Cops foil silent march

Hundreds of protestors detained and released

Mysuru: Hundreds of BJP workers led by City BJP President L. Nagendra and Rural President L.R. Mahadevaswamy, staged a protest in front of Swami Vivekananda Statue at Cheluvamba Park on KRS Road (Princess Road) in city this morning, strongly voicing their angst against the proposal to rename the road as ‘Siddaramaiah Arogya Marga.’

However, the heavy contingent of Police deployed on the spot, took the protestors into preventive custody, thus foiling their plan to take out a silent march till Princess Krishnajammanni TB (PKTB) Sanatorium, on the same stretch of the Road.

The protestors demanded that Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) that has issued a notification inviting objections to rename the stretch of KRS Road as ‘Siddaramaiah Arogya Marga,’ should drop the proposal, considering the historical documents that are available substantiating the naming of ‘Princess Road.’

Earlier, the City and District BJP leaders, including former MP Prathap Simha, State BJP Minority Morcha President Dr. Anil Thomas, former Chairman of Karnataka Exhibition Authority (KEA) Hemanth Kumar Gowda, former Chairman of Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) Yashaswi Somashekar, workers of all the morchas of the party, were staging a protest, in front of Cheluvamba Park.

They wanted to take out a silent rally till PKTB Sanatorium, when the Police restrained them, for not obtaining Police permission for the march.

This led to a wordy duel between the protestors and the Police, leading to a high drama, as Nagendra and other leaders of the party, squatted on the spot and raised slogans, daring the Police to stop them.

The Police took them into preventive custody and took them in vans to City Armed Reserve (CAR) Police Ground near Chamundi Hill, where they were released later.

As a precautionary measure, Police had been deployed near the Railway Under Bridge Junction after H.C. Dasappa Circle, from where KRS Road begins, Vontikoppal Circle and Mathrumandali Circle, to thwart any change in plans of the protestors.

ACP of Vijayanagar Sub-Division S.G. Gajendra Prasad, V.V. Puram Inspector Vivekananda and Metagalli Inspector Diwakar, J.L. Puram Inspector  Kumar, Hebbal Inspector A. Mallesh, Vijayanagar Inspector Suresh, Devaraja Inspector Shivakumar, V.V. Puram Traffic Inspector Lava and Sub-Inspector Gowtham Gowda were present.