Rejecting Congress' apprehensions over eruption of violence during culmination of the Bangalore-Bellary August 9 in the town, tourism minister and mining baron Janardhana Reddy today asserted there would be no trouble and he would ensure it ended on a peaceful note.
"People of Bellary are peace loving. In the last 11 years after Congress president Sonia Gandhi won Bellary Lok Sabha seat and left after quitting it, there has been no violence in the district. We want the rally to become successful so that BJP can take credit for it", Reddy, who has come under attack from Congress over illegal mining, told reporters here.
"No violence will be there. If Congress repeatedly suspect it to be, then they have to be doubted", he said, seeking to turn the tables on the opposition, which has expressed fears that Reddy brothers might attempt to disrupt its rally that began on July 25.
Reddy said Congress should have called off the padayatra soon after Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa announced A ban on iron ore exports. "But they chose to continue it," he said.
Reddy said about 5,000 police personnel have been deployed
and videographers pressed into service at all 16 checkposts.
Strict vigil was also being maintained at areas bordering
Andhra Pradesh and on vehicular movement, he said.
When his attention was drawn to the action by some former loyal MLAs, who now switched sides to Yeddyurappa, Reddy who had led the dissidence movement late last year against the chief minister before a compromise was reached, said "we are
all united and remain along with the Chief Minister".
He declined to react to reports that he and his brother Revenue Minister Karunakara Reddy and family associate health minister B Sreeramulu had furnished false information to the Election Commision in their replies in response to an EC notice on a petition seeking their disqualification for "conflict of interest". "The matter is sub-judice", he said.
Reddy claimed he had kept his promise of developing Bellary
by initiating projects worth Rs 80 crore to make the city a tourism hub.
