Ballari: A BJP delegation Saturday visited the residence of Congress worker Rajasekhar, who had been killed in a gunfire following a banner row between supporters of the party’s MLA G Janardhana Reddy and Congress legislator Nara Bharat Reddy in Ballari.Led by BJP state president BY Vijayendra, the delegation handed over Rs 10 lakh to the family and reiterated its demand for a CBI probe into the incident.Rajasekhar had been killed during the Jan 1 violence triggered by the banner dispute. Police have arrested three private gunmen attached to Congress functionaries in connection with the case.Vijayendra alleged political interference and serious lapses in the investigation. He also demanded an immediate arrest of Bharat Reddy and his supporters.Vijayendra alleged that Congress workers were involved in the murder and accused the Siddaramaiah govt of failing to maintain law and order in the state.“Law and order has totally collapsed,” Vijayendra said while alleging that police stations in Karnataka had become “Congress offices”.The demands were reiterated at a protest convention in the city, which saw the participation of hundreds of BJP workers. They raised slogans against the Congress govt, accusing it of shielding the suspects.Former minister B Sriramulu and Janardhana Reddy launched sharp attacks on the Congress leadership and Bharat Reddy. They alleged that the govt deliberately transferred the investigation to CID to “dilute and suppress” the truth.Accusing Congress of distorting facts, the duo also claimed that a private gunman linked to Bharat Reddy had fired shots during violence and that this information was deliberately suppressed. They questioned why the main accused had not been arrested.BJP also alleged a broader collapse of law and order since the Congress came to power, citing incidents such as an alleged police assault on a woman in Hubballi, a murder in Ankola linked to an inter-caste marriage, daylight robberies in Bengaluru and abusive remarks made by an elected representative against a woman officer. These incidents, they claimed, showed that “no one is safe” in the state.
