Karnataka BJP MLC booked for saying deputy commissioner ‘may have come from Pakistan’

The Karnataka Police on Monday filed a first information report against Bharatiya Janata Party MLC N Ravi Kumar for saying that Kalaburagi Deputy Commissioner Fouzia Taranum “may have come from Pakistan”, The Indian Express reported.

Taranum, a 2015 cadre Indian Administrative Service officer, was a recipient of the best electoral practices award conferred by the president in January.

The Karnataka Indian Administrative Service Officers’ Association has condemned Kumar’s remark.

Kumar, the chief whip of the Opposition in the Legislative Council, made the comment at a rally organised by the Hindutva Party in Kalaburagi on Saturday against the alleged mistreatment of BJP MLC Chalavadi Narayanaswamy in Chittapur on May 21, NDTV reported.

Congress workers reportedly blockaded a government guest house and did not allow Narayanaswamy to come out. This came after the MLC allegedly likened Priyank Kharge, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge’s son and Karnataka minister, to a “dog”, according to The Indian Express.

Speaking at Saturday’s rally, Kumar claimed that the deputy commissioner’s office in Kalaburagi had lost its independence.

Taranum only listened to what the Congress said, he alleged.

“I do not know whether she comes from Pakistan or is an IAS officer here,” The Indian Express quoted Kumar as having said. “Listening to your applause, I think she might have come from Pakistan.”

Videos of the BJP MLC’s speech were circulated widely on social media.

On Monday, Kumar...

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