BENGALURU: Home minister G Parameshwara Tuesday blamed BJP workers for triggering an incident in Belagavi that led to chief minister Siddaramaiah making a gesture as if to slap a police officer before pulling himself together after security was breached.
“The preliminary information I have is that some BJP workers from Mahila Morcha (women’s wing) entered the venue sporting Congress shawls. That is why the CM was upset,” Parameshwara said.

He said the group was quiet when senior Congress functionaries spoke but waved black flags and raised slogans when Siddaramaiah began to address the gathering. He said he has directed Alok Mohan, Karnataka DGP & IG, to examine whether there were any lapses in security arrangements.
He also criticised BJP, questioning the moral right of its workers to don Congress shawls. “BJP workers should have entered the venue wearing their party shawls and not Congress ones. If they had come to the venue wearing BJP shawls, then police would have known who they were,” he said. “What moral right does a BJP member have to wear a Congress shawl?”
On Timmapur’s terror remarks
On the controversy surround ing remarks made by excise minister RB Timmapur on the Pahalgam terror attack — he said there is “no proper information” on whether terrorists singled out Hindus to kill them — Parameshwara said functionaries should “refrain from giving personal opinions on national issues”.
“We need to be careful while speaking. This concerns national security,” Parameshwara said.
Defending Congress’ record on national security, Parameshwara said the party has made “immense sacrifices” and does not need lectures from critics. “No one else has made the kind of sacrifices for national security that Congress has. We don’t need to be taught lessons on this by others,” he said.