Karnataka chief minister BS Yeddyurappa has expressed his displeasure at the padayatra launched by health minister B Sriramulu in Bellary district to counter the Congress’ march from Bangalore to Bellary.
Yeddyurappa, who held a meeting with senior ministers at his residence on Friday to take stock of the political situation, said,
“There was no need for Sriramulu to take out a padayatra when the BJP leadership has decided to hold four mega public rallies in Davangere, Mysore, Gulbarga and Bellary to counter the Congress’ ‘Bellary Chalo padayatra’.”
When asked for the reason behind Sriramulu’s padayatra, which is strongly supported by revenue minister G Karunakara Reddy and tourism minister G Janardhana Reddy — the two are the targets of the Congress protest march — the chief minister said,
“Continued attack by Congress leaders on BJP leaders from Bellary and their padayatra to Bellary have forced Sriramulu to launch this counter yatra in Bellary. They launched it with permission from state BJP president KS Eshwarappa.”
He, however, made it clear that his personal view was that Sriramulu’s padayatra was not needed. “It will not be appropriate on our part to take out padayatras as we are the governing party. We are organising a mega public rally in Bellary on August 20. Perhaps, Sriramulu has hit the streets to mobilise people and set the mood for this rally,” Yeddyurappa said.
Taking strong exception to Congress leaders’ statements against him, he said the statements were “vulgar” and showed the Congress party in poor light. He also saw a “conspiracy to malign the BJP government” in leader of the opposition Siddaramaiah’s statement that the government would be responsible for any untoward incident during the padayatra. “I have instructed police officials to provide fool-proof security for the padayatra and videograph the event. The police have also been instructed to keep a watch on suspicious characters joining the yatra.”
Eshwarappa questioned the rationale behind the Congress’ padayatra. Rejecting the opposition party’s demand for a CBI probe into illegal mining, he said, “When governor HR Bhardwaj himself has said that he is proud to say that he is a Congressman, how can we expect a fair probe from the CBI under the UPA government (at the Centre, headed by the Congress)?”
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