Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)

Bengaluru, May 4: Majestic bus stand here bore testimony to the diverse political games which were presented in front of the eyes of migrant workers by politicians on Sunday May 3. The main aim of the leaders was apparently to score political mileage and gain attention.

Under pressure from the opposition and others, the government on Sunday had finally decided to send migrant workers to their native places free of cost. BJP leaders were there to woo them with food packets while the Congress leaders were armed with a cheque.

Even as thousands of workers crowded the Majestic bus stand, a crowd of Congress leaders led by state Congress president, D K Shivakumar, reached there. They demanded for sending the workers to their homes free of cost. Shivakumar came forward to hand over a cheque amounting to one crore rupees to Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) managing director but he did not accept the cheque and instead suggested the same to be donated to the Chief Minister's relief fund. BJP MP Tejasvi Surya, reached there with supporters, spoke to workers, and distributed food, water and bananas to them. In the afternoon, education minister, Suresh Kumar, visited the bus stand, spoke to KSRTC, police, labour department and BBMP officials, lent an ear to problems of the workers and handed over food and water to them.

Suresh Kumar, in a Facebook post later, criticized the behaviour of Congress leaders. He said that the Congress leaders, who had earlier offered total support in the government’s fight against Coronavirus have now changed the very definition of cooperation.

Police officer H N Dharmendra, said that 8,000 people travelled by maintaining social distance in KSRTC buses. He said that in case of families having three members, all the three were allowed to be seated on a single long set. Six buses to Chikkamagaluru, three to Davanagere, 16 to Hassan, one to Honnavar, four to Kumta, four to Kundapur, four to Mangaluru, six to Madikeri, 25 to Shivamogga, four to Sirsi and one bus to Udupi left from Majestic bus stand on Sunday.