Karnataka deputy CM Shivakumar kickstarts Congress agitation against BJP

Bengaluru, Aug 2 (PTI) The ruling Congress in Karnataka on Friday staged a demonstration in Bidadi in Ramanagara district against the alleged injustice done to the state by the Centre including tax divulsion and attempts to destabilse the government.

Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, who is also the Congress state president, kickstarted the six-day agitation starting from Friday. He rode a pillion as the party leaders took out a motorcycle rally in the town adjacent to Bengaluru.

The agitation, which the Congress state unit has called ‘Janandolana’ (people’s movement) is also against corruption during the BJP and JD(S) rule in Karnataka.

Shivakumar had directed all the senior leaders, ministers, MPs, MLAs, Legislative Council members, former ministers, former MLAs, Lok Sabha and Assembly, KPCC office-bearers and the district and block Congress Committee presidents and representatives of local bodies to take part in the agitation without fail.

Posters and banners dotted the areas where the agitation took place in Bidadi. The protest will also be held in Ramanagara, Channapatna, Maddur, Mandya and Mysuru.

The demonstrations will take place at the locations from where the proposed BJP and the JD(S) march against the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) scam will pass through from August 3 to August 10.

The Congress protests also comes against the backdrop of a show-cause notice issued by the Karnataka Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot against the MUDA site allotment scam in which Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s wife Parvathi is allegedly a beneficiary.

Based on a petition filed by advocate-activist T J Abraham, the Governor issued the notice on July 26 directing the chief minister to submit his reply to the allegations against him within seven days justifying why permission to prosecute him should not be granted.

The Karnataka government on Thursday “strongly advised” the Governor to withdraw his show-cause notice issued to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah over the MUDA ‘scam’, and alleged that it was part of a concerted effort to destabilise the Congress government.