Bengaluru: Bharatiya Janata Party MLA and former minister Munirathna was pelted with eggs by unknown persons in Bengaluru city on Wednesday and the MLA was hit on the head. Munirathna represents the Rajarajeshwari Nagar assembly seat in Bengaluru and is out on bail on charges of rape and caste abuse.
The BJP MLA was pelted with eggs near Lagre and Lakshmi Devi Nagar in Bengaluru city when Munirathana went to board his vehicle after a function to celebrate the birth anniversary of late Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Home Minister Dr. G Paramesh said that three people have been detained on suspicion of attack on Munirathana and the reason for the attack has not been revealed. A police investigation is underway.
Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner of Police Saidulu Adawath told reporters that the BJP MLA was pelted with eggs after he preferred to walk about 50 meters from the spot to board a vehicle parked on the main road. Immediately the police provided security to the MLA and he was taken to the hospital.
Soon after he was egged on, Munirathna accused Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar and his brother and former Lok Sabha member DK Suresh, Congress leader Kusuma and his father Hanumantharappa of being behind the attack. Before he was attacked with an egg near Lagere, Munirathana had allegedly pelted him with an egg near Goraguntepalanj in Bengaluru city.
Munirathna said he feared for his life and had definite information about a possible attack on him. The reason he attacked him was to pressurize him to resign as MLA so that Kusuma Hanumantharayappa could be elected from RR Nagar.
It should be remembered here that Kusuma, a close confidant of DK Shivakumar and DK Suresh, lost to Munirathana in the by-elections of 2019 and also in the assembly elections of May 2023.
After he was attacked, Munirath claimed that two (unidentified) persons met him in the court premises in the first week of November this year and asked him to resign as MLA before threatening DK Shivakumar and DK Suresh. Kill him.
The BJP MLA claimed that two unidentified persons had come in the guise of lawyers. Responding to the threats, Munirathna said that he threw letters to the President, Prime Minister, Union Home Minister and others in fear of his life.
Adding, he said, he had also met Governor Thawarchand Gehlot that he feared for his life and sought armed men for his personal security which the state government is yet to accept.