Former Congress MLA, who had compared Dalits to his shoes, has threatened to release a CD against Kolar MP from Congress, KH Muniyappa if he contests in the Lok Sabha elections
Kolar: The day Lok Sabha election dates are declared, a CD of Congress MP KH Muniyappa will be released, said former Karnataka MLA Kothur G Manjunath.
Congress is likely to field Muniyappa for re-election in Kolar during Lok Sabha elections and his arch rival from the same party has threatened to release a CD involving Muniyappa, if he decides to contest.
"I will introduce people to another face of Muniyappa. I have not troubled anyone so far, but people should know how Muniyappa has created trouble for others. I will work against Muniyappa in this Lok Sabha election, if he is given the ticket," he declared openly.
Though rivalry between Manjunath and Muniyappa dates back to 2013, it was taken to the next level during Assembly elections in May 2018. Manjunath had filed his nomination from Kolar as an independent candidate and from Mulbagal as Congress candidate. Meanwhile, Congress leader Muniyappa also fielded his daughter Nandini from Mulbagal, earning the wrath of Manjunath. But Congress struck a deal and made both Manjunath and Nandini withdraw from Mulbagal and fielded Ahmed Pasha from Kolar.
Back in 2013, Manjunath was elected as the MLA from Mulbagal constituency that was a reserved seat for the Scheduled Caste (SC). But Dalits in the region had filed a complaint that Manjunath had submitted fake certificate and he did not belong to the SC community.
Manjunath allegedly belongs to the Baairagi community. Four years ago, while contesting elections, Manjunath had submitted a caste certificate and had claimed that he was from the SC community. He had specified that he was from Budga Jangama community.
Following this, Manjunath compared Dalits to shoes and had said, "My shoes are worth Rs 50,000. Do they even have the ability to buy such costly shoes? They are not even worth the shoes I am wearing," he said.
Hearing the plea, the Karnataka high court had declared Manjunath's candidacy as void and made him step down from the MLA seat. Currently, Manjunath has referred the case to the Supreme Court and is awaiting the verdict.
Thus, unless there is a stay on the high court verdict stating that he had in fact provided fake certificate, he will not be given a ticket for the Lok Sabha elections. Thus there are more chances of Muniyappa being favoured by the Congress.
While Manjunath has not given details about the content of the CD, he has said, "If there is a stay, I will demand a ticket from the party. Else, I will support an able candidate, but will work against Muniyappa. I will release a CD to show his true colours."
Read Exclusive COVID-19 Coronavirus News updates, at MyNation.