BJP may scuttle January 9 Mekedatu march: Siddaramaiah

Mysuru: The BJP government in Karnataka may try to scuttle our proposed Mekedatu padayatra (march) on January 9 citing a spike in coronavirus cases, alleged senior Congress leader and former chief minister Siddaramaiah.

Speaking to media persons here on Monday he said, "We are planning to take our fight regarding the Mekedatu project to its logical end. The government which is always against Congress, is giving baseless statements."

The Congress leader said, "There is nothing new about the Mekedatu project. In fact, Congress had proposed it in 1965 when S Nijalingappa was at the helm. But due to various reasons, we could not implement the project. To force the government to fast-implement it now, we are going on a padayatra on January 9. But some of our politician friends are saying it is a 'political gimmick.' We are a proactive opposition. Considering that this government is thick-skinned, we are forced to awaken it through padayatra."

Continuing further, he said, "If the recent elections are any indicators, Congress is successful in pushing the BJP behind. We are confident of coming back to power whenever the Assembly elections are held."

He added, "Padayatra is certainly not for political gains as alleged by others. We are doing it out of social concern, We don't need a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from anyone as it is a drinking water project. We need to take only the environmental clearance. There is widespread criticism but we are not unduly worried. We are going to

involve many senior leaders, mutt heads and others to take part in the padayatra. If the project is implemented, it will help 2.5 crore people in the state. Tamil Nadu's objection carries no meaning."

Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president D K Shivakumar, working president R Dhruvanarayan, Mysuru city unit party president R Murthy, district president B J Vijayakumar, former MLA M K Somashekar and others were present.