Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has obtained some inadvertent and surprising help from the Opposition over demolition of 150 shanties in Bengaluru, offering the 77-year-old a reprieve after sharp criticism from the Congress excessive command.

The Bharatiya Janata Occasion (BJP), the principal opposition occasion in Karnataka, has inadvertently shielded Siddaramaiah from his personal occasion’s anger, intensifying management tussles inside the Karnataka Congress.

Narayanaswamy additionally questioned the motives behind Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan’s focusing on of the Karnataka authorities over the demolition of shanties in Bengaluru’s Kogilu locality.

“When there’s a functioning authorities right here, what’s the work of one other (Kerala) right here?” he requested.

On 20 December, the Bengaluru district authorities demolished greater than 150 ‘unlawful’ properties in Fakir Colony and Waseem Format, stating that the positioning was a rubbish dumping yard.

Quickly after, Vijayan posted on X that the “uprooting of Muslim households who’ve lived there for years exposes the brutal normalisation of ‘bulldozer raj’ and that the Sangh Parivar’s anti-minority politics is now being executed underneath a Congress authorities in Karnataka.”

Because the demolition in Bengaluru, the Karnataka Congress has come underneath fireplace from varied quarters, together with its personal excessive command, which has come down arduous on the ‘bulldozer justice’ which has been popularised by CM Yogi Adityanath in UP, the place extra-judicial strategies have been used to demolish properties of these the administration believed have been behind riots and different ‘unlawful actions’.

“Kerala CM is doing politics… I’m requesting him to remain away as it is a native subject. We now have to safeguard within the curiosity of a well being hazard. We don’t need unlawful folks to occupy authorities property,” D. Okay. Shivakumar, Karnataka’s Deputy CM informed reporters Monday. He additionally visited the demolition web site in Bengaluru.

The BJP has hit out at each the Congress occasion and the Kerala authorities. With meeting elections not far away in Kerala, the Congress is attempting to handle expectations with out denting its prospects within the poll-bound state. However within the course of, it has set off a sequence response.

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‘Bulldozer justice’ 

Apparently, the primary allegation of ‘bulldozer justice’ towards the Karnataka Congress got here from senior Congress chief, P. Chidambaram 12 December.

Reacting to a press release by Karnataka dwelling minister G. Parameshwara that the properties of drug sellers will probably be demolished utilizing bulldozers, Chidambaram stated that he was “alarmed” by the feedback.

“The SC has declared the regulation: Demolishing properties with out due technique of regulation is prohibited and can violate the elemental and human rights of different family members. In addition to, the Congress Occasion’s view is that ‘bulldozer justice’ as practised in U.P. is incorrect, unlawful and unjust. Let not a Congress-governed state like Karnataka go down the unlawful path of U.P…,” he stated.

I’m alarmed by the reported assertion of Karnataka’s House Minister that bulldozers could also be used to demolish the properties of drug peddlers

I hope the report is incorrect

The SC has declared the regulation: demolishing properties with out due technique of regulation is prohibited and can violate the…

— P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) December 12, 2025

Days later, the Karnataka authorities carried out the Kogilu demolition in Bengaluru that fuelled the talk.

At first, the BJP didn’t react since many of the residents of the shanties have been from the minority neighborhood.

However the put up by Congress nationwide basic secretary (organisation) Okay. C.Venugopal triggered a political row that now extends from the nationwide capital to the 2 southern states.

In his put up, Venugopal, who’s from Kerala, stated that the excessive command had expressed “severe concern that such actions ought to have been undertaken with far larger warning, sensitivity, and compassion” and that efforts have been underway to rehabilitate these impacted in Bengaluru.

Spoke to Karnataka CM @siddaramaiah and DCM @DKShivakumar relating to the demolition of unauthorised constructions in Kogilu village, Bengaluru.

Conveyed the AICC’s severe concern that such actions ought to have been undertaken with far larger warning, sensitivity, and…

— Okay C Venugopal (@kcvenugopalmp) December 27, 2025

At first, Shivakumar hit again at Vijayan, stating it had “nothing to do with minorities”.

Siddaramaiah too mirrored these sentiments, stating that regardless of issuing notices, the residents had did not comply, justifying the Bengaluru demolition drive.

“There’s a basic distinction between ‘bulldozer justice’ and the lawful elimination of unlawful encroachments. The criticism being made by Pinarayi Vijayan is politically motivated and displays a lack of know-how of the factual state of affairs…,” he stated.

A number of folks had illegally erected makeshift shelters on the waste-disposal web site within the Kogilu Format close to Yelahanka in Bengaluru. It’s not a spot appropriate for human habitation. Regardless of issuing notices on a number of events directing the households to relocate, the residents… https://t.co/dsWrbevkEB

— Siddaramaiah (@siddaramaiah) December 27, 2025

Narayanaswamy stated Vijayan’s assertion was a “political gimmick” to curry favour within the poll-bound state, however later hardened his stance over Shivakumar’s statements that rehabilitation could be offered to people who misplaced their properties.

“First confirm who they’re, the place they’re from after which rehabilitate them. Why is the Karnataka authorities bending backwards to assist folks from different states, Bangladeshis who’re staying there illegally,” Narayanaswamy stated.

In February final 12 months,  the Siddaramaiah authorities had provided Rs 15 lakhs to the household of 47-year-old Ajeesh Joseph Panachiyil who was trampled to demise by a wild elephant in Kerala’s Wayanad. The orders got here after the then Member of Parliament from Wayanad, Rahul Gandhi, allegedly requested Karnataka to take action. The Karnataka authorities complied, stating that it was an “elephant from Karnataka” that had trampled Ajeesh.

(Edited by Viny Mishra)

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