Mangaluru, Jan 31: The Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) will contest in 100 seats in the coming assembly elections in Karnataka, SDPI state secretary Afsar Kodlipete said on Tuesday.

Addressing reporters in Udupi, he said the first list of the SDPI candidates has already been released. The party will contest eight seats in the twin districts of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi.

He said the JD(S)-Congress government and the BJP government had proved to be 'failures' in the last five years. The present BJP government is steeped in corruption, he alleged.

After the BJP government came to power, five percent commission is being sought for approval of projects and 40 percent commission to pass the bills, he claimed.

The SDPI leader further alleged that VHP leader Sharan Pumpwell was involved in all the murders of Muslims in Udupi and DK districts since 2016. He wondered why the state government is not taking action against his reported speech claiming that Hindu youths had murdered Fazil of Surathkal to avenge the killing BJP youth wing leader Praveen Nettaru.

He charged the BJP government with adopting a 'discriminatory approach' towards cases involving the murder of Muslim youths. While Praveen Nettaru murder case was handed over to NIA, the murder cases of Jaleel at Katipalla and Fazil in Surathkal were not handed over to central agencies, he said.

SDPI Udupi district president Shahid Ali and party candidate for Kaup assembly segment Hanif Muloor were present.

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Chikkamagaluru: Five activists of BJP and Bajrang Dal were arrested by the Sakharayapatna Police for alleged murder of Congress activist and Sakharayapatna Gram Panchayat member Ganesh Gowda (38) on Friday night, following a fight over a banner.

Three of the arrested men, Sanjay, Bhushan and Mithun, are known to be BJP members.

An argument broke out between two groups in Sakharayapatna of Kadur taluk two days ago regarding a banner for observation of ‘Datta Jayanti’. The argument continued and intensified into a fight on Friday night near a bar in the village. Shortly later, at around 10:30 pm, a group of eight miscreants on motorbikes is learned to have stopped Gowda, who was traveling in a car on the Kalmurudeshwara Mutt Road and attacked him with lethal weapons.

A seriously injured Gowda reportedly died on the spot.

One of the suspects, Sanjay, was also injured in the attack and is being treated at the Chikkamagaluru Mallegowda District Hospital.

Sakharayapatna Police have registered a case and are investigating.

Chikkamagaluru Superintendent of Police Vikram Amte has said that, as precautionary measure, security has been beefed up in the village.

“While four special teams have been formed for investigation, five of the suspects have already been taken into custody. We are still probing the incident,” he added.