Lakhs witness BJP's 'Janajagruthi Samavesha'

Bigwigs of the party from Advani to CM Yeddyurappa add colour

 
Senior BJP leader L K Advani joined by a league of State leaders beat a native drum to mark the inaugural of the convention at the grounds opposite to Maharaja College. Though the meet was delayed by an hour, it could do less to dampen the spirit of the people who were anxiously waiting with all eyes and ears.

When Advani began his address, he apologised for being unable to speak in Kannada. But he had a translator in MLC Go Madhusudhan who reproduced Advani’s speech effectively in Kannada.

Advani said that he could have learnt Kannada, had he was for quite a long time in Bangalore jail during emergency. He also recalled an incident where at a party meeting hosted by the then Janata Party leader Chandrashekar was attended by Advani and D Devaraj Urs. The latter signed the register in Hindi and showed it to Advani to his praise.

Advani signed in Kannada much to the surprise of Urs. When Urs told about Advani’s ability in Kannada to Bahuguna, another senior leader, the latter attributed it to Urs only.
“It’s you (Urs) who have indirectly helped him learn Kannada, by keeping him behind bars during emergency in Bangalore jail”, reminisced Advani.

Rajya Sabha member Venkaiah Naidu asked Siddaramaiah ‘From where did Sonia Gandhi come, as he had asked ‘From where did reddy brothers come ?, during Congress convention at Bellary. Lambasting Congress party, Venkaiah Naidu said they have ruled and ruined the nation for several years. He compared their present condition to ‘Fish outside water’ and said that ‘Congress party cannot remain without power for long’.

Revolution

Venkaiah Naidu termed the mushrooming of TV channels as a revolution in the realm and drew an analogy with the earlier days. In those days, when Congress was in power, all the people had to watch was only ‘Doordarshan’, that was nothing but ‘Door se darshan karo’ (Watch it from far) sending the audience to the peels of laughter. Before summing up his address, Venkaiah Naidu said that the huge gathering resembles mini Dasara.
He urged the Congress party to initiate action on illegal mining in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh too.

BJP national general secretary and MP H N Ananth Kumar compared KPCC president R V Deshpande and Working President D K Shivakumar to ‘Sanghya’ and ‘Baalya’ (famous characters of a play by the same name) and Siddaramaiah to ‘Jokumaraswamy’.
Advani was felicitated with a memento of ‘Lord Rama, Seetha and Lakshmana’ by the organisers on the occasion. Farmers from Mandya led by Mysugars Chairman M S Nagarajappa felicitated Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa.

In all about 14 LCD TV sets had been installed at the different points of the venue to enable gathering get a close watch of the programme. Door framed metal detectors had been installed at all the entry points.

Party workers in large numbers including women from Mysore, Bangalore, Mandya, Chamarajanagar, Hassan, Tumkur and several other districts had been ferried in both KSRTC and private buses.

Common menu

Soon after the curtains fell on the convention, it was time to treat the workers appetite.
Several lakhs of food packets were distributed at the counters arranged at Exhibition Grounds, Scouts and Guides Grounds,  J K Grounds, Sarada Vilas College premises and also in Bannimantap.

To avoid any chaos and confusion, 10 counters had been opened in each places and barricades had been put up to ensure all came in queue. The menu was common with ‘vegetable pulaav’, ‘laadu’,  burfey a sweet made by Mymul and water packet being distributed to the hungry.

Security arrangements

The city police led by Police Commissioner Sunil Agarwal had made elaborate security arrangements. Cops had been deployed all over the venue, besides strategic locations in the city. 

Armed cops had been deployed in and around Mandakalli Airport, that witnessed hectic activities with the VIPs flying to the city.