BJP plans to take out two rath yatras for Datta Jayanthi celebrations

The BJP in Karnataka has decided to raise the pitch on the controversial Bababudangiri-Datta Peetha issue by taking out two rath yatras across the State ahead of the Datta Jayanthi celebrations scheduled to be held at the disputed cave shrine in Chikmagalur district on December 3 and 4.

After a meeting between BJP’s core group in Karnataka and the RSS leadership in Bangalore, BJP’s state unit President Sadananda Gowda told reporters that rath yatras would start from Dharmasthala in Dakshina Kannada district and Mysore on November 20. The rath yatras will culminate in a public meeting at Chikmagalur on November 26.

All the BJP legislators and MPs will participate in the public meeting at Chikmagalur along with an estimated 25,000 people, he said.

However, the BJP’s decision to take out rath yatras from Dakshina Kannada, which recently witnessed communal violence, and Mysore, which is bracing up for a crucial Assembly by-polls on December 4, has become a source of concern for the Government.

Also, the BJP has firmly rejected a proposal from its coalition partner JD (S) to field a joint candidate against the Congress nominee and former Deputy Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. The party is adamant on fielding its own candidate in the by-polls.

The JD (S), which had frustrated the attempts of the BJP to take out a Shobha Yatra during the Datta Mala Abhiyan campaign at the disputed cave shrine of Bababudangiri last month, is expected to create fresh obstacles for the BJP’s plans of taking out rath yatras in the midst of the election campaign. For, the rath yatras had the potential for creating a law and order problem and the BJP would not hesitate to make political capital out of such turn of events.

However, BJP’s Karnataka unit President Sadananda Gowda said the purpose behind the yatras is to create an awareness among the general public on the Datta Peetha issue as “certain groups” were trying to create unnecessary controversy by wrongly interpreting the court orders on the issue.

He said BJP’s Karnataka unit Secretary and MLA V Sunil Kumar will lead the rath yatra starting from Dharmasthala while the BJP’s Youth Wing President and MLA C T Ravi will lead the other rath yatra beginning from Mysore.

In view of the likely opposition to the rath yatra from the JD (S), C T Ravi said he and his followers will not hesitate to defy Government orders if any restrictions are placed on the rath yatra. Ravi, who made a vain bid to break into the disputed cave shrine at Bababudangiri and religious rituals, said BJP legislators will not give up its ideological stance just for the sake of sharing power.