BJP steps up attack on MLA Harish Gowda over Maharani College programme

A day after a Congress-BJP face-off at Maharani Government PU College over a programme organised by Chamaraja Congress MLA K. Harish Gowda on the alleged NEET paper leak, the BJP on Thursday intensified its attack, accusing the Congress MLA of misusing the college campus and involving students in a “politically organised event”.

Former Chamaraja BJP MLA L. Nagendra alleged that the Congress had turned an educational institution into a political platform under the guise of interacting with students.

Questioning the State government’s stand, Mr. Nagendra asked whether the PU Department would similarly permit the BJP to organise political programmes on college campuses.

He also criticised the police for allegedly failing to remove a large banner displayed on the college premises. If the Congress wanted to protest the alleged NEET paper leak, it should have held the programme at a public venue instead of a government college and involving students, he said.

Former Mysuru-Kodagu MP Pratap Simha also came down heavily on Mr. Harish Gowda, alleging that the MLA had failed to attract public participation and therefore relied on students to fill the venue. “The MLA could not mobilise people for the programme, which shows he is losing his support base in the constituency,” Simha said.

He urged the MLA to focus on development works in the Chamaraja constituency instead of indulging in what he termed “cheap politics,” pointing out that barely one-and-a-half years remain before the next Assembly elections.

Responding to Congress workers raising slogans during Wednesday’s altercation, Mr. Simha said he was not intimidated. “I have faced such slogan-shouting on many occasions during my tenure as MP. This is nothing new to me,” he said.

With former MLA L. Nagendra eyeing a political comeback from the Chamaraja constituency and former MP Pratap Simha also having expressed his willingness to contest the next Assembly election from the segment, both BJP leaders used the controversy surrounding the Maharani Government PU College programme to target MLA Harish Gowda, who had defeated Nagendra in the 2023 Assembly election.