Thirty-one Kannada activists were taken into preventive custody on Monday when they tried to barge into a post office here, condemning the Cauvery River Authority’s recommendation to release 9,000 cusecs of Cauvery waters to Tamil Nadu.
Koushalendra Kumar, Superintendent of Police, said a group of Karnataka Rakshana Vedike activists, who raised slogans against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, tried to enter the post office.
Meanwhile, protests by various organisations against the release of water entered the 12th day. Members of the Karnataka Television Association, Mandya Cable Operators’ Association and Mandya Zilla Karavali Okkoota joined the protest staged by the Mandya Zilla Raitha Hitarakshana Samiti near Sir M. Visvesvaraya statue off the Bangalore-Mysore highway.
They raised slogans against the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister for demanding water when the State was reeling under severe drought. They burnt her effigies. Members of Yuva Janata Dal (Secular) began a padayatra to Bangalore. Protest rallies and demonstrations were held in Mandya, Maddur, Srirangapatna, Pandavapura, K.R. Pet, Malavalli, Nagamangala and Bharati Nagar. Traffic on the Bangalore–Mysore highway was affected when farmers from Budigere staged a protest with their cattle. “We are not in a position to release water to Tamil Nadu,” they said.
Trinetra Mahanta Shivayogi Swami; M.S. Atmananda, former Minister and Mandya District Congress Committee president; and Jagannath Shetty, president, Karavali Okkoota, were present.
