming that they were beingpressurised by a police officer to withdraw the case allegedly at the behest of District in-chargeMinister Kulkarni.
The minister has been maintaining that he was in noway connected with the case and the charge was an attempt to malign him.
Meanwhile, an audio clip in which the minister duringa telephonic talk purportedly put pressure on the advocate of the victim was also aired by local TV channels.
Kulkarni had denied the charge and said he was not even aware of it (theaudio clip).
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