Shivamogga
Shikaripura Congress leader and Taluk President for Guarantee Schemes, Nagaraj Gowda, has demanded that Shivamogga MP B.Y. Raghavendra publicly apologise to District In-charge Minister Madhu Bangarappa over remarks allegedly made against him at a BJP meeting.
Gowda said the issue arose after a protest against the Kasturirangan Report in Shikaripura. He said Minister Madhu Bangarappa had participated in a padayatra and expressed support for residents of 12 villages affected by the report. According to Gowda, Raghavendra subsequently made disrespectful remarks about the Minister during a BJP meeting on September 18.
Gowda warned that if the MP did not apologise publicly, the Shikaripura Congress unit would stage protests and lay siege to his residence. He also questioned the efforts of Raghavendra and other BJP leaders to oppose the implementation of the Kasturirangan recommendations. Gowda said their meetings with Union ministers had not stopped the Centre from moving ahead with the notification.
He also criticised Shikaripura MLA B.Y. Vijayendra and MP Raghavendra over lift irrigation projects. Gowda alleged that projects funded through public money were being projected at political meetings as personal achievements.
On land regularisation, Gowda claimed that around 45,000 farmers from Shikaripura had submitted applications under Forms 50, 53 and 57 for Bagar Hukum rights. He said the previous Congress government had issued title deeds to 4,113 applicants, while 40,865 applications were rejected during the tenure of the BJP government. He challenged BJP leaders to provide records showing the number of title deeds issued during their tenure.
Gowda further alleged that recommendations made in 2022 affected thousands of families holding land under Darakhastu and Bagar Hukum schemes. He claimed that 4,090 hectares involving 3,928 families in Shikaripura, Soraba, Hosanagara and Sagara taluks were proposed for transfer to forest land.
He said BJP leaders had promised during elections to amend the Forest Rights Act and provide land rights to cultivators, and demanded that documentary evidence of the implementation of those promises be made public.
Shikaripura Block Congress President Bhandari Maltesh, Shiralakoppa Block Congress President Mitresh, District KDP member Marolli Umesh, Taluk Youth Congress President Shivuhulmar, CDC member Pachi Sandeep and youth leader Lokesh were present at the press conference.
