‘No job, No vote’ campaign architect assaulted in Mysuru

Mysuru: A group of activists, including Zero Unemployment Model architect Chandra Mishra, suffered injuries after they were allegedly assaulted by a Corporator and his supporters at Freedom Park here yesterday. A complaint has been lodged at the Lakshmipuram Police Station in this regard.

Mishra, who suffered cuts on his nose and lips, was treated at K.R. Hospital. Mishra, accompanied by another activist Dr. M.G. Jedar were near Freedom Park when Corporator P. Prashanth Gowda arrived at the spot. A banner ‘No Job, No Vote’ with a portrait of Chief Minister Siddharamaiah had caught the attention of the Corporator.

Gowda allegedly chastised Mishra for showing the temerity to question the CM. Moreover, he took them to task for planning the initiative without taking permission from the Police. This led to exchange of words. Chaos prevailed with the activists allegedly manhandled by Prashanth Gowda and his group.

In his complaint, Mishra said that they were holding a campaign and banners that read ‘No job, No vote’ were put up alongside the photographs of CM Siddharamaiah in the background. The organisers have put up banners with slogans against the State Government for its failure to provide jobs in Mysuru.

“Odisha Government implemented zero unemployment model devised by Mishra and is a part of the nation-wide campaign. The same campaign was extended to Varuna constituency represented by Siddharamaiah,” he said.

Before going to polls, the Congress party, had promised to create 50 lakh jobs in the State. However, the CM has failed to keep his promise. The week-long campaign was launched on Jan. 4 and 45 villages in Varuna were visited, he added.

Prashanth Gowda denies charges: Corporator Prashanth Gowda out rightly denied the charges of manhandling and instead put the blame on the latter for holding the campaign in violation of law.

“When I was passing by the park, I noticed the banners with the posters of CM at the entrance,” Prashanth said. I had no objections to the campaign and I asked the organisers to remove the banner that portrayed the CM in a bad light. All of a sudden, the organisers started questioning me in Hindi and in a high-pitched voice and people soon gathered around us. The public were also irked by their behaviour and started manhandling one another, and Mishra might have sustained injuries,” he added.

Name removed from records

Meanwhile, Dr. M.G. Jedar alleged that Prashanth Gowda’s name was removed from hospital register. “As is the procedure in Medico-Legal Cases(MLC), doctors at K.R. Hospital collected details. A doctor, who initially recorded the statement in MLC register, had mentioned Prashanth Gowda’s name with others but later removed the name of the Corporator and  retained the version to ‘a group of people,” he alleged.

Sharing a copy of the MLC, Jedar said, “Prashanth Gowda had exerted pressure on doctors to remove his name,” he added.