BJP legislator in crosshairs for insulting chief secretary Shalini Rajneesh | Bengaluru News
Bengaluru: Women and child development minister Lakshmi Hebbalkar Thursday demanded an unconditional apology from BJP legislator N Ravikumar for alleged derogatory remarks against chief secretary (CS) Shalini Rajneesh, calling for legal action and a police investigation into the matter.A complaint was filed at Vidhana Soudha police station against the BJP MLC, for allegedly making an unsavoury comment about Rajneesh when she was unavailable for a meeting in her office.Ravikumar, accompanied by opposition leader in the council Chalavadi Narayanaswamy, had visited the CS’s office to submit a memorandum which sought to oppose the forest department’s move to reclaim agricultural land allegedly belonging to Dalit families in Dinnur village, Mahadevapura assembly constituency in Bengaluru.Hebbalkar came down heavily on BJP over the incident, saying: “It has become a practice of BJP functionaries to abuse women in responsible positions. While MLC CT Ravi had made vulgar remarks against me in the council during the Belagavi session, it is now Ravikumar’s turn to insult the CS. What is disheartening is that seniors in BJP keep mum about these incidents. Do they support this?”But Ravikumar insisted that he did not insult the CS. “I only remarked about her continuous absence from her office” he said. “It was an important issue related to land belonging to Dalits. When she is not accessible to people’s representatives like us, how does she justify her position as the chief secretary?”Meanwhile, a delegation of Congress MLCs led by chief whip Saleem Ahmed met council chairman Basavaraj Horatti and urged him to take disciplinary action against Ravikumar and cancel his membership.The Karnataka State IAS Officers’ Association also petitioned CM Siddaramaiah demanding legal action against Ravikumar. It also urged the govt to pass a censure motion against him in the legislative council. It also demanded an apology from Ravikumar.
