Following the murder of 26-year-old Bajrang Dal activist, Harsha, in Shivamogga, former Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy alleged that Congress and BJP have destabilised the peace of Karnataka.

He stated that national political parties are killing children from poor families for their selfish political goals. “I have started doubting whether there is any police intelligence wing in the state or not. The incident of murder of Harsha in Shivamogga is a glaring example of the failure of the state intelligence and the inability of the government to maintain peace, law and order”, he stated.

Speaking to media persons at Vidhana Soudha, Kumaraswamy said, “When Hijab and Saffron shawl issues were spread in a planned manner across the state, it was quite evident that the national parties are playing with the lives of innocent children. The murder of the youth in Shivamogga is also a part of their larger conspiracy.”

He also advised parents to think about the future of their children and be careful about what their wards are involved with. “Once the damage is done, none will come to take care of your family. This should be understood by both the parents and children,” he said.

The former CM alleged that instead of fighting for development issues, national parties are fighting and disturbing communal harmony and encouraging those indulging in communal dissensions.

“Lives of innocent children are being sacrificed, he alleged stating that political leaders for the next few days will pay visits to the family of the youth who lost his life. They indulge in politics by keeping the death of the youth. There will be none to ask parents of the youth who lost his life”, Kumaraswamy said.

“Members of the family of the youth and his relatives are saying that there was a threat to his life for the last two years. They even said that there was Rs 10 lakh reward to persons who would kill him. Then why the government and the state intelligence did not take any action?”, he asked.

The former CM said that this is a serious issue and asked why the BJP government did not provide him security even after there was a serious threat to his life. “Were you not aware of the threat? Why is it that your party failed to save the life of a person who belonged to your organisation? When you can not save the life of a person of your own organisation, how can you protect people of the state?”, Kumaraswamy asked.

When there was information two years back about the incident, the government should have taken appropriate action instead of blaming KPCC president DK Shivakumar for instigating it. “Do your government have no power to prevent instigation? If so, why do you keep quiet even after knowing everything?”, the former Karnataka CM asked.