Siddaramaiah urges Karnataka CM to issue orders to withdraw FIR against Sonia Gandhi

Congress leader Siddaramaiah on Thursday urged Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa to immediately issue orders to withdraw the FIR filed against Congress president Sonia Gandhi over the tweets on May 11 by the party's official handle about PM-CARES Fund.

"I strongly urge @CMofKarnataka @BSYBJP to immediately issue orders to withdraw the FIR and initiate an enquiry against the Police Officer for violating all the applicable provisions of the Indian Penal Code and other applicable law of our land," Siddaramaiah tweeted.

In a series of tweets, the former Karnataka Chief Minister said: "An FIR is filed, against Hon. @INCIndia President Smt. Sonia Gandhi, based on the misleading complaint filed by @BJP4India Worker K V Praveen Kumar. The premise of the complaint is based on misconstrued and biased assessment of a tweet by @INCIndia."

"The decision to file a complaint is based on an incorrect interpretation, which is backed by political compulsions and also with an intention to tarnish the public image of Smt. Sonia Gandhi," he tweeted.

"@INCIndia had tweeted, regarding PMCares Fund with a bona fide intention, to urge Prime Minister of India to effectively and efficiently use the fund collected towards addressing the health and economic issues surrounding Covid19 outbreak," the Congress leader said in a tweet.

He added: "The tweet echoes the public sentiment of our country amidst unprecedented crisis & was intended to initiate dialogue in the public forum regarding the transparency of the PMCares fund, which is a reflection of healthy democracy."

"The complaint is an attempt to intimidate @INCIndia President and its workers, & thereby preventing them to voice the opinion of a common man. The Police Officer, who filed an FIR, seems to have bypassed all preliminary procedures & may have acted on behest of invisible hands," he tweeted.

An FIR has been registered against Congress president Sonia Gandhi in Sagar taluk of Shivamogga district of Karnataka over tweets on May 11 by the party's official handle about PM-CARES Fund.

The FIR, registered under Sections 153 (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot) and 505 (statements conducing to public mischief) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), identifies Gandhi as the handler of the social media account.

The complaint by advocate Praveen KV alleged that the Congress party, through the tweets, has made rumourous statements against the Government of India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi and was trying to provoke the people against the government.

According to the FIR, the Congress party had on May 11, 2020, made false and baseless allegations, claimed misappropriation of PM-CARES Fund and cast aspersions on the Government of India through the tweets.

"A Twitter account handled by All India Congress Committee headed by Sonia Gandhi had on May 11, 2020, published tweets terming PM CARES Fund as PM CARES Fraud. They had claimed that the PM CARES fund is not being used for the public," Praveen KV told ANI on Thursday.

He said that he has collected all the details related to the tweets and account from the handle and filed a complaint in the matter, following which a preliminary enquiry was conducted and an FIR was registered in the matter.

"They had also said that the Prime Minister was enjoying and going to foreign trips with this fund. This is clearly rumourous news against the Government of India in this COVID-19 pandemic situation. In this regard, I had filed a complaint. After a primary enquiry, the Sagar Police has filed an FIR against Sonia Gandhi, who heads the INC Twitter account," Praveen KV said.

(ANI)