BENGALURU: As Congress leaders continued their Mekedatu padayatra, violating all Covid-19 guidelines, the ruling BJP termed it as a super spreader event, and warned the Grand Old Party that it will be held responsible for the surge in cases during the third wave of the pandemic in Karnataka.
The padayatra demanding implementation of the Mekedatu reservoir project entered its third day on Tuesday. “Congress’ padayatra is a super spreader event and a political stunt,” BJP State Executive Committee member Vivek Reddy told mediapersons on Tuesday.
He accused Congress leaders of doing everything to spread the virus, as thousands of people are assembling each day for the padayatra, at a time when Covid cases are also on the rise in the state. In the last few days, Karnataka witnessed a big surge in cases.
Taking to social media, the BJP state unit likened the padayatra to the Tablighi Jamaat religious congregation in Delhi, in 2020, which was accused of being a super spreader during the first wave of the pandemic. The Congress is spreading Covid by holding the padayatra by violating guidelines and it will be directly responsible for the case surge, the BJP stated. Police registered cases against several senior Congress leaders, including KPCC president DK Shivakumar, former CM Siddaramaiah, Opposition Leader in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, and other party MLAs and MPs, for violating Covid guidelines. BJP state unit chief spokesperson MG Mahesh confirmed that the cases have been registered, and action will be taken against those violating guidelines.
Reddy and Mahesh also accused the Congress leaders of not taking any initiative to implement the Mekedatu project, when their party was in power. “They took five years, from 2013 to 2018, to prepare a detailed project report and the BJP governments headed by BS Yediyurappa and Basavaraj Bommai took the project forward,” said Reddy.