Bangalore: Janata Dal-United (JD-U) in Karnataka Assembly demanded on December 30
that a case be booked against Minister for Agro-Processing Raju Gowda for his
alleged links with forest brigand Veerappan.
Speaking during the debate on the Nagappa issue, JD-U leader B Somashekhar said
there were reports about Veerappan having helped Raju Gowda in Assembly polls twice
and the bandit himself had asked the minister to be sent as an emissary in one of
the cassettes sent by him during the hostage crisis.
Raju Gowda strongly protested Somashekhar's charges and challenged him to produce
evidence.
Somashekhar however stuck to his charges and also alleged that Raju Gowda had also
played a mediators' role in securing the release of a granite owner's son from the
captivity of Veerappan.
Irked by Somashekhar's charges, the minister told the JD -U leader to talk about the
visit of Kollegal JD-U leader Ponnachi Mahadevaswamy to Veerppan during the Nagappa
hostage crisis. At this, Somashekhar shot back saying Mahadevaswamy had gone to the
forests after bringing his mission to the notice of Chief Minister S M Krishna and
Home Minister Mallikarjun Kharge.
Accusing the government of just 'sleeping over' the Nagappa crisis, he said it
seemed to have adopted the principle, 'no action is the best action'.
The Special Task Force (STF) did nothing to catch the bandit after the release of
Kannada thespian and instead arrested Tamil activist Kollathur Mani and Tamil bi-
weekly 'Nakheeran' reporter Shivasubramanian, he added.
PTI
