Bengaluru, March 2 (Agency) Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Wednesday accused the Congress of playing politics over the death of student Naveen Shekharappa Gyanagoudar who was killed in Ukraine. “The Congress is playing politics over Naveen’s death who died in a war zone. This shows that the party has fallen into a deep abyss,” he told reporters here. India is the only country that is bringing back its citizens holed up in Ukraine, Bommai said. Naveen, 21, was a final year medical student at Kharkiv National Medical University.
He was killed in Russian shelling while waiting in a queue to buy groceries. Earlier, former Chief Minister and Congress leader Siddaramaiah held Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government accountable for Naveen’s death as they failed to gauge the Ukraine situation and take appropriate action. The Prime Minister and the External Affairs Ministry should use all their resources in ensuring the safe return of Indian students stuck in Ukraine, he said. Echoing Siddaramaiah’s remark, KPCC Working President Ramalinga Reddy too held the Central government responsible for Naveen’s death. He attacked BJP leaders for gaining cheap publicity by posing with Ukraine returnees. During Manmohan Singh’s rule, about 16,000 Indians were evacuated from war-torn Libya in 2011, he said.
“The BJP government has not even brought back 500 Indians but it is taking credit… On the other hand, Manmohan Singh, whom the BJP calls Mouni Singh, brought back 16,000 Indians from Libya without any publicity,” he said. Congress leader D K Shivakumar also criticised the Modi government. He said both the central and state governments have failed to safeguard Indians students and delayed the evacuation process. “This is the irresponsibility of the Central government.” Former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy of the JD-S told the Centre to hasten its rescue operations.