The much-publicised ‘Janotsava’ rally scheduled to be held on Thursday at Doddaballapur to mark three years of the BJP in power and Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai’s first anniversary in office has been postponed for the third time.
This time, the postponement is due to Forest, Food & Civil Supplies Minister Umesh Katti’s demise.
The ‘Janotsava’ rally will now be held on Sunday, September 11, at Doddaballapur.
BJP national president JP Nadda was scheduled to attend the Doddaballapur event, which would be the start of a series of public rallies the saffron party had planned.
However, the programme was called off as the state government announced three-day mourning due to Katti’s death.
‘Janotsava’ (festival of people) was first scheduled to be held on July 28, the exact day on which Bommai completed one year in office. However, the murder of BJP Yuva Morcha member Praveen Nettaru on July 26 and the resultant outrage from the saffron cadre forced Bommai to call it off at a midnight news conference. Apparently, Bommai was nudged by the party's high command to not go ahead with the event.
Then, the ‘Janotsava’ was scheduled on August 28 at Doddaballapur. However, organisers feared a poor turnout owing to the Gowri-Ganesha festival on August 30-31.
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Later, the BJP announced that seven ‘Janotsavas’ would be held in different parts of the state, first of which was on September 8.
The Congress has dubbed the BJP’s ‘Janotsava’ as ‘Bhrashtotsava’ (festival of corruption), targeting the Bommai administration over graft allegations.
The choice of Doddaballapur to start ‘Janotsava’ is meant to serve as a platform to help the BJP boost its presence in the Old Mysuru region. The party is expected to mobilise a large number of beneficiaries covered under various programmes and schemes of the government.
Health Minister K Sudhakar, Municipalities Minister MTB Nagaraj and Horticulture Minister Munirathna have been deployed to organise the ‘Janotsava’ event.