Leader of Opposition Siddharamaiah visited the statue of Sangolli Rayanna that was re-installed after its recent alleged desecration in Angol in Belagavi on December 20.

He paid floral tributes to the statue and made a short speech. He said that no one should take the law into their hands and that the government had the responsibility to trace and punish such wrong doers. “The desecration of the Sangolli Rayanna statue in Angol is highly condemnable. Local youth have complained that Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti members have desecrated it. It seems MES members have no regard for the law. The government should take action against such lumpen elements,” he said. “There is a demand from the people that MES should be banned. We will raise this and other issues in the assembly,” he added.

He alleged that the State government had failed to maintain law and order in the State properly. “The law and order disturbances in Belagavi and other places seem to be a case of complete police failure. Police could have prevented such things, but they did not. The State intelligence department is dead. The government has no control over administration and there is a severe law and order issue,” he said.

Shivaraj Holimath, president of Sangolli Rayanna Sene, Ambaraya Karadiguddi, and other Karnataka Rakshana Vedike leaders Deepak Amblihal, Baburao, and others were present.