Bengaluru: Leaders of the dominant Vokkaliga community are planning a major protest rally, here on Wednesday to show solidarity with arrested Congress leader and former minister DK Shivakumar, under the banner of Vishwa Vokkaligara Okkuta.
The protest rally will start at the national college grounds of the city and conclude at the Freedom Park. The route of the protest march includes Chamarajpet, Cotton Market, KR Market, Hudson Circle. According to the sources, the protest is organised by Karnataka Rakshana Vedike president TA Narayana Gowda, who is a Vokkaliga. BTM Layout MLA Ramalinga Reddy is also part of the core committee. JDS leaders are also planning to join the rally at the Freedom Park. Thousands of supporters of DKShi have already reached the city to join the protest. The state government has made an elaborate arrangement to ensure peace across the city. Over 10,000 members of various Vokkaliga sanghas are expected to hit the streets as part of the protest.
It may be recalled that Vokkaliga face of the Congress-DKShi was arrested on September 3 in connection to a money-laundering case by the ED. This had sparked riots in many places across the state, mainly in Ramnagar and nearby areas. As part of the investigation, the enforcement agency summoned Shivakumar’s daughter Aishwarya on September 12, which has further raged the supporters.
While the Congress and DKShi have termed it ‘vendetta politics’, the Vokkaliga community leaders say that it is an ‘anti-Vokkaliga’ move by the BJP, which is predominantly supported by another powerful community, the Lingayats.
Meanwhile, Shivakumar, who is in ED custody till September 13, put out a tweet. He said that he believes he is a target of vendetta politics and also urged his supporters to remain calm and not destroy public property.
The traffic on the Central Business District (CBD) of the city is expected to be disrupted today.
