Karnataka Minister challenges BJP leaders to make their conversation with Soujanya’s mother public

Bengaluru, Sep 3 (PTI) Karnataka Minister Priyank Kharge on Wednesday challenged the BJP leaders to make public their conversation with Soujanya’s mother Kusumavati.

Soujanya, a 17-year-old student, was allegedly raped and murdered in Dharmasthala in 2012.

The BJP leaders led by state president B Y Vijayendra called on Soujanya’s family during the ‘Dharmasthala Chalo’ rally on Monday.

The party organised the march to the temple town in Dakshina Kannada district, charging that the ruling Congress was defaming the Manjunatha Swamy temple by relying on the allegations that multiple bodies of young women and girl students were buried in and around Dharmasthala.

The Special Investigation Team (SIT), formed by the state government to investigate the truth of the allegations, dug up several places in the holy town after a masked man, later identified as C N Chinnaiah, claimed that he had buried hundreds of such bodies.

In a post on ‘X’, Kharge sought to know whether the BJP leaders, who organised the ‘Dharmasthala Chalo’ alleging that there is a conspiracy and a false propaganda going on about Dharmasthala, had the courage to tell the world what Kusumavati had told them.

"Why did the BJP Karnataka unit leaders remain silent without responding to Kusumavati's statement? Your own party says that she has made money using the name of Soujanya and has built such a big house?" Kharge, who is Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s son, said.

He asked Vijayendra whether justice should be served first for the harassment the Soujanya family was subjected to by the BJP.

"Kusumavati complained against the very people on whose behalf the BJP had gone to Dharmasthala. How did the BJP Karnataka leaders feel like while sitting on the dais even after hearing what Kusumavati said? Kharge asked.

He said, "It is necessary to clarify whether the BJP is for or against Soujanya. Will the BJP leaders live up to their words, who promised justice for Soujanya's death, after her mother explained in clear words that from whom she wanted justice?" He recalled that the BJP leaders had announced that they will provide financial support for Sowjanya's legal fight. Do they know against whom the legal fight will be? In the post, the Information Technology and Biotechnology minister also shared the video clip of the conversation between Vijayendra and Soujanya’s family.

In the video, Soujanya’s uncle is heard saying, "I was the one who spoke to her for the last time. Five minutes after that, she was kidnapped." Soujanya’s mother said, "What about my daughter? My daughter has been killed. When I go to seek justice, I am bullied in this manner. See people from your party are saying this. They have built huge house. They say they constructed a big house in the name of Soujanya, sir. So my daughter won’t get justice, sir?" She claimed that her husband and brother were threatened by powerful people and asked not to waste money on court and offices. They were also threatened with dire consequences. PTI GMS GMS KH