Amid a spike in COVID-19 cases in Karnataka, the Congress today called off its 11-day Mekedatu padayatra on the fifth day of the rally.
Announcing its decision to “temporarily halt” the padayatra during a press meet at Ramanagara, CLP leader Siddaramaiah and KPCC chief D.K. Shivakumar reiterated that the padayatra would resume from there once COVID restrictions are lifted in the state.
“I, along with KPCC chief, our MLAs, MLCs, MPs and most importantly party workers from across the state, have been taking part in the padayatra for the last four days and the rally has been hugely successful,” said Siddaramaiah.
“After we inaugurated the rally at Sangam, today happens to be the fifth day of the rally and we were supposed to walk the stretch from Ramanagara town to Bidadi along the Bengaluru-Mysuru highway. But we saw many people have tested Covid positive yesterday. And as a national party, which has ruled this country for many years, we too have a sense of responsibility.
“Moreover, the padayatra was to enter Bengaluru in the next two days and Bengaluru has already seen a spike in Covid cases. So, we decided to temporarily call off the padayatra. But let me assure our party workers that we will resume the rally once the Covid restrictions are lifted,” he said at the press conference.
The former chief minister alleged that COVID was spreading in the state because of the BJP government and the BJP members who were found to be “always” violating COVID norms.
“When we decided to hold the padayatra, the third wave of COVID had not started. We all attended the legislature session at Belagavi. If COVID is spreading rapidly today, the Congress party is not responsible but the ruling BJP.
“The chief minister and other ministers continued to attend public events. On January 6, when the 25 newly-elected MLCs took oath in Vidhana Soudha, nearly 4,000 people attended it. BJP MLAs Subash Guttedar and M.P. Renukacharya have attended protests and village festivals. Even the home minister attended a public event in his constituency.
“Prior to that, BJP central ministers went on a Jana Ashirwad Yatra. So, the BJP government has not been fair as they been issuing notices only to the Congress party with the ill intention to scuttle our padayatra,” said Siddaramaiah, who also lauded Bengaluru Rural MP D.K. Suresh for his effort to organise the rally.
Shivakumar said: “We respect the sentiment of the people and the High Court and the opinion of our legislators. We believe we have a commitment towards the people and as a party that has made many sacrifices for the country, we have decided to sacrifice this rally, too, for the time being. But we will not stop the rally. We will resume it from Ramanagara once it is conducive.”
Recalling the sequence of events that led to the Congress party calling off the rally, Shivakumar said, “Yesterday, the assistant commissioner of Ramanagara and some officials came to my Kanakapura residence at night to issue a notice signed by the Ramanagara DC, who is COVID-positive. I refused to accept the notice. So, they pasted it on the gate. The notice directed us to cancel the padayatra.
“On the other hand, the district Congress president was given directions to carry out the rally without disrupting the traffic on the national highway. Today, the BBMP has sent us a notice cancelling the permission granted for the valedictory of the padayatra at the National College grounds on January 19. Till today, there has been no hospitalisation nor any COVID death in Ramanagara district. I dare the ruling BJP to file the cases against all the violators.”
Asserting that the Congress party was a responsible party, Shivakumar said, “Earlier, Karnataka used to fight Tamil Nadu. Today, the Congress is fighting the two parties within the state to provide clean drinking water to the people. When the BJP was targeting certain communities during the second wave of COVID, the Congress stepped in to mitigate the crisis.”
The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday had questioned the BJP government as to how they had allowed the Congress party to carry out the Mekadatu padayatra without permission amid a pandemic. Accordingly, the state government, which had filed four FIRs against the Congress leaders for violating COVID rules, swung into action and issued an order prohibiting the movement of people and vehicles for participating in the padayatra, which reached Ramanagara town at the end of the fourth day. The district authorities issued notices to the KPCC to stop the rally.
Meanwhile, several Congress leaders including Mallikarjun Kharge, former MLC Mallajamma, former Bengaluru mayor Gangambike, former chairperson of state women's commission Manjula Manasa, who had attended the rally tested COVID-positive.
The growing public outrage against the Congress party for continuing the padayatra during a pandemic, in violation of the Disaster Management Act, was proving to be counter-productive for the party, which had hoped to improve its image through the rally.
Most importantly, the high court, on Wednesday, while hearing a PIL seeking a direction to halt the padayatra, had directed the KPCC’s counsel to inform the court if permission was granted for the "Namma neeru, namma hakku" rally and if the KPCC had taken measures in compliance with the standard operating procedures (SOP) prescribed by the state government.
Even as the next case hearing is on January 14, the Congress called off the rally after covering 62.5km in the last four days.
