K’taka BJP MLA goes on hunger strike, demands funds for constituency

Bengaluru: Karnataka BJP MLA Munirathna Naidu went on a hunger strike on Wednesday to demand the release of funds for carrying out developmental works in his Assembly constituency.

He sat in front of the Mahatma Gandhi statue at the Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru and demanded the release of funds for his Raja Rajeshwari constituency.

The former minister was accompanied by his associates who were holding the BJP flag and placards against the Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar and his brother MP D.K. Suresh. However, the police took more than 10 associates, who sat with Munirathna, into custody. MLA Munirathna continued to fast and stage the protest alone.

The MLA has alleged that Dy CM DK Shivakumar was pursuing personal vendetta against him. The Rs 126 crore funds granted for his constituency during the previous government headed by then CM Basavaraj Bommai had been allotted to different constituencies by the Congress government.

Munirathna had demanded that the allotted funds should be given to his constituency and in protest of injustice done to his constituency he is staging a one-day hunger strike against the Congress government.

The BJP legislator had stated that the funds were allotted to Yeshwanthpur, Byatarayanapura and Pulakeshinagar constituencies in Bengaluru.

Earlier, he had said that he wouldn’t hesitate holding the legs of Shivakumar, who also holds the Bengaluru Development Ministry, to get the funds.

Shivakumar and his brother Suresh had put all their efforts into winning the Raja Rajeshwari Nagar constituency in the Assembly elections. However, Congress candidate H. Kusuma was defeated by 11,842 votes. Munirathna had secured 1.27 lakh votes in the election.