The police here successfully prevented the Mangaluru Chalo motorcycle rally of the BJP youth wing on Thursday.
The rally taken out from Hubballi, Bengaluru, Mysuru, Chikkamagaluru and Shivamogga was to have culminated in Mangaluru on Thursday. Imposing a ban on organising rallies, processions and padayatras in Dakshina Kannada till the midnight of September 8, the government did not allow the youth wing’s rally to enter the district. The activists were also not allowed to reach Mangaluru on motorcycles from different parts of the district. However, a large number of activists who reached the city using other vehicles staged a protest at the busy Jyothi Circle, 1.5 km away from the Deputy Commissioner’s office.
After B.S. Yeddyurappa, president of the State unit of the party, Pratap Simha, State president of its youth wing, and other leaders addressed the gathering, the police took them into custody. Party leaders K.S. Eshwarappa, Jagadish Shettar, R. Ashok, Pralhad Joshi, Arvind Limbavali, Shobha Karandlaje and Nalin Kumar Kateel were also taken into custody and released later.
Soon, defying the ban some activists marched to the office of the Deputy Commissioner to lay a siege to it. But they were arrested there.
The police had made elaborate security arrangements in the city to prevent any untoward incidents. Though the police had permitted the BJP to hold a public meeting at the Nehru Maidan close to the office of the Deputy Commissioner, the party workers chose to hold the protest at the Jyothi Circle.
A number of party workers were taken to Gorakshanath Hall at Kadri. They were released later. According to the police, 850 persons were secured under the Karnataka Police Act and released later.