Cong calls off march to Kodagu due to prohibitory orders

Siddaramaiah said the protest was a party programme and not personal, so after discussion with the state president and leaders, we have decided to postpone it.

After the district administration imposed prohibitory orders in Kodagu for four days, to be in place from Wednesday, Congress has decided to “postpone” its ‘Madikeri Chalo’ rally.

Leader of Opposition in Karnataka Assembly Siddaramaiah speaks to the media on Congress protest rally, in Bengaluru . (ANI)

“There is a right to freedom of movement according to the Constitution, but as part of a conspiracy, they (BJP) have tried to scuttle it. The DC and SP have clamped Section 144...we can oppose and do it, but as the Leader of Opposition and former chief minister, I do not want to violate the law, the party does not want to violate the law,” Siddaramaiah said on Tuesday.

The rally was called in retaliation to the Leader of Opposition facing protest over his statements on VD Savarkar. Siddaramaiah along with Congress leaders and workers had planned to lay a siege to the SP’s office in Kodagu, on August 26, following the incidents of eggs being hurled at his car and black flags being waved during his visit to Kodagu on August 18.

Siddaramaiah said the protest was a party programme and not personal, so after discussion with the state president and leaders, we have decided to postpone it.

“As we should not defy the orders of the government, we have postponed it. After discussing with leaders, we will decide on the further course of action,” he said, while alleging that BJP announced ‘Jana Jagruthi Samavesha’ with a mala fide intention aimed at scuttling Congress’ protest.

The Kodagu district administration has clamped prohibitory orders in the district between 6 am on August 24 and 6 pm on August 27, thereby denying permission for Congress’ protest and BJP’s ‘Jana Jagruthi Samavesha’. Both were scheduled for August 26.

Siddaramaiah had alleged that police were ineffective and did not make any attempt to control protesters when a handbill was thrown inside his car and a couple of eggs were hurled at it in a few places during the visit. He alleged that at one place even a stone wrapped in a cloth was thrown at his car, but police remained silent spectators.

“According to me, this was a government-sponsored protest. Police could have stopped it, but they did not...15-20 RSS, Bajrang Dal and BJP workers were there at three to four places where eggs were thrown. There seemed to be clear instructions from the government not to prevent, what was a well-planned’ and ‘organised’ protests,” he had said earlier.

Claiming that Sampath, who has been accused of throwing an egg, had been to RSS ‘shakhas,’ Siddaramaiah said, he has been forced to make false claims, about his association with the Congress.

“He (Sampath) is an RSS man, BJP MLA Appachuranjan got him out of jail on bail. There are old photos of him with Appachuranjan and with a saffron shawl. He has no links with Congress as claimed by him,” he said.

Reacting to the former CM B S Yediyurappa’s accusations of “unnecessarily creating issues and confusion by planning a protest in Kodagu”, he said, “Which party is Yediyurappa from, what else can you expect him to say?”

“When he (Yediyurappa) says hurling eggs was wrong, how can protesting against it be wrong?” Seeking to know why Yediyurappa did not oppose BJP’s Jagruti Samavesha rally, he asked, “Why did they announce Jagruti Samavesha on the same day we had decided to hold a protest?They announced after I announced the protest. They had mala fide intentions.”

Meanwhile, the former chief minister also welcomed the Congress’s move to drop their planned rally in Madikeri. “I welcome Congress’ move to postpone the rally in Madikeri. When there is peace, you can gather people and hold a rally but holding a rally in such a situation is not good. Our workers must also not hold any rally,” Yediyurappa said.

(With inputs from PTI)