The opposition BJP in Karnataka wants Statistics and Planning Minister D. Sudhakar to step down if the case filed against him comes under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Prevention of Atrocities Act.
An FIR was registered against the Minister for alleged land grabbing. The police have also charged him under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Prevention of Atrocities Act and under Sections 427 (mischief to cause loss or damage), 143 (unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting), 447 (criminal trespass) and 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) of the Indian Penal Code.
BJP leader and former chief minister Basavaraj Bommai said Mr. Sudhakar should immediately step down if it is a case under the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act.
He wants the police to treat the accused Minister just like any other person facing such charges. He warned that Dalits in Karnataka would stage a protest if the police yield to political pressure.
Ridiculing the ruling Congress, he said, “Congress leaders always talk of Dalit welfare. But the act of a Minister in the Congress government is anti-Dalit.”
