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Mr Eshwarappa said he is ready to face 100 cases on “principles related to nationalism and Hindutva”.

Bengaluru:

The row over BJP leader KS Eshwarappa’s ‘shoot the traitor’ remark intensified on Saturday with the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government in Karnataka filing an FIR against him and the leader asserting that he is not scared of such cases.

The controversy broke out on Thursday after former minister Eshwarappa said at an event in Davangere: “I want to appeal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to bring a law to shoot the two traitors – D K Suresh and Vinay Kulkarni, who want South India to be a separate country.” Subsequently, a case was registered by the Davangere Extension Police Station based on a complaint by Hanumanthappa (36), a resident of the area.

Reacting to the case, Mr Eshwarappa told reporters in Shivamogga that he was not scared of such FIRs.

“I am not scared of 100 such FIRs against me on the principles related to nationalism and Hindutva,” he added.

The FIR was registered after Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said on Friday that legal action would be taken against the BJP leader for his statement.

Mr Siddaramaiah also wondered whether this was the language of a leader belonging to a national party.

Claiming that the taxes collected from the southern states were being distributed to north India, Suresh, Congress MP and brother of Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister, DK Shivakumar, said on February 1 that the southern states would be forced to demand a separate nation if the ‘injustice’ was not rectified.

Following Mr Eshwarappa’s remark, Mr Suresh on Saturday dared him to shoot him down instead of waiting for others to do the job.

“Why should anyone else shoot me? If you (Mr Eshwarappa) give me time, I will stand before you for the sake of Karnataka, its land and Kannadigas,” Mr Suresh told reporters here.

He said he would soon fix a time to meet the BJP leader.

“You want your leadership to appreciate you. Why (are you) going here and there in search (of killers)? I will come to your house. I will soon fix a time and meet you within a week. Be prepared whether you want to shoot me or stab me,” the Bengaluru Rural MP said.

Mr Shivakumar said his brother knew how to handle such threats.

“Suresh isn’t the type of person to get scared by threats. We know how to deal with it. We have settled many such threats in the past,” the deputy chief minister told reporters here.

Mr Shivakumar said every action has a consequence.

“Eshwarappa once spoke about my father in the Assembly and everyone knows what happened next. Where is Eshwarappa today?” he said.

Reacting to the development, former Chief Minister and BJP stalwart BS Yediyurappa said some people were giving a twist to Mr Eshwarappa’s ‘shoot the traitors’ remark to give a different connotation.

“People are talking about Mr Eshwarappa’s statement in a way to convey a negative meaning. Mr Eshwarappa had only asked for a law to shoot down traitors. There is no connection between Mr Eshwarappa’s statement and the comments made against him,” Mr Yediyurappa told reporters in Shivamogga.

Mr Yediyurappa said Eshwarappa is capable of facing the FIR against him.

Reacting to Mr Eshwarappa’s comment, former BJP chief minister Jagadish Shettar insisted upon remaining well within the limits.

“Mr Eshwarappa has defended his statement. I have said several times in the past that nobody should cross the ‘Lakshman Rekha’,” Mr Shettar said in Hubballi.

Former BJP MLA MP Renukacharya backed Mr Eshwarappa saying that no one can keep mum on the partition of the country.

“Mr Eshwarappa is a staunch Hindutva supporter. He has only spoken the truth. How can he stay silent when someone talks about partition of the country?” Mr Renukacharya said.

He alleged that Congress’ state unit’s demonstration in Delhi against the alleged injustice to Karnataka on February 7 was aimed at diverting public attention from the controversy arising due to Suresh’s statement.

Reacting to Eshwarappa’s remark, Karnataka IT/BT Minister Priyank Kharge said it reflected the level of intellect of the BJP leader.

“Your (Eshwarappa’s) statement to bring in a law to shoot down shows your level of intellect. Why his statements should be taken seriously when he is not in the game? He has already taken ‘involuntary retirement’ from politics and could not secure a place in the ‘Margadarshak Mandal’,” Priyank Kharge, son of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, told reporters in Kalaburagi.

Meanwhile, the Congress workers tried to ‘lay siege’ to Mr Eshwarappa’s house here protesting against his remark. Policemen deployed at the place took the Congress workers into preventive custody.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)