Keragodu flag row | BJP leaders take out padayatra to Mandya

BJP workers and leaders take out a padayatra, condemning the replacement of a saffron flag with the tricolour at Keragodu in Mandya on Janaury 28. The saffrom flag, bearing an image of Lord Hanuman, had been hoisted atop a flagpole on government premises.

A day after a saffron-coloured flag flying from atop a 108-feet-high flagpost at a government ground in Keragodu in Mandya district was replaced with the national flag, BJP workers and leaders took out a padayatra from the village to the Deputy Commissioner’s office in the district.

BJP leaders C.T. Ravi and Preetham Gowda besides former Minister K.C. Narayanagowda participated in the padayatra from Keragodu to Mandya comprising activists from various pro-Hindu outfits sporting saffron flags. Interestingly, former Minister Janardhan Reddy, too, made a brief appearance at Keragodu, located about 12 km from Mandya.

The BJP activists from surrounding regions, who had turned up for the padayatra, said JD(S) leaders and workers were also extending their support to the agitation.

Slogans of “Jai Sri Ram” slogans rent the air as the activists marched through the road enroute to Mandya. The organisers distributed buttermilk to the participants.

Meanwhile, security remained tight in Keragodu village with deployment of 11 battalions of Karnataka State Reserve Police (KSRP) in addition to the local police.

A police erected a circle of barricades around the flagpost, while shops around the area remained closed on Monday, January 29, morning when the padayatra began.

It may be mentioned here that the authorities decided to replace the saffron-coloured flag — bearing the image of Lord Hanuman — from the flagpost as rules do not permit hoisting of any flag other than the national flag on government property premises.