A resident of Bangalore, B Bopanna will move the Karnataka high court on tomorrow to make the Bharatiya Janata Party shell out Rs1,000 crore, holding the party responsible for causing loss to public property by holding the bandh on Saturday.
Aggrieved by the bandh, Bopanna, a resident of Basaveshwaranagar, filed a public interest litigation (PIL) in the high court on Saturday pleading that politically motivated bandhs are harmful and should not be allowed. The high court will hear the petition on January 24.
Meanwhile, chief justice JS Khehar granted liberty to the petitioner to file an interlocutory application on Monday, demanding Rs1,000 crore compensation for the losses caused to public property by KS Eshwarappa, state president of BJP, who gave the bandh call. Bopanna has contended that the amount recovered should go to the state treasury.
The petitioner also contended that it was the duty of Eshwarappa to safeguard the interests of the state, but instead he had given a bandh call on Saturday. Even the chief minister, who was duty-bound to safeguard the interests of the state, had joined hands with Eshwarappa and allowed the bandh to take place.
“BJP workers have violently destroyed public property. Many public transport and private buses and vehicles were burnt. In some places, the general public was beaten up,” the petitioner claimed.
The PIL also contended that due to the illegal bandh, essential services like public transport, telecommunications, water supply, milk distribution, power supply, fire services, fuel stations, newspaper service, and hospitals and ambulance services were disrupted, thus affecting the common man.
The petitioner said the chief secretary, principal secretary, and the director general of police of the state had failed in their duties to protect the people.
