BENGALURU: KPCC president D K Shivakumar and Congress Legislative Party leader Siddaramaiah started separate Praja Dhwani Yatras from Kurudumale in Kolar district, and Basavakalyan in Bidar district, on Friday. After finishing the first leg of their joint bus yatras covering almost all the district headquarters, the leaders resumed the second leg of the yatras to cover 237 taluks across 31 districts.
Opposition leader in Council B K Hariprasad has also started preparing the ground in the coastal region for the ‘Karavali Dhwani Yatra’, to be launched on Sunday from Sullia, in the communally sensitive Dakshina Kannada district where the saffron party has the upper hand. He held a preliminary meeting with veteran leader RV Deshpande and Manjunath Bhandari in Udupi on Friday. The yatra will culminate at Sringeri on February 9.
The leaders will highlight the party’s poll promises for people of the coastal region, with programmes aimed at the minorities, Bunts and fisherfolk.
The party has also indicated that elections are a priority rather than the budget session, with Siddaramaiah taking just a day’s break from his tour, to attend when the budget is tabled on February 17. The yantras are planned according to the caste matrix: in Old Mysuru, Dalit leaders including former Union minister KH Muniyappa and Dr G Parameshwara will accompany Shivakumar to work on a Dalit-Vokkaliga combination.
Veerashaiva-Lingayat leaders, including KPCC campaign committee chairman M B Patil and working president Eshwar Khandre, are accompanying Siddaramaiah to work out the combination of Veerashaiva-Lingayats, backward Kurubas and minorities.