Bengaluru: The JD(S) Core Committee on Tuesday decided to ask its leaders as well alliance partner BJP to postpone the proposed foot march from Bengaluru to Mysuru in view of the flood situation in several parts of the state.
The foot march is scheduled to start on August 3 to double down on the site allotment scam at Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) to which Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is linked.
In the wake of the committee's decision, the BJP will hold a meeting on Wednesday to discuss the future of the foot march, according to Opposition Chief Whip in the Legislative Council N Ravikumar.
Addressing a news conference, senior lawmaker and JD(S) Core Committee chairperson G T Devegowda said the Old Mysuru region has received good rainfall. "The opinion is that holding a foot march in this situation may not yield good results. Some (leaders) have also expressed concerns over the flood situation in some districts. They feel their attention should be more in this regard and not on the foot march," Gowda said.
"We will request leaders of both parties to postpone the foot march and be with people affected by the flood. We will meet presidents of both parties to communicate this," Gowda said.
Gowda said that people of Bidadi, Ramanagara, Channapatna, Mandya, Maddur, Srirangapatna and Mysuru want Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy, who is also the JD(S) state president, to be present during the foot march. "People are very particular about this. They say they will take part in the foot march without Kumaraswamy," he said.
Specifying that the committee does not want the foot march cancelled, Gowda said: "Our only request is that the foot march should be postponed by a few days."
Apparently, some JD(S) lawmakers and leaders have developed cold feet over the foot march. "This was expressed at a meeting chaired by Kumaraswamy. Some were of the opinion that the BJP should not be allowed to come to the forefront in the Old Mysuru region where the JD(S) has sway," a JD(S) leader said.
A section of BJP leaders is unhappy with the party's decision to take out a foot march on the MUDA issue. Their argument is that the party's focus should be more on the embezzlement of taxpayers' money at the Karnataka Valmiki ST Development Corporation.