Why Congress called off March 9 bandh against Karnataka government?

Karnataka Congress has withdrawn its planned bandh on March 9 as part of its fight against alleged corruption by the ruling BJP, DK Shivakumar, the state part chief, announced on Wednesday.

The party has taken the decision to call of the two-hour bandh due to schools and college exams. The grand old party had planned a symbolic bandh for two hours from 9 am to 11 am on March 9 to protest the alleged rampant corruption by the BJP government and to demand the resignation of the Chief Minister.

Owing to the pressure from students and parents in the wake of school and college examinations, including the second PUC examination, the party decided to drop its earlier plan on bandh, party's state unit President DK Shivakumar said in a statement. He said this decision has been made after consultation with senior Congress leaders.

"But students and parents expressed their concerns that bandh will cause inconvenience to them as there are exams. Their welfare is our priority. So respecting their feelings, we have decided to withdraw the bandh call," PTI quoted Shivakumar as saying.

The bandh was called after the recovery of over Rs 8 crore cash from BJP MLA Madal Virupakshappa's son Prashanth Kumar M V, by the Lokayukta, in an apparent bribery case.

However, Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai had mocked the Congress for calling bandh. Accusing the Congress of indulging in 'rampant corruption' while in power, he claimed that the then CM Siddaramaiah had set "targets" for Ministers in his cabinet. "Congress is the well of corruption, their sins are not just one or two. Congress itself is on the verge of getting bandh, so by means of such protests and bandh they want to safeguard their political future, it won't get any response, because those who make allegations should be of clean hands, only then it will have some value," Bommai said. .

He alleged that the Congress has indulged in corruption in the past during the procurement of pillows and beds, among others.

"From small projects to big irrigation projects, they have indulged in corruption. Siddaramaiah the then CM had set a target for all his Ministers, ask M B Patil, K J George, (H C) Mahadevappa among others regarding the targets set for them," the CM said, adding that people will not pay heed to the bandh call given by the Congress, as their "hands are completely immersed in corruption".

With inputs from PTI