Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha’s leader, Kodihalli Chandrashekar will be joining hands with Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal.
Turning up in large numbers for the event at the National college ground near Basvanagudi, farmers believe that KRRS and AAP’s partnership will benefit them in certain ways.
Over 30,000 people assembled for the event in Bengaluru today. The crowd consisted of farmers and people from political parties, said Venkatesh, an event volunteer
Many farmers said that Chandrashekar has visited their villages, organised meetings, and listened to all of their problems. The partnership with AAP would help them, they said.
Everyone benefits except the farmer, said Govinda Raju, a farmer from Kankagiri. He said, “Our work benefits the government, transportation professionals, and marketers except for us. The cost of raw materials is higher, and if we do not benefit from the yield, how will we be able to regrow it?” asked Raju.
“Chandrashekar has visited our village. We all sat down and talked about our problems. We mostly talked on the Navali Samanthara Jalasaya Dam project. We farmers, along with 30 other villages, will suffer if this project goes ahead. This project will deprive us of all of our farm lands,” Raju added.
He further said that, in any case, this project is not beneficial to Karnataka, but rather to Telangana. “Our president has summoned us here today because we all believe that this partnership will benefit us in some way. I am here today with 200 farmers from my village,” said Raju.
Girish and Manjunath, members of AAP were waiting for the event to start, standing among a swarming crowd. They said that Chandrashekhar is teaming with the Arvind Kejriwal, the current chief minister of Delhi, to address the farmers.
A fleet of cars and vans was visible in the parking space. People could be seen wearing AAP printed caps and scarves.
Though the organisers provided refreshments they failed to give masks. Only a few hundred people, out of thousands, wore masks failing to adhere to Covid protocols.
