Rameshwaram cafe row: Act against K’taka BJP leader over remark: EC

New Delhi, March 20

The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Wednesday directed the chief electoral officer of Karnataka to take appropriate action within 48 hours on the complaint filed by the DMK against BJP leader and Union Minister Shobha Karandlaje for her controversial remarks, where she had claimed that a person from Tamil Nadu had planted the bomb in Bengaluru’s Rameshwaram café.

In a letter to Karnataka’s chief electoral officer, the ECI, acting on a complaint filed by DMK against Karandlaje’s comments, which were made on March 19, asked it to take immediate action.

In its complaint to the poll body, the DMK had said that Karandlaje’s comments were in violation of the Model Code of Conduct and provisions of the Representation of People Act. On March 19, Karandlaje, who is also a BJP MP, while addressing reporters in Bengaluru, had made a statement alleging that the people of Tamil Nadu were behind the Rameshwaram café blast, which had taken place on March 1. Terming the accusation by the BJP leader as “baseless”, the DMK said the blast case was being investigated and the NIA had not been able to identify the culprit behind the blast.