Karnataka - Bangalore

BJP holds protests all over the State

Bangalore: Getting restless by the Union Government’s alleged delay in deciding favourably on the issue of allowing the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Janata Dal (Secular) to form a government headed by the former Deputy Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, workers of the BJP and sympathisers held protest demonstrations all over the State on Friday condemning the Centre’s attitude.

The demonstrators gathered at important junctions of most of the district headquarters and towns across the State demanding immediate revocation of the President’s Rule paving the way for the installation of the BJP-led government. There should be no problem for Governor Rameshwar Thakur to invite Mr. Yeddyurappa to form the government, as he had the required numbers in the Legisltive Assembly, which has been kept in suspended animation, they argued.

Not to be outsmarted by the new coalition, Congress workers also staged meetings in most of the districts reiterating their request to the Governor for rejecting the demand of the BJP-Janata Dal (Secular). Instead, the Congress leaders asked Mr. Thakur to recommend to the Centre to dissolve the Assembly and order for fresh polls.

The leaders of both the BJP and the Congress presented memoranda to the Deputy Commissioners of the districts with a separate letter addressed to the Governor for forwarding their respective demands to Mr. Thakur.

In Shimoga, State secretary of the BJP M.B. Bhanu Prakash, district unit president Girish Patel and others participated in a meeting.

However, members of the National Students Union of India, who took out a procession led by the former municipal president B.A. Ramesh Hegde charged that there would be no stable government, as both the BJP and the Janata Dal (Secular) had serious differences.

Davanagere MP Siddeshwar, who led a rally of his party workers in the textile town denounced the alleged ulterior motive of the Congress in thwarting the coalition partners from providing a clean and good governance to the people.

In Hassan, the party district unit president G. Hanumanthaiah, secretary Somasekhar and others argued that there should not be any problem for the Governor to consider the letter of Mr. Yeddyurappa, who had presented sworn declarations of 129 MLAs of both the parties supporting him.

The twin-cities of Hubli and Dharwad witnessed protest marches not only by the three parties, presenting their respective view points, but also one by the Karnataka Komu Souharda Vedike and the Bahujan Samaj Party. These two organisations wanted the Centre to dissolve the Assembly. In Dharwad, tension prevailed for a while when the workers of the BJP and the BSP almost came from opposite direction with highpitch sloganeering.

In Bijapur, the Congress district unit president Sharanappa Sunagar alleged that the BJP and Janata Dal (Secular) had come together with an ulterior motive of hushing up their corrupt activities, which came to light during the 20-month regime of H.D. Kumaraswamy.

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