SALAR NEWS

BJP starts 'Ballari Chalo' foot march for 'corrupt' Cong regime's exit

The BJP's 10-day foot march is from Lingasugur in Raichur district to Ballari

PTI

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BJP leader Basavaraj Bommai, state Assembly LoP R Ashoka, former state CM BS Yediyurappa, Karnataka BJP President BY Vijayendra during the inauguration ceremony of the 'Ballari Chalo' Padayatra, in Bengaluru (PTI)

Raichur, 1 Sept

Karnataka BJP chief B Y Vijayendra on Tuesday said his party's padayatra seeking the dismissal of Congress leader B Nagendra from the Cabinet will now transform into a campaign against the "corrupt" Congress regime, and it would go on till its exit.

BJP state president B Y Vijayendra said the foot march, which was originally a campaign seeking the then Minister Nagendra's removal from Chief Minister D K Shivakumar's Cabinet, would now become a larger campaign against the Congress government.

Speaking to reporters here ahead of the BJP's 10-day foot march from Lingasugur in Raichur district to Ballari, he said the resignation of Nagendra would not bring the BJP's agitation to an end.

Nagendra resigned from the state cabinet on 28 August amid the opposition heat over his alleged involvement in the Rs 89 crore Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation scam.

The BJP top state leader said: "The padayatra undertaken by the BJP will not end on 10 September. Our struggle against this corrupt, anti-poor and anti-people Congress government will go on for the next one-and-a-half to two years (till the end of the tenure of Congress government)."

Further, he said: "The moment we announced the padayatra, the government was forced into a situation where it had no option but to make a corrupt minister resign. They have already taken his resignation. Therefore, our padayatra will not end here. Our struggle begins today."

The BJP would expose what he called the "true face" of the Congress government and work towards bringing the BJP-led NDA back to power in Karnataka.

"Until this corrupt Congress government is uprooted completely, our struggle will continue without a break," he said.

He said all senior BJP leaders would participate in the 10-day march and claimed there was "war-like enthusiasm" among party workers, particularly in North Karnataka.

Vijayendra said the BJP was not focusing on the size of the gathering, but on the impact of its campaign. "More than the numbers, our struggle has already shaken the very foundations of this Congress government," he said.

Vijayendra described the launch as the beginning of a "new era" for the BJP.

"To put it in one sentence, a new era for the Bharatiya Janata Party begins today," he said.

The BJP had earlier announced that it would continue the padayatra until Nagendra, the Ballari Rural MLA, was removed from the Cabinet.

However, Nagendra tendered his resignation ahead of the march, prompting questions over the BJP's decision to proceed with the foot march.

The BJP's ally JD(S), meanwhile, has decided to stay away from the padayatra.

JD(S) MLC T A Sharavana told PTI: "The padayatra is BJP's event. We did support their agitation inside and outside the Assembly against Nagendra's induction but we are focusing on the irregularities in the Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC)."