Madikeri, August, 18: Former chief minister Siddaramaiah faced the ire of the Bharatiya Janata Party youth wing activists here on Thursday for his alleged statement questioning the need for the Hindutva activists to put up Hindutva ideologue V D Savarkar’s photograph in a Muslim area in Shivamogga, which led to clashes a few days ago.
The protest led to the clashes between the Congress and the BJP workers. Siddaramaiah today went to Madikeri, the district headquarter town of Kodagu, to inspect the losses occurred due to the recent spell of rain, which had resulted in deaths, damage to houses, crops, infrastructure and landslide.
As soon as the vehicle of the former chief minister passed through General K S Thimmayya Road, the BJP workers tried to interrupt the convoy of the Congress leader.
They showed black flags to him and raised slogans ‘Go back Siddaramaiah’. It is learnt that some protester threw eggs at the former chief minister’s car. They showed him Savarkar’s photos. One of the BJP activist threw Savarkar’s photo on Siddaramaiah’s lap when his convoy was moving slowly.
The police had a difficult time controlling the BJP protesters, including women, who had stood in the middle of the road, blocking Siddaramaiah’s convoy.
The Kodagu unit of the BJP youth wing shared posts on social media, which read, “Siddu Khan enters Kodagu — Kodagu defiled”. “Go back Siddu Khan, the disciple of Tipu Sultan who carried out genocide in Kodagu.”
