Shalet Pinto (second from right), president of the District Women Congress, addressing a press conference in Mangaluru on Tuesday. more-in While Sangh Parivar outfits launched a tirade against District in-charge Minister B. Ramanath Rai for his reported instructions to the police against RSS leader Kalladka Prabhakar Bhat, Congress leaders in the district rallied behind Mr. Rai on Tuesday defending him. Mangaluru Mayor Kavitha Sanil told reporters here that Mr. Rai is a secular person and has an unblemished record during his seven terms as an MLA and two terms as a Minister. While he [Mr. Rai] does not hate anyone, it was Kalladka Prabhakar Bhat who started the communal flare-up in the region by delivering inciting speeches, she said. The Mayor said that clashes occur whenever elections are approaching and Mr. Rai, being in-charge of the district, is making the best efforts to maintain peace and order. Since he was under pressure to contain frequent clashes, the Minister instructed the Superintendent of Police to act tough, Ms. Sanil said, defending the content in the video-clippings that went viral on Sunday. District Women Congress president Shalet Pinto said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is attempting to get political mileage out of the released video-clippings and also to create further disturbances. Castigating Udupi-Chikkamagaluru MP Shobha Karandlaje for her interference in the affairs of Dakshina Kannada, she said that voters in Ms. Karandlaje’s constituency were “searching for her”. Instead of working for her voters, the MP has come to Mangaluru to criticise Mr. Rai, she regretted. The former Zilla Panchayat president Mamatha Gatti took exception to the move to call for a protest by the BJP saying it would affect normal life. Mr. Rai has been working for the overall development of the district. He does not discriminate against people on the grounds of caste or religion, she said. Ms. Gatti said that all Congress workers in the district are with Mr. Rai supporting his work.

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