Bengaluru bandh to protest Cauvery water release to TN on Thursday, statewide shutdown on Friday
Tamil Nadu, two bandhs have been called this week — in Bengaluru tomorrow, and statewide on Friday.
The announcement for the Karnataka bandh on September 29 was made on Monday, under the banner 'Kannada Okkuta' — led by Kannada activist Vatal Nagaraj, days after the 'Karnataka Jala Samrakshana Samiti', an umbrella outfit of farmers' associations and other organisations led by farmer leader Kuruburu Shanthakumar gave the call for Tuesday's Bengaluru shutdown.
The two bandhs reflect the divide among the farmers and pro-Kannada organisations, and has also now led to a confusion about who is supporting the bandh on which day, and whether services will be available tomorrow.
While Shanthakumar has said that they will go ahead with the Bengaluru bandh on Tuesday, Vatal Nagaraj, who has called for a state bandh on Friday, made it clear that Kannada Okkuta is not supporting tomorrow's bandh.
Shanthakumar said they have received support from a number of organisations for their bandh call tomorrow and will go ahead with it.
«We will come in a protest to Bengaluru's Freedom Park and stage a demonstration there with our demands. The state government, the chief minister, will have to receive our memorandum.
If there is no proper response to our protest from the government, we will decide on our further course of action,» he said.
Calling for a peaceful bandh, he also appealed to the police to take adequate measures to ensure there are no untoward incidents. Vatal Nagaraj said they had asked 'Karnataka Jala Samrakshana Samiti' to postpone their bandh call and to observe it together with them on September 29.
«What we have called is Akhanda Karnataka bandh (entire Karnataka bandh) on September 29.
