Protests continue in Bangalore

Protests continue in Bangalore

Staff Reporter

— Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

Demonstration: Members of the Kannada Sene beginning a nightlong protest in Bangalore on Thursday.

BANGALORE: Protests over the Hogenakkal drinking water supply project continued here on Thursday.

Members of Kannada Sena began a nightlong protest demonstration near the Mahatma Gandhi statue. The protesters wanted the State Government to prevail upon the Centre to stop the Tamil Nadu Government from executing the drinking water project till an elected government came to power in the State.

“The Centre should take this step. An elected government will be in a better position to deal with the issues concerning Hogenakkal and the border dispute involving Belgaum,” said the sena’s convener, Gandharva Manju. He said if the Centre did not take any action then people would be forced to protest in a violent way. Earlier, Jaya Karnataka, an organisation floated by the self-styled social reformer, N. Muthappa Rai, called for a rally from the city to Hogenakkal. State president of the organisation Ramesh Gowda said the “Jala Jagruti Jatha” would begin from the Kempe Gowda statue near Hudson Circle on Friday. It would reach the Hogenakkal drinking water project site on Saturday evening. “We will go the project site with lots of people and lodge our protest,” he said.

There was no disruption in the telecast of Tamil channels on Thursday, despite some Kannada organisations threatening cable operators to stop the telecast. The cable operators said they would not deprive viewers of the channels as it was no way connected with the Hogenakkal issue.