Reacting to the withholding of the 'Best Principal Award' to the Kundapura principal, former Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Tuesday said that Hijab and anti-national forces are still active in the state.
Forcible hijab is still on while anti-national forces are still active in the state. Not giving award to the principal is an insult to the entire teaching community. Forces and favouritism politics are at play. The Chief Minister should intervene and ensure the award is given to the principal otherwise the public will revolt," the former Chief Minister said while talking to media persons after a party meeting at the BJP office in Mangaluru.
He informed that at that time, the principal was discharging his duty as the High Court had also supported his action. He added that the case is pending in the Supreme Court, and it will not be correct to withdraw the award.
On Thursday, the Karnataka government withheld an award to B.G. Ramakrishna, Principal of Government Pre-University College in Udupi district. Ramakrishna had invited controversy by asking Muslim female students wearing hijab to stand in the sun outside the classroom for months in 2021, during the height of the hijab row in the state.
To a question on the demand of a probe by the BJP Mahila Morcha State President into sexual harassment in politics, he said, "Wherever harassment is there, investigation should be done. How to conduct the investigation is left to the government."
About the MUDA case, Bommai claimed that the government has initiated an action by suspending an officer who is involved in the MUDA scam, which amounts to admitting to legal violations.
On queries over the move of the state government to investigate cases during the BJP government tenure, he said, "Let them investigate cases from our tenure. We are ready to face an investigation. There is law and there are courts."
On the Dakshina Kannada-Udupi Legislative Council by-election, the former Chief Minister said that a meeting has been held today regarding the selection of candidates for the ensuing local administrative council constituency.
"The selection process will be based on fundamental guidelines. We will discuss with the leadership and seniors on how to go about the election process. The core committee had decided to send me to Mangaluru to submit a report on this. We will seek opinions from one and all," the former Chief Minister said.
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