Mahadayi water row: Farmers home, won't back off till meet with Amit Shah
Hubballi: The over 500 farmers, who were on dharna before the BJP office in Bengaluru, returned to their villages in Gadag and Dharwad districts on Thursday, but vowed to send a team to Bengaluru on December 31 to meet BJP national president, Amit Shah, who is arriving here to look into why the party’s strategy on the Mahadayi water dispute has backfired on it.
The farmers had come to Bengaluru from Hubballi on December 22, a day after state BJP chief, B S Yeddyurappa read out a letter from Goa Chief Minister, Manohar parrikar, agreeing to release Mahadayi water for drinking to Karnataka during his Parivarthana rally in the city.
Far from satisfying the farmers, the letter appears to have created more unrest among them as they don’t seem to believe it will put an end to the dispute, especially as the Goa Water Resources Minister has opposed the release of water to Karnataka.
“We will intensify our agitation if the political parties fail to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi by the end of January to help resolve the dispute. We will come to Bengaluru again to stage a dharna if our demand is not met,” warned farmer leader and Raitha Sena Navalgund taluk convenor, Shivappa Gudisalamani.
Meanwhile, hundreds of BJP workers laid siege to the Congress office in Hubballi, condemning Chief Minister Siddaramaiah for failing to persuade his party’s leaders in Goa to consider Karnataka’s water requirements. Holding the Congress responsible for the delay in implementation of the Kalasa Banduri project to bring Mahadayi water to North Karnataka, they raised slogans against Congress president, Rahul Gandhi. The police had to detain several local BJP leaders to prevent the tension from escalating.
