Congress to raise pitch beyond padayatra

Brimming with renewed confidence to take on the ruling BJP, the opposition Congress is determined to sustain the fighting spirit even after an arduous padayatra to Bellary.

“This yatra is not targeted at any individual. Dislodging the Reddy brothers is not our only objective. In the larger plan, the protest will culminate in a Save Democracy movement. I will unveil the next stage of agitation after the padayatra. Now, all our energies are directed towards making the padayatra a grand success,” KPCC president RV Deshpande told DNA.

Asked about the possibility of dislodging the BJP government through the governor’s adverse report on governance in the state, Deshpande said, “We will never try to dislodge the government. It will collapse under its own weight of internal bickering. But we will fight to end this jungle raj which is destroying all democratic principles.”

Recalling the spirit of Mahatma Gandhi’s Dandi March, he said the Bellary padayatra had a similar purpose to end the anti-people governance and plundering of the state’s resources for the benefit of a few BJP leaders. Students and women would join the march in large numbers and any attempt by the BJP to disrupt the padayatra would prove disastrous for the ruling party, Deshpande warned.