Bengaluru: In a major setback to self-styled Kannada leaders, including former MLA Vatal Nagaraj, a dawn-to-dusk bandh called by a group of Kannada organisations led by him, on Monday evoked no response. It was for the first time in recent years that a bandh called by Kannada groups failed.
Though Mr Nagaraj and other leaders on Sunday night tried hard to win wider support for the bandh and appealed to all organisations, including BMTC/KSRTC staff unions, auto unions, hotel owners' association and labor unions, no one extended support.
Mr Nagaraj had announced that a mega-rally would be taken from Town Hall to Freedom Park. But with just around 50 activists turning up for the protest on Monday morning, he had to call off the march. He blamed the media and Karnataka Rakshana Vedike president Narayana Gowda for the failure of the bandh.
“If I was an opportunist, I would have become the chief minister a few years ago. But I sacrificed it for the cause of Kannada. The people of Bengaluru don’t know my contribution for the cause of the city and state,” he said.
