HUBBALLI: BJP national president
Amit Shah, who solely campaigned for the party’s candidates in Hyderabad-Karnatak region on Saturday had to face some embarrassing moments when a farmer filed a police complaint because his kin’s cultivable land was levelled to prepare a temporary helipad for the chopper to land.
A case was registered against five BJP leaders for damaging farmland to construct the helipad in Ilkal, Bagalkot district, to facilitate the landing of Shah’s helicopter.
The farmland, on the outskirts of
Ilkal town, belongs to woman farmer Doddamma Sharanamma Basappa Karadi.
Her relative
Jagadish Rudrappa Karadi filed a complaint against former MLA Doddanagouda
Patil and four others. He alleged that the ridges of the cultivable land were damaged to construct the helipad. The land was damaged such that it is difficult to make it cultivable again. Since a road-roller was used to make the surface smooth after dumping stones, the ridges were severely damaged, he alleged.
The complainant also alleged that he was threatened when he raised questions about this. Ilkal police registered a case.
Shah, who campaigned in Vijayapura, Bagalkote and visited the Kudala Sangama, wanted each party worker to make 50 phone calls to voters and seek votes and on polling day, ensure each gets at least 15 persons to the voting booths.
In Ilkal, Shah chided a party worker, who was translating his Hindi speech into Kannada. Speaking on alleged misrule of the Congress government in the past five years and farmers’ suicides, Shah did not complete the sentence. He turned to the translator and said: “Bhaiyya, take down what I say, you will forget.’’ He continued his speech and stopped to ask the translator what he had said. The flustered person tried to tell him, but Shah ticked him off saying: “Don’t stare at my face, tell me what I said just now.’’