BJP MLA Satish Reddy Who Wanted Muslims Removed From BBMP War Room, Once Faced Flak From Party For Supporting Tipu Jayanti

BJP MLA from Bengaluru’s Bommanahalli, Satish Reddy who is being slammed along with MP Tejasvi Surya for communalizing the COVID crisis and for ordering the removal of 17 Muslim employees from BBMP’s war room, once faced his own party’s ire after his picture wearing a Muslim skull cap was put up on flex boards and banners celebrating Tipu Jayanti.

In 2017, much to the embarrassment of the BJP in Karnataka, some MLAs from the BJP had taken part in Tipu Jayanti celebrations despite the saffron party’s opposition.

Satish Reddy had his photograph plastered on posters made for the event in his constituency in Southeast Bengaluru. When asked, he had said that he has no issues extending his support to such events, though he would strictly abide by the party’s stand. He later blamed “unknown people” for putting his picture wearing a skull cap and had them removed, after being warned of disciplinary action by party leaders.

On Tuesday, Satish Reddy, along with accompanied by Bangalore South MP Tejasvi Surya, Basavanagudi MLA Ravi Subramanya, and Chickpet MLA Uday Garudachar, released a video, where he was seen barging into a COVID war room and asking officials if BBMP was a Hajj Bhavan or a Madrasa to recruit Muslims.

In the video, Surya is seen asking the BBMP official what process was followed to recruit the volunteers in the COVID war room, and read out a list of 17 people, who all happened to be Muslims. Surya, Reddy, and the other BJP leaders were seen asking officials to remove the Muslim employees from the war room.

The 17 people were sacked immediately.

A news report by Vijay Karnataka, however, has accused Reddy himself of being part of the scandal. The report alleged that Reddy put his agents in the BBMP war room, who in turn were booking beds for his supporters. Reddy and his agents are alleged to have issued threats to officials in the war room to prioritize his supporters over others, the paper reported.

The report further alleged that the beds were also being sold for monetary exchange to distressed patients.