Bribe charges: Congress, BJP hold parallel protests in Mandya

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: The BJP began its overnight dharna in front of Sir M Visvesvaraya Centre in Mandya on Friday night seeking the resignation of Agriculture Minister N Cheluvarayaswamy for allegedly demanding money from the department officials of Mandya for transfers.

Meanwhile, the Congress workers resorted to dharna near the same place where the BJP workers had been staging a strike, in support of Minister Cheluvarayaswamy.

The Congress workers made a scathing attack on the BJP and the JDS for throwing spanners in the wheel of development.

They gave a clean chit to the minister as being an honest politician working for the development of the district.

While the BJP workers raised anti-Cheluvarayaswamy slogans, the Congress activists chanted pro-Cheluvarayaswamy slogans.

The BJP protesters accused the incumbent Congress government of diverting funds allocated for the state development on the implementation of five guarantee schemes.

The scholarship for the children of farmers had been stopped. The state treasury is being looted by the Congress leaders in the name of freebies implementation.

The minister Cheluvarayaswamy has tarnished the image of Mandya by demanding cash for transfer. The protest was led by former minister V Gopalaiah, Mandya district BJP president Umesh Induval and Ashok Jayram.