Action against Cong leaders out of political vendetta: Poojary

Bangalore, Nov 18 (UNI) The Congress in Karnataka today accused Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy of foisting cases against the Congress leaders in an act of political vendetta.

Addressing a press conference here, Rajya Sabha member and senior Congress leader B Janardhana Poojary took exception to the Chief Minister's charge that the Congress was supporting violence and said he had no moral right to level such accusation when he himself faced criminal charges.

Referring to the ''false cases'' filed against Congress Legislator and senior leader D K Shivakumar, he said the State Government's action tantamounted to settling political scores as the Chief Minister was nursing a grouse against Mr Shivakumar for having defeated him in the 1999 Assembly elections. The Chief Minister was abusing official machinery to settle scores.

''If Mr Kumaraswamy has any definite case against any of the Congress leaders, let the law take its own course...threatening them with false cases cannot be tolerated,'' he said.

Mr Poojary accused Mr Kumaraswamy of exporting iron ore worth over Rs 36 crore without any valid licence and permit from Bellary district. He challenged the State Government to hand over the illegal mining issue to the CBI to bring out the truth.

On the Chamundeshwari Assembly byelection, he said that despite the best efforts of Mr Kumaraswamy and JD(S) President H D Deve Gowda, the electorate would back former Deputy Chief Minister and Congress candidate S Siddaramaiah. The voters of Chamundeshwari would teach a lesson to the JD(S) for having aligned with the ''communal'' BJP, he added.

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