BANGALORE: After a massive police bandobast foiled the Opposition Congress’ plans to lay seige to the Vidhana Soudha on Saturday, the Congress workers staged a dharna by refusing to vacate the police grounds where senior leaders of the party were kept in a day-long detention.
Alleging “violation of human rights”, the leaders initially refused to vacate the City Armed Reserve (CAR) police grounds in Audugodi even after Police Commissioner Shankar Bidari visited the place twice, late evening.
But they finally relented and dispersed after Bidari met the Congress leaders for a third time in the space of four hours, late evening.
The police commissioner, after reportedly acknowledging the lapses on the part of police personnel, assured the Opposition of looking into their complaints.
The Congress was particularly aggrieved that the police — which cited security reasons to deny them entry into the Vidhana Soudha in the morning — had towards evening allowed a meeting of nearly 300 farmers to be held at the same place.
Congress leaders, led by state unit president R V Deshpande and Opposition leader Siddaramaiah, censured both the Yeddyurappa- led BJP government and the police. They described the ruling despensation as “facist” and said that “such things can happen only in an undemocractic and castiest set-up.” “By not permitting the Leader of the Opposition to hold his legislature party meeting, the government has committed a breach of previlege,” said Siddaramaiah.