JD(S) core committee requests party leadership, BJP to postpone foot march over MUDA 'scam'

Bengaluru: JD(S)’s state core committee on Tuesday decided to request its leadership and that of the BJP to postpone their foot march over the alleged Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) site allotment scam seeking to corner the Congress government and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.

They cited continued rain and flood situations in various parts of the state.

There is no question of going back from the agitation against the Congress government in the state and its alleged corruption, they asserted.

The two opposition parties have decided to hold a foot march from Bengaluru to Mysuru from August 3 to 10 in protest against the alleged fraudulent allotment of sites to land losers by MUDA, including to Siddaramaiah’s wife Parvathi, and demanding his resignation.

“At the time when most parts of the state are facing flood-like situations and landslides, people and farmers are in distress. There is loss of lives, crops and livestock — we will have to visit them.

“We have decided to request our leader H D Kumaraswamy, national president H D Deve Gowda, BJP state president B Y Vijayendra and veteran leader B S Yediyurappa to postpone the padayatre for a few days,” core committee chief G T Devegowda said.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, he said the decision had been taken based on ground reports and feedback from the local leaders; also, farmers from several parts of the state have requested to postpone the march as this is their sowing season, and they too want to join the protest at a later date.

“Further, people of Bidadi, Ramangara, Channapatna, Mandya, Maddur, Srirangapatna, Mysore, the route through which the ‘padayatre’ (foot march) passes wants Kumaraswamy to participate in the march; they are saying that they will not participate without him, they want him to take the leadership and participate.

“Even if he cannot walk all along the stretch, they want him to participate in public meetings along the stretch and address them, despite Kumaraswamy telling them that he can come for a day to inaugurate,” he added.

According to some reports, not everyone in the JD(S) is happy about the ‘padayatre’, as some of its leaders have expressed apprehensions to the party leadership, including to Union Minister Kumaraswamy, about the possibility of BJP trying to steal limelight through this march in the old Mysuru region (south Karnataka), which has traditionally been the regional party’s stronghold.

To a question about reports that JD(S) is fearing that BJP and Vijayendra might hog the limelight during the march, G T Devegowda said, “there is no such feeling, there is no need for JD(S) to do politics on this in such a difficult situation. We need to respond to the difficulties faced by the people.”