BJP, JD(S) teams visit Dharmasthala, extend support to Veerendra Heggade

MANGALURU: Leaders of the BJP and JD(S), accompanied by hundreds of activists and supporters from different parts of the state, on Monday visited Dharmasthala and called on Dharmadhikari Dr Veerendra Heggade and extended their support.

The opposition parties took out a ‘Dharmasthala Chalo’ rally to condemn the smear campaign carried out against the temple town. As soon as they entered the welcome arch of the town, they raised slogans hailing local deity Annappa Swamy and demanded that misinformation about the town should be stopped.

#WATCH | Karnataka | BJP MP Tejasvi Surya says, “I have five specific questions for CM Siddaramaiah who showed great urgency and enthusiasm in constituting an SIT to investigate the thousands of alleged murders that took place in Dharmsthala. It is now beyond clear that this was… pic.twitter.com/bKcIpFUqOB

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Those who visited Dharmasthala included, C K Ramamurthy, Tejasvi Surya, Saptagiri Gowda, Harish Poonja, former JD(S) ministers Sa Ra Mahesh, and C S Puttaraju, former BJP president Nalin Kumar Kateel, former MP Pratap Simha, MP Capt Brijesh Chowta, Bharat Shetty Vedavyas Kamat, Rajesh Nayak, MLC Kishore Kumar, Umakanth Kotyan among others.

The teams came from Basavanagudi, BTM Layout and Vijayanagar in Bengaluru, Mysuru, Mandya and Tumakuru. Pratap Simha and other also lodged a complaint with the Belthangady police station demanding action against those spreading misinformation about Dharmasthala.

“The government should recover the cost incurred for the exhumation from those behind this conspiracy. The authorities should also take steps to ensure that Dr Veerendra Heggade’s reputation is not tarnished”, Simha said.