Prasad accuses Cong of politicising Lankesh's murder, asks Siddaramaiah why she was not given security

Addressing a brief press conference, Prasad said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) hopes that the Congress-run  Karnataka government,  will investigate the case rising above politics.

Prasad attacked the Congress party and its vice president Rahul Gandhi for what he alleged, turning the murder case into a Congress-BJP issue.

The Union Minister asked the Karnataka government whether  Lankesh was working to bring Naxalites into the mainstream with the permission of the government, as the journalist's brother has claimed.

"If she (Lankesh) was doing with the permission of the Karnataka government then why she was not given enough security," he asked.

The Union minister also asked Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah whether his government approves the Congress VP's blame on the RSS and  right wing activists for the murder.

Accusing Modi and his party, the BJP, of trying to silence any voice of dissent, Gandhi , a day after the murder, said it is "very sad that a journalist against fanaticism was killed."

"People say that the Prime Minister  is quiet. The point is the entire ideology is to silence voices," the Congress vice-president  told reporters.

"Sometimes, under pressure, the Prime Minister  makes statements. But the entire ideology is this."

Prasad, who is a senior member of the BJP, attacked the Congress party for taking  a "double standard" in regard to several incidents.

Despite condemning the murder of Lankesh, Prasad also pointed out the killings of RSS or BJP workers in states like Karnataka and Kerala, where he alleged, the Congress remained silent.

"This hypocrisy needs to be exposed" he said.

No major breakthrough has yet been made even as a 21-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been probing the murder case of journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh.

The SIT has been formed by the Karnataka government.

Gauri Lankesh's murder has sparked country-wide protests.

Her family also said they will move to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) if they fail to get any justice in the murder case, media reports said.

However, despite examining CCTV footage the police could not identify the gunmen who killed the journalist-activist.

Lankesh, a popular journalist who took stand against Right-wing ideology, was shot three times by some unknown assailants outside her residence.

Lankesh, who worked as an editor in a Kannada weekly Lankesh Patrikewas, died at an age of 55.