The Hindu : Send Mani as emissary: Janata Parivar

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Oct 19, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Karnataka

Send Mani as emissary: Janata Parivar

By Our Staff Correspondent

MYSORE OCT. 18. The Janata Parivar, comprising the JD(U) and the JD(S), took out a rally here today to pressure the Karnataka Government to secure the release of the former Minister, H. Nagappa, held hostage by the forest brigand, Veerappan.

A large number of people from Chamarajanagar, Kollegal, Gundlupet, Nanjangud, and T.Narsipur arrived here in trucks and buses to assemble at the Maharaja's College Sports Grounds. The demonstrators marched through Ramaswamy Circle, Chamaraja Double Road, Sayyaji Rao Road, and K.R.Circle and reached Town Hall, where JD(U) and JD(S) leaders, the Union Minister of State for Public Distribution, V. Srinivas Prasad, and the BJP MP, Rajashekar Murthy, addressed them.

The speakers made out a strong case for the release of the jailed Tamil activist, Kolathur Mani, and his despatch to the forests as official emissary to the bandit.

The JD(S) State unit president, Siddaramaiah, urged the Government to release Mani even if it was against the law. "If the Chief Minister, S.M. Krishna, fails to take steps to secure Mr. Nagappa's release, the agitation will spread throughout the State," he said.

Taking a dig at Mr. Krishna for his "padayatra" during the height of the Cauvery crisis, Mr. Siddaramaiah dared him to embark upon a similar exercise to secure Mr. Nagappa's release.

Mr. Prasad, who inaugurated the rally, criticised the Government for its nonchalance towards the safety of Mr. Nagappa. "If it is not possible for the Government to drop the cases against Mani, it should at least secure his release on bail," he said.

The JD(U) State unit president, C. Byre Gowda, said dropping cases against Mani was the only way to end the crisis.

He said: "Jailed extremists were released during the abduction of the former Union Minister, Mufti Mohammed Sayeed's daughter as well as during the hijack of Indian Airlines aircraft to Kandahar," he said.

The JD(U) leader, M.P. Prakash, criticised the Government for lending a caste colour to the efforts to secure Mr. Nagappa's release. Meanwhile, Ponachchi Mahadevaswamy, who is one of the emissaries named by the brigand, claimed that he had seen Veerappan 15 years ago in Gopinatham, which belonged to the same revenue division as his native Ponachchi in Kollegal taluk.

Besides, Mr. Mahadevaswamy said he had led a team of Mr. Nagappa's supporters to the forests, where they spent about 15 days looking for the former Minister.

Mr. Rajashekar Murthy, who presided over the rally, said the Government's fate would be decided when the Supreme Court took up the contempt petition relating to Cauvery issue on October 24.

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