By IANS,
Bangalore : Karnataka’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, weighed down by mounting corruption scandals, Friday launched roadshows in Bangalore to drum up support for senior party leader L.K. Advani’s Jan Chetna Yatra and a public meeting here Sunday.
State BJP chief K.S. Eshwarappa flagged off five vehicles sporting party flags and huge banners on the yatra to go round the city urging people to attend Advani’s public meeting at the National College grounds in south Bangalore.
The state BJP’s roadshow is intended to garner huge crowd at the grounds against the backdrop of its first chief minister in the state B.S. Yeddyurappa, three former ministers and two ministers, and a legislator battling corruption cases.
Yeddyurappa has been jailed in two of the five cases against him. He has moved the Karnataka High Court for bail in the two cases and anticipatory bail in the other three cases. The anticipatory bail plea is to avoid possible arrest in these cases, even if he gets bail in the other two cases.
Also seeking bail is former minister S.N. Krishnaiah Shetty, arrested along with Yeddyurappa in one of the cases.
The two have been in Bangalore’s central prison in the eastern suburb of Parappana Agrahara.
Another former minister Katta Subramanya Naidu, arrested in August, has been out of jail for most of the time as he is suffering from cancer.
Mining baron and former minister Gali Janardhana Reddy is in Hyderabad’s Chanchalaguda Central Jail in connection with illegal mining in Andhra Pradesh.
Police have begun probing land grab charges against Home Minister R. Ashoka and Industries Minister Murugesh Nirani.
BJP lawmaker Y.Sampangi also was Friday jailed after a trial court cancelled his bail plea in a corruption case.
With so many of his party’s bigwigs fighting corruption cases, there was speculation that Advani might cancel the public meeting in Bangalore while continuing his yatra in the party stronghold of coastal districts of Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Uttara Kannada on Oct 30 and Oct 31.
In fact, state party leaders had told the media here, on condition of anonymity, that Advani has dropped the Bangalore meeting plan.
However, Advani expressed surprise at the news and asserted that he will visit Bangalore and hold a public meeting here.
BJP leaders, not wanting to be named, later explained that Advani was going ahead with the Bangalore plan as otherwise it would have helped the opposition to further ridicule his anti-corruption yatra.
Advani’s yatra plan when his party’s first government in south India is mired in so many scandals has led the opposition to lampoon it.
The opposition parties attributed the confusion over the Bangalore rally to dissension in the state unit with a section loyal to Yeddyurappa reportedly opposing Advani’s anti-corruption meeting in the city when their leader is in jail in corruption cases.
The National College grounds falls in Bangalore South Lok Sabha constituency represented by BJP general secretary H.N. Ananth Kumar, who is considered to be Yeddyurappa’s rival in the state unit.
Ananth Kumar is said to have prevailed upon Advani not to cancel the Bangalore meeting as that would further dishearten BJP rank and file in the city.