Malavalli MLA and Congress leader PM Narendra Swamy on Tuesday lodged a complaint against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader CT Ravi accusing him of showing disrespect to the national flag. The Congress MLA handed over a formal complaint to N Yatish, Superintendent of Police, Mandya, regarding CT Ravi's remarks.
In response to the removal of a saffron flag featuring an image of Lord Hanuman from a flagpole in Keragodu by Mandya district authorities, CT Ravi expressed his views to ANI on Monday, stating, "Today the Congress wants to remove the Hanuman flag and install the Taliban flag... We will install the Hanuman flag today. The times of Taliban flags have passed."
On Sunday, authorities in Mandya removed the saffron flag with Lord Hanuman's image from a 108-foot flagpole in Keragodu village. The local gram panchayat clarified that permission was granted to the Sri Gowri Shankar Seva Trust, which erected the flagpole, only for hoisting the national tricolor or the Kannada flag.
Despite this, the BJP and Janata Dal-Secular (JDS) organized a protest rally from the village to the District Collector's office demanding to hoist back the flag.
In response to the situation, Karnataka Minister Priyank Kharge accused BJP leaders and their "masters" in the RSS on Tuesday of prioritising religion and party over the nation.
Taking to X, Priyank Kharge said, "It is extremely obvious that for the @BJP4Karnataka & their masters RSS, it is always self, organization, party & religion above the Nation."
"In his final address to the Constituent Assembly, Babasaheb Ambedkar spoke about prioritizing creed over the nation and issued us a warning," he said.
Meanwhile, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Monday said that BJP is trying to disturb peace in Mandya district of the state for political gains.
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