Bangalore: Karnataka Chief Minister S M Krishna began his controversial "padayatra"
from the Raja Rajeshwari temple on Bangalore-Mysore road on October 7 on a peace
mission to the trouble-hit districts of Mandya and Mysore in the Cauvery basin.
Krishna, accompanied by his wife, Prema, offered pooja at the temple and set off on
padayatra which he has said was to restore peace and instill confidence in the
farmers that the government was committed to safeguarding their interests.
Senior ministers, including Dharam Singh and K H Ranganath, and KPCC President Allum
Veerabhadrappa and pontiff of Adichunchanagiri Mutt Balagangadharanath Swamiji were
present.
Krishna would trek about 15 to 20 kms a day during his eight-day padayatra, which
would take him through his home district of Mandya to the KRS dam and Kabini
reservoir in Mysore district.
The sudden move of Krishna to undertake padayatra has drawn flak from the opposition
parties who have dismissed it as a "political gimmick" and a Congress yatra to cover
up the "mishandling" of the Cauvery issue by his government.
Krishna has however justified his decision, saying there was no intention on his
part to draw any political mileage and its one and the only goal was to appeal for
peace. He even invited Opposition leaders to support the yatra.
The decision on yatra was announced within hours after the state Cabinet decided not
to release Cauvery waters to Tamil Nadu, despite a Supreme Court directive and an
all party meeting gave him a solid backing to Krishna on Cauvery.
Krishna after securing unanimous endorsement of his stand that Karnataka would
not release water to Tamil Nadu by the Cabinet and all party meet, held
consultation with senior ministers in the evening and decided on the
padayatra.
The Opposition parties, which have come down on the "unilateral decision" of
Krishna maintain that the Chief Minister should have taken them into confidence
on the matter as he did all along on the Cauvery water sharing issue.
Peeved at being kept in the dark, Opposition parties have already condemned the
yatra.
N Dharm Singh, Mallikarjun Kharge, H K Patil, D B Chandregowda, C R Sagir
Ahmed, H C Srikantaiah, K H Ranganath, B Ramanath Rai, Cine actor and MP,
Ambareesh and others accompanied the padayatra.
Krishna after reaching Bidadi will rest there and begin the padayatra on October 8
to Ramanagar trekking 16 kms.
On October 9, Krishna will traverse 12 kms distance between Ramanagar and
Chennapatna, the 17-km stretch between Chennapatna and Maddur, on October
10.
On October 11, he would cover 18-km distance between Maddur, his assembly
constituency and Mandya and the 17-km stretch from Mandya to Gadanur on
October 12.
Krishna would set out from Gadanur to Palahalli covering 17 kms on October 13
and reach KRS reservoir on October 14, marking the end of the 129-km march.
This is the second sojourn being undertaken by Krishna after the "panchajanya
yatra" as KPCC president during 1999 Assembly elections, after which he
steered the Congress back to power in the state.
PTI
