Bengaluru: Buoyed by the emphatic victory of the Congress candidates in the by-polls held to three Assembly Constituencies of the State (Channapatna, Shiggaon and Sandur), followers of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah have planned to hold ‘Swabhimana Samavesha,’  a massive rally at Hassan, a JD(S) stronghold for decades,  on Dec. 5 as a show of strength of the CM.

MLC Dr. Yathindra Siddaramaiah, son of CM Siddaramaiah, has already begun the first round of preparations for the rally by holding talks with a few Cabinet Ministers. The massive rally has planned to cover old Mysuru districts of Hassan, Mandya, Mysuru, Chamarajanagar, Kodagu and Chikkamagalur and is expected to send a message to the people of these districts that they are no more strongholds of JD(S), which along with its alliance partner, the BJP, has been relentlessly targeting the CM.

The Congress, which handed a crushing defeat to the JD(S) in the recent Channapatna by-polls, wants to display its strength, even as the Opposition has been making  corruption charges against the Congress Government led by Siddaramaiah, almost every other day.

Ministers Dr. H.C. Mahadevappa, K.N. Rajanna, K. Venkatesh and N.S. Boseraju, Arasikere MLA Shivalingegowda, Hassan MP Shreyas Patel and several other party leaders, considered close to the CM, have taken the lead in ensuring the success of the rally, it is learnt.

Court hearing on Dec. 5

It may be noted here that the CM’s rally at Hassan has been organised on the day (Dec.5) when a Division Bench of the High Court is set to hear a petition challenging a Single Judge Bench’s verdict upholding the Governor’s sanction for prosecuting  Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in the case relating to alleged irregularities in the allotment of 14 alternative sites by MUDA to the CM’s wife B.M. Parvathi, on Dec. 5. The Bench is also scheduled to hear the petition filed by the original land owner at Kesare J. Devaraju, who has been named as accused No. 4  by the Lokayukta in the case pertaining  to alleged MUDA alternative sites allotment scam, on Dec. 5.