Mangaluru : BJP state general secretary and Chikkamagaluru MLA C T Ravi on Sunday accused the government of misusing the police force to ban the Mangaluru Chalo bike rally.

The rally, organized by the party’s Yuva Morcha to protest the killing of its workers in the coastal region and to demand the resignation of district in-charge minister B Ramanath Rai, will be flagged off from five different places and reach Mangaluru on September 7.

The rally won’t be stopped at any cost, Ravi added.

Congress leaders have urged the BJP not to go ahead with the rally given the communal tension in the region. CM Siddaramaiah has reportedly directed police to crack down against those who trigger communal violence.

Dakshina Kannada MP Nalin Kumar Kateel said: “It is the ruling party’s responsibility to ensure protection for such rallies.Though party workers had applied for police permission in the jurisdictional stations, they haven’t got the sanction as yet. Siddaramaiah is indirectly trying to impose an undeclared emergency on the state.”