Curfew clamped in Bangalore
Curfew was clamped in India’s best known IT hub- Bangalore – on Saturday as marauding protesters set afire score of public vehicle to enforce total shut to vent ire against the Karnataka Governor’s sanction for prosecution of Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa for alleged land scam.
So far, over 30 government buses were set on fire in Bangalore, Hasan, Tumkur and Davanagere district, Jayanagar, Electronic City and K R Puram as the pro-bandh supporters – the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) -had been targeting bus depots to cripple life.
The Police Commissioner has enforced section 144 prohibitory order in Bangalore for the next 48 hours.
Governor H S Bharadwaj, who singed prosecution order against the CM, has appealed for peace.
Union Home Minister P Chidambaram has asked the Union Home Secretary to keep in touch with the Karnataka’s Director General of Police (DGP) and get latest law and order situation.
Meanwhile, an eight-member ministerial team staged a march to Raj Bhavan demanding that Bhardwaj provide them a copy of the order according sanction for prosecuting CM in alleged land scams.
State Law Minister S Suresh Kumar led the ministers to Raj Bhavan.
Yeddyurappa, in a letter to the Governor on Friday, said, “It is very unfortunate that being a constitutional head of the state, a copy of the order passed by you was not handed over to me and the information of such an order was divulged to the press.”
Shouting slogans against the Governor, the BJP activists made life practically shut in major parts Karnataka. Crowds became thin and vehicles went off the road as the day progressed while gates of educational institutions and offices remained shut.
The day, being the third Saturday, was however, a normal holiday for Bangalore University.
Yeddyurappa said he was consulting with his party workers whether to move the High Court to challenge the Governor’s order to prosecute him under the provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act.
Media reports quoted BJP sources as saying that the matter were being discussed with legal experts and the next move would be taken once the prosecution order was available from the Raj Bhavan.
The spat between Bhardwaj and Yeddyurappa has been going for months after the latter survived no-motion confidence motion in the Assembly following rebellion among the party legislators and some independents.
Meanwhile, the administration tightened security measures across the state deploying police in all vulnerable areas.
Thirty platoons of the Karnataka State Reserve Police (KSRP) and 18,000 policemen will be on high alert to prevent any untoward incidents on the bandh day, City Police Commissioner Shankar Bidari said.
The Old Madras Road remained blocked for hours near the tin factory with the BJP workers staging demonstration against the Governor?s decision. The workers also burnt an effigy of the Governor.
