Congress’ Mekedatu ‘padayatra’ enters Bengaluru city, party chief apologises for traffic jams till Mar 3

Bengaluru, Mar 1 (PTI) With Congress’ ‘padayatra’ (foot march), demanding implementation of the Mekedatu project across the Cauvery river, entering Bengaluru, party state President D K Shivakumar on Tuesday apologised to the people of the city, as their march is expected to create traffic jams in parts of the city till March 3.

Also accusing the ruling BJP of trying to stop the padayatra by creating trouble and booking cases against Congress leaders, citing violation of rules, out of “political vengeance”, he said his party will not bow down to such threats.

“I want to apologise to the people of Bengaluru, as there will be traffic trouble in parts of Bengaluru for next three days. There may be traffic trouble for three days that’s all, but it will solve your water related issues for the next 50 years. Our fight is for the people of the state and citizens of Bengaluru. So, please cooperate and march with us,” Shivakumar said.

Speaking to reporters here, he claimed that apartment associations, factory owners, industrialists and common people have come forward to join the fight for water, cutting across party lines.

The padayatra on its third day today will be covering a distance of 15.8 km to reach Jayadeva Junction in the city from near Kengeri.

This is the second leg of the march that ended abruptly in Ramanagara on January 13, when the third wave of the COVID-19 had peaked.

The ‘padayatra 2.0’ with the theme ‘Namma Neeru, Namma Hakku’ (Our water, Our right), that resumed on Sunday, will culminate at the National College Ground in Basavanagudi in Bengaluru on March 3, after covering a total distance of 79.8 kilometres.

Noting that the padayatra has entered the city, the KPCC chief alleged that the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Commissioner and Joint Commissioner through their staff have removed some banners put out by the party, and only after intervention of leaders it was stopped.

“If they had continued to remove our banners, I would have asked our workers to remove banners of Yediyurappa (greeting on his birthday), and by several legislators (BJP) on account of Shivaratri, put across the city. Law should be same for everyone,” he said.

He even went on to ask BBMP Chief Commissioner Gaurav Gupta to name the Corporation office as BJP office, as he accused them of working in favour of the ruling party.