Mahadayi: BJP accuses Congress of 'stage-managing' farmers' stir

Bengaluru: The BJP leaders staged a protest amid heavy police deployment outside the Congress headquarters on Wednesday, accusing the ruling party of "stage-managing" the farmers' protest on the Mahadayi river dispute.

Nearly 150 policemen were deployed outside the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) office on Queen's Road, with barricades to prevent BJP leaders from barging into the party office.

"Instead of thanking (BJP state president) B S Yeddyurappa for convincing Goa to agree for talks, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah deployed farmers to stage a protest," BJP general secretary and former minister Shobha Karandlaje alleged. "We were supposed to have worked towards resolving the Mahadayi dispute cutting across party lines, but why could not the Karnataka Congress convince its own party in Goa to agree for talks," she asked.

Former deputy chief minister R Ashoka sustained a minor head injury when he was being pushed into a bus while the police tried to detain BJP workers. He was taken to a private hospital for treatment.

Meanwhile, KPCC working president S R Patil, who also hails from north Karnataka, targetted Prime Minister Narendra Modi for "failing to intervene" in the Mahadayi issue.

"In a federal set up, whenever such a problem arises, the prime minister should intervene and solve it. I am afraid the prime minister has not extended any cooperation, despite a delegation meeting him on the Mahadayi issue," he told reporters.