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Lingayat seers want Kolathur Mani
freed on bail

Seers belonging to the Lingayat sect [those who worship Shiv] held a one-day convention in Bangalore on Wednesday and urged the Karnataka government to send Kolathur Mani, who is in jail, as emissary to negotiate the release of Janata Dal leader H Nagappa from the clutches of Veerappan.

More than 400 seers attended the convention and adopted a resolution asking the government to treat the issue on par with the Rajakumar abduction crisis.

The resolution will be translated into Tamil and aired on All India Radio channels so that the brigand can hear it, the organisers of the convention said.

The seers urged the government to muster political will to facilitate the release of Mani on bail.

"All the time negotiators of Veerappan's choice have been sent to negotiate the release of hostages. Now the government should send Mani as negotiator. Already many days have passed. It is our sincere and polite appeal to the government to speed up the process of Nagappa's release from the brigand's hold," they said in a statement.

Nagappa's family, which was present at the convention, sought the blessings of the seers.

Chief Minister S M Krishna, who attended the convention, promised a fair trial to Veerappan if he surrendered.

He told the seers that a lot had changed after Rajakumar's abduction and now the state could not withdraw cases against any undertrail easily.

The Supreme Court had set certain guidelines during Rajakumar's abduction, which the state government had to follow, he said.

Meanwhile, Home Minister Mallikarjuna Kharge said Krishna will meet Deputy Prime Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani and Defence Minister George Fernandes and seek central assistance in solving the crisis.

H Nagappa Abduction: Complete coverage
The Abduction of Dr Rajakumar
The Hunt for Veerappan

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