The NDA partners first started the padayatra on August 3 demanding chief minister Siddaramaiah’s resignation for helping his wife get 14 pricey plots in an upscale locality in Mysuru, allegedly unlawfully, and over the diversion of funds meant for welfare of tribals.
The Congress decided to launch counter-rallies and planned its rallies in such a way that it reaches the same town on the BJP’s yatra route a day ahead.
On Friday, the Congress has planned a valedictory rally at the Maharaja college grounds in Mysuru on Friday. Twenty-four hours later, the BJP-JDS too will also have valedictory of their weeklong padayatra at the same venue.
According to the contractor who arranged the venue complete with the massive pandal including sound system, lighting, fans, generators, and LCD screens, the Congress approached him first and asked him to erect a pandal and make other arrangements. As he went about his job, the BJP too approached him and asked for the same pandal on the next day.
While the contractor was happy to accommodate the request, now the parties are said to be haggling over the charges, asking him to recover the rest from the other party.
Sharief, the contractor, is quoted as saying that he had been making pandal arrangements for all political parties but might end up with a loss this time. While the pandal was his, he must pay for all other services like lighting, sound system, LCD screens, fans etc., which he got from a set of other vendors.
