Mangaluru : Former chief minister M Veerappa Moily and MLA U T Khader have said that Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa has withdrawn the compensation announced for the families of the people killed in the recent police firing bowing to pressure.

Moily, who addressed a joint press meet, said that the withdrawal amounts to contempt of the office of the chief minister. “Yediyurappa is the chief minister of the entire state, not only for the BJP workers and the RSS. If the chief minister could change his decision on the compensation announced to the kin of the people who died in the police firing in Mangaluru owing to pressure from external forces, then he is not fit to continue as chief minister,” he insisted.

The former chief minister said that the IPC sections have been abused by the police by naming the two people killed in the firing as accused in the FIR. “The chief minister should own the moral responsibility for the firing that claimed lives of two innocent people,” he demanded.

Moily also said that the firing in Mangaluru was a conspiracy of the BJP government. “The protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act turned violent only in BJP-ruled stated. It is a kind of genocide,” he alleged and added, “The police provoked the protesters. There was indiscriminate firing by the police after the protest turned violent.”

Slamming the police for booking Khader under the sedition law, Moily said that Union Minister of State of Railways Suresh Angadi, Minister for Kannada and Culture C T Ravi, and MP Nalin Kumar Kateel should also be booked under the sedition lawof issuing provocative statements.

He also criticised the government and the BJP for allegations against the Congress. “The government should order for a judicial inquiry into the incident. We want the sitting high court judge to inquire into the allegations against the Congress and also on the allegations that the Kerala people were involved in the violence. There is a need to conduct an inquiry on Section 144 was clamped across the state,” he demanded.

Moily said that the implementation of the CAA and the NRC will polarise the society.

Khader said that the police fired when the miscreants tried to set fire on the Mulki police station during the BJP government in the past. “The BJP government had announced compensation to those killed in the violence. Why are they denying compensation to the families of those killed now?” he asked.

“It is apparent that the government is not in the hands of Yediyurappa. He is acting on the behest of others,” said Khader.

“The chief minister should clarify if he (the chief minister) is running the government as the Constitution or is he listening to the party workers to run the government,” he demanded.