Overview

• The state authorised its secretary of personnel and administrative reforms to file a defamation suit in Bengaluru’s 42nd Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court against BJP leaders.
• The lawsuit targets a BJP advertisement titled ‘Charge List on the Failure of the State Government for 2 Years’ which accused the Congress of large-scale scams and misgovernance since 2023.
• BJP state president B.Y. Vijayendra described the legal action as an attack on dissent and invoked the 1975 Emergency.
• Union Minister Pralhad Joshi claimed the Congress was acting “worse than any dictator” by deploying police to intimidate media professionals.
• The BJP has invoked Congress’s 1975 Emergency legacy along with past misuse of Article 356 to argue the lawsuit threatens democratic safeguards.