Corona crisis; Janata Jaladhare programme put off

Shyam Sundar Vattam | NT

Bengaluru: In view of the surge in Corona positive cases in the State, the proposed ‘Janata Jaladhare’ which was supposed to start from January 26 has been postponed, said former CM and senior Janata Dal (Secular) leader, H.D.Kumaraswamy.

“There is a sharp rise in Corona cases across the State. The State government has imposed night curfew and weekend curfew to check the spread of this virus. In the interest of people, the Ganga Rathayatra as part of Janata Jaladhara has been put off. It will start once the cases decline”, he said at a news conference here on Tuesday.

The former CM said as per the itinerary, the programme was supposed to be launched on January 26 for which all preparations had been done. But, the JD(S) is not in a hurry to carry out the programme flouting Covid norms as the Congress party did. “We will do it by duly following Covid Appropriate Behavior (CAB). Before the launch of this programme, we will give full information to the people in the form of handbills or other publicity modes. The contributions of the JD(S) to implementing state irrigation projects would be conveyed to them. Besides, the contributions of H.D.Deve Gowda as Prime Minister to the State in various forms will be explained effectively to the masses”.

Kumaraswamy said there would be no hide and seek in the JD(S) programme as they would tell the people that all pending and ongoing irrigation projects would be completed if his party was given a clear mandate to rule the State for the full term. How it is done would be explained through the Jaladhare programme, he added. He accused the Congress party of neglecting the state’s irrigation projects all these years. As selection approach, they would harp on emotional issues and similarly, they have just remembered the Mekedatu project,he quipped.

After ‘sleeping for over for 50 years, the Congress party has now woken up and launched the ‘Namma Neeru Namma Hakku’ program. It is the same party that had unleashed atrocities on the activists of Mahadayi Horata Samiti. The police beat up the agitators of Yamanur village in Navalgund taluk including women for staging a dharna when Siddaramaiah was the Chief Minister of the Congress government. The Mahadayi agitators were real farmers but the Mekedatu project protesters were only Congress leaders, he said. The former CM said the list of candidates for the 2023 Assembly polls was ready but there was a delay in releasing it due to the Corona pandemic. The list would be out once the pandemic comes under control. State JD(S) President H.K.Kumaraswamy and Bidar MLA Bandeppa Kashempur were present.