MYSORE: Congress leaders on Sunday criticised Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy's comment on the Dasanakoppal incident. He had said that it was "a stage-managed show to exploit the sentiments of the Dalits."

Addressing a press conference here on Sunday, Congress leaders H. Vishwanath, the former Karanatak Pradesh Congress Committee president Allam Veerabhadrappa and others were critical of the Chief Minister's reported view that the Congress had no business campaigning in the Janata Dal (Secular) stronghold and said it amounted to murder of democracy and abetting of rowdyism.

Incidentally, the Chief Minister has clarified in a release that he was misquoted by a section of the media and said that all political parties and individuals had the right to campaign freely and seek votes in a democratic set-up and the Government was committed to it. He appealed to activists of all political parties to desist from either instigating unrest or getting provoked and help conduct a free and fair election.

Referring to a press conference conducted by an astrologer with affiliation to Janata Dal (Secular) and who prophesied the defeat of Siddaramaiah, the Congress leaders said that it was a crude and clumsy attempt to mesmerise the public in rural areas and amounted to belittling their intelligence.

Mr. Vishwanath said that voters should not be swayed by such practices and cautioned the public that senior Janata Dal (Secular) leaders would feign illness and get admitted to hospitals in a desperate bid to create a sympathy wave and tilt the election results in their favour.

"Rhetoric and political melodrama will reach a crescendo in the days ahead but the voters should not be swayed," Mr. Vishwanath said. The former chairman of the Legislative Council B.L. Shankar said that the Governor's letter to the Chief Minister underlining the imperatives of observing the code of conduct, and taking exception to reported misuse of administrative machinery, was an indictment of the State Government and a vindication of the Congress view that there was gross misuse of administrative machinery. However, in a related development, the Chief Minister denied having received any letter from the Governor so far.

"The Congress anticipates the use of muscle power and money power by the JD (S) in the election but we are prepared to counter the atmosphere of terror," Mr. Shankar said.

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