BENGALURU : BJP and JDS workers led by their leaders BS Yediyurappa, Pralhad Joshi and HD Kumaraswamy launched their padayatra to Mysuru on Saturday, demanding that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah resign over the alleged scams in MUDA and ST development corporation. Yediyurappa said Siddaramaiah should resign gracefully as CM. He expressed confidence that Siddaramaiah would do so before the padayatra reached Mysuru. “The struggle (against the Congress government) will continue until BJP-JDS government is formed,” he said.
Union Minister Kumaraswamy predicted that the Siddaramaiah government will not survive for long. “They (DyCM DK Shivakumar and other Congress leaders) are claiming that the Congress rule will continue in the state for 10 years. Let it survive for 10 more months,’’ he said. “People of the state feel that the Congress government’s pot of sins is overflowing. Hence, we decided to take out a padayatra to remove the corrupt Congress government and also Siddaramaiah as CM,” Kumaraswamy said. He threatened to expose Shivakumar’s “misdeeds”, especially of amassing wealth, when the padayatra reached Ramanagara.
State BJP chief BY Vijayendra said that the padayatra has the power to unseat the “corrupt” Congress government.
State BJP in-charge Radha Mohandas Agrawal raised the alleged scam in the ST Corporation and alleged that it took place on the instructions of Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi. “The scam money was sent to the Congress high command. He used that money for elections,” Agrawal alleged.
State BJP co-in-charge Sudhakar Reddy said the padayatra is a people’s march with Vijayendra-Kumaraswamy leading it like ‘Krishna and Arjuna’. Alleging that the Congress government is headed by corrupt leaders and liars, he said it’s time for Siddaramaiah to go.
Pralhad Joshi alleged that the Congress government has been threatening the governor after Siddaramaiah received the show-cause notice over the MUDA scam.
The padayatra started after a pooja at Kempamma Devi temple at Kengeri. A life-size portrait of Dr BR Ambedkar was placed on the dais to send out a message that the BJP-JDS alliance abides by the Constitution. Union ministers of state Shobha Karandlaje and V Somanna, LoP in the Assembly R Ashoka, LoP in the Council Chalavadi Narayanaswamy, and JDS legislators GT Deve Gowda and CB Suresh Babu were among other prominent leaders who took part in the padayatra.