The day-and-night protest by the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party for the last two days against the State government ended in an anti-climax on Sunday.
The BJP tried to end its protest with a strong note by trying to lay siege to Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy’s home office Krishna. However, to pre-empt the BJP’s plans, Mr. Kumaraswamy offered to meet its leaders to discuss all issues at their convenient time. However, BJP State president B.S. Yeddyurappa and other leaders turned down the offer and went ahead with their efforts to lay siege to his home office.
As a rally of BJP workers led by Mr. Yeddyurappa marched from Maurya Circle towards Krishna, the police stopped them at Gandhi Bhavan. The Bengaluru City Police took hundreds of leaders, including Mr. Yeddyurappa, R. Ashok, and K.S. Eshwarappa, into preventive custody and later released them. However, MLA for Honnali M.P. Renukacharya escaped the police net to reach Krishna and staged a protest alone. He too was taken into custody.
Earlier in the day, Animal Husbandry Minister Venkatarao Nadagouda from the JD(S) visited the protest site and handed over a letter from the Chief Minister to Mr. Yeddyurappa, in which he sought time from the BJP leader to discuss all issues over which the BJP was protesting. Turning down the offer, Mr. Yeddyurappa said: “There is nothing to discuss with Mr. Kumaraswamy. Let him first look into the demands placed before him and work towards improving the situation on the ground.” The BJP has been protesting against the government’s proposal to sell 3,667 acres to Jindal company and the government’s alleged poor response to drought relief.