Sidelights of Congress padayatra

The last mile

The  last stretch of the padayatra, eight km from Halakundi village to Bellary city, received a huge response from the public. Thousands of workers from different parts of the State joined the march. As the distance to be covered on the last day was much less than that on the previous days, the leaders began their walk around 11 am. They reached the convention venue, the district stadium well before the scheduled time of 2 pm.

Return by train

The Congress workers who had trekked 320 km from Bangalore to Bellary returned by a train on Monday night. Union Minister of State for Railways K H Muniyappa had arranged for a special train. However, the senior leaders of the party returned by their personal vehicles.

Security to BJP office

The district administration left no stone unturned to ensure the Congress padayatra and convention passed off peacefully. Police took special care to guard building belonging to BJP leaders in the city, including houses. They were also deployed at the party's district unit office.

Chopper-hopper media

The Congress succeeded in gathering a massive crowd to witness its convention in Bellary. The party had made necessary arrangements to help the electronic media to capture inflow of large number of people to the city. Congress leaders took electronic media crew in a helicopter around Bellary so that they could capture aerial view of the city.

From above, the crew could capture long queue of vehicles carrying party workers to the convention stuck on the outskirts of the city and the massive crowd spread all over the city.

No city bus service

The last day of padayatra disrupted road traffic in Bellary. As most of the Congress MLAs, former ministers, former MLAs took part in the rally, hundreds of cars and SUVs followed the party workers trekking to Bellary.

People of the city were put to inconvenience as the district administration, anticipating heavy traffic, withdrew the city bus service till late in the evening. The vehicles which carried Congress supporters from different parts of the State were parked on the outskirts of the city.

Cong posers to CM...

The Congress speakers attacked Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa ruthlessly, charging him with cowardice in the face of Reddys’ arrogance. Here are some of the jibe against Yeddyurappa:

- Yeddyurappa is scared of being exposed if the illegal mining is referred to the CBI.

- Can he hold a convention in Bellary without the support of the Reddys?

- Can he even transfer a Tahsildar without the Reddys’ consent?

- The CM is ‘Hijada’ (eunuch). When he is in Bellary, he is with the Reddys. Once out of Bellary, he is against them. He indulged in Operation Lotus to grab leaders of other parties to his fold instead of nurturing leadership - C M Ibrahim

- The State never had a liar, coward and poor administrator for Chief Minister like Yeddyurappa.

- If the Chief Minister has guts, he should dissolve the Assembly and go in for polls.

 ...and to Reddys

The State Congress leaders who spoke at the convention targeted the Reddys and Sriramulu in their home turf. Siddaramaiah, took on the Reddys, in particular Janardhana, posing a counter challenge. 

Here are some of the comments made against the Reddys and the challenges thrown at them:

- Let the Assembly be dissolved, I am ready to contest from Bellary if Janardhana Reddy is going to face me (Siddaramaiah)

- Let all BJP MLAs of Bellary resign, we are ready to face bypoll.

- Why did the Reddys did not build even a single house to the flood victims?

- How did the Reddys get money and place to build a palace in Belalry City?

- Being a son of a Constable, how could Janardhana Reddy make so much money in a short span of time? How could Reddy’s wife Aruna sign an MoU for an investment of Rs 36,000 crore in addition to Rs 20,000 crore invested in Kadapa?

- Instead of Sriramulu, the Reddys and the Chief Minister should have got their heads tonsured.

- The Reddys have given away the Karnataka land to AP for the sake of their business. Is it not a shameful act?

- The Lads are welcoming a CBI probe into illegal mining. Why are the Reddys opposing it?

- Development of Bellary is restricted only to the streets leading the bungalows of the ministers. Is this development?

- In terms of income generation, Bellary is 5th among the districts in the State. But in terms of health and education, it is at 18th position. Can this be called development?

- Sushma Swaraj comes to Bellary on Varamahalakshmi Day every year. Why? Not for nothing except to carry away Lakshmi.