Mekedatu Padayatra: Another FIR against 40 Cong leaders including DK Shivakumar for COVID rules violation

Ramanagara (K'taka), Jan 12: As the Congress' 'padayatra' demanding implementation of the Mekedatu project across the Cauvery river, entered its third day on Tuesday, another FIR has been registered against 40 party leaders including its state President D K Shivakumar and others for taking out the march defying COVID-19 curbs.

The FIR has been registered at the Sathanoor police station for defying restrictions on Monday, during which Congress leaders and a large number of party workers had marched a distance of about 15 km from Shivakumar's native Doddalahalli to Kanakapura.

Shivakumar's brother and Bengaluru Rural MP D K Suresh, former Ministers Krishna Byre Gowda, H Anjaneya, and party leaders like- Narayanaswamy, Motamma, P T Parameshwara Naik, Dhruvanarayana, are among those mentioned in the FIR. They have been booked for violation of guidelines, gathering in huge numbers, without wearing masks and maintaining social distance, under the Karnataka Epidemic Diseases Act and sections of IPC, the FIR said.

This even as the Congress' 10-day long padayatra demanding for implementation of Mekedatu project, to which neighbouring Tamil Nadu is opposed to, continued for the third day today for a distance of about 14.3 km from Kanakapura to Chikkenahalli, with participation of hundreds of party workers and supporters.

The first FIR filed at the same Sathanoor police station for defying restrictions on Sunday, had named 30 people including Shivakumar, Suresh, Leader of Opposition in the State Assembly Siddaramaiah, former Union Minister Veerappa Moily, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, former Deputy CM G Parameshwara, among others.

The padayatra spanning a distance of nearly 139 km is scheduled to conclude at Basavanagudi in Bengaluru on January 19.

Alleging that the BJP government was making frustrated attempts to scuttle the padayatra, fearing political gain for the Congress party, Siddaramaiah earlier today asserted that they will go ahead with it as planned.

"They (govt) have booked cases against 30 of us and they may book more cases. We will not fear cases, if they feel they can scare us by filing cases, we can call this BJP government a foolish government...we will fight it legally," he said.