Mangalore: Sri Rama Sene Calls for Karnataka Bundh
Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (SP)
Mangalore / Udupi, Feb 13: The citizens of the state will have to bear with the agony for another day, as Sri Rama Sene has called for a statewide bandh on Saturday February 13, in protest against the incident in which ink was smeared on the face of their leader, Pramod Mutalik. In a separate release, the district unit of the Sene has requested the merchants, owners of buses, autos and the general public, to respond to the bandh call and make it a success. Sene’s convener, Prasad Attavar, said on Friday night that it has decided to extend the city bandh on Saturday, in protest against the police action in continuing to detain him since Friday morning.
File Picture
The bandh comes in the wake of various incidents in which vehicles and properties were damaged, and the Congress activists in retaliation, burnt buses and damaged other properties at various places. Unlike the bandh in the city called on Friday, the bandh call given today has evoked almost total response. The streets in the city and elsewhere in the district are wearing a deserted look. Only a handful buses were seen moving, perhaps because of the fact that the bus owners have turned jittery, after some of the buses were damaged by stone-pelting mobs on Friday. Schools have declared a holiday today, while banks and other establishments are functioning.
Early morning on Saturday, some miscreants threw stones at the residence of Oscar Fernandes in Udupi, giving rise to tensions in the area. Movement of vehicles came to a grinding halt on the road after the incident. The house of former minister, Vasant Salian, in Kaup was also targetted with stones by unknown mischief mongers today morning. In this incident, window panes of Salian's house and a Scorpio car parked therein, were damaged.
Vasant V Salian's house, Kaup
District superintendent of police, A Subrahmanyeshwar Rao, has said that those who have called for the bandh will be held responsible for the loss to the properties if any, during this period, while Sri Rama Sene has been maintaining that the district administration would be responsible for untoward incidents that might occur during the bandh period.