Doddaballapur: The BJP’s Janaspandana rally, marking the completion of three years of BJP Government and the first anniversary of Basavaraj Bommai Government, began at Doddaballapur in Bengaluru rural district this morning.

The rally is being attended by lakhs of people, mostly from the districts of Bengaluru Rural, Kolar, Tumakuru and Chikkaballapur with the BJP deploying more than 5,000 KSRTC, BMTC as well as private buses for the rally which is taking place at Raghunathapura area here.

The BJP had first planned a Janotsava rally on July 28 but it was postponed thrice for various reasons and just a couple of days ago, the BJP re-christened the rally as a Janaspandana rally, keeping an eye on the Assembly polls which is just a few months away.

Health and Medical Education Minister Dr. K. Sudhakar, who is an MLA from Chikkaballapur, has taken the lead in organising the rally, which is aimed at sensitising the masses on the achievements of the BJP Governments in the State and the Centre. With the rally, the ruling BJP hopes to cash in on the public mood, which the party believes is in its favour.

Union Minister Smriti Irani, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, his Cabinet colleagues, former CM B.S. Yediyurappa and State BJP Chief Nalin Kumar Kateel are among those who are attending the mega rally.

It seemed that all roads were leading to the rally as thousands of vehicles carrying people had a hard time reaching the venue as there was bumper-to-bumper traffic on almost all roads.

 The rally choked several roads of Bengaluru city, especially those leading to Kempegowda International Airport at Devanahalli and other inter-district and inter-State roads around the State capital. The city also reported multiple traffic jams and snarls on many of its arterial roads. The entire Bengaluru city appeared painted with saffron colour, as the city was dotted with party flags, flexes, boards and other publicity materials. 

Public transport was severely hit as passengers had a long wait for KSRTC buses, especially those plying to neighbouring districts, as there were hardly a few of them on regular trips. 

Meanwhile, the Opposition Congress has strongly criticised the rally. Terming the rally as a ‘Commission Samavesha’, the Congress in a series of tweets, wondered why the BJP was holding the rally when it has nothing to boast about its achievements.

Alleging that the BJP was holding the rally out of the 40 percent commission that the party received out of contracts, Congress wanted to know what measures the BJP has taken to contain inflation and rising prices and creation of jobs.