BJP Yuva Morcha district president Nandan Mallya speaks at a press conference at the BJP office in Mangaluru on August 24, 2024. | Photo: HS Manjunath

BJP’s Yuva Morcha workers will resort to ‘rasta roko’ in Dakshina Kannada on August 28 to persuade the police to file a case against Congress MLC Ivan D’Souza for threatening to launch a ‘Bangladesh-style agitation’ to oust Governor Thawar Chand Gehlot, Nandan Mallya, president of BJP’s Yuva Morcha’s Dakshina Kannada unit in Mangaluru, said on Saturday (August 24, 2024).

Addressing the press, Mr. Mallya said the MLC made the statement during a protest in the Congress against the Governor for sanctioning the prosecution of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in the MUDA fraud case in Mangaluru on August 19.

The BJP Yuva Morcha filed a complaint against the MLC the same day for making a provocative statement to create unrest in the state. Even five days after filing the complaint, the Barke police have not registered the case. Therefore, the BJP has no other option but to start an agitation starting with ‘rasta roko.’ If the police do not register the case even then, the BJP will intensify its agitation, he said.

At the same time, Mr Mallya said, the BJP is also exploring other legal options to compel the police to file a case against the MLC.

Mr. Mallya said that while cases were registered against Mangaluru City South MLA D. Vedavyasa Kamath and Mangaluru City North MLA Y. Bharat Shetty, both from the BJP, in a separate incident sometime ago, the police had obtained legal opinion within a day. But now why the police is hesitating to register the case, he wondered.

Mr Mallya said the MLC had not excused his statements but rather justified them.