The situation remained tense at Nargund town in Gadag district on Sunday as there was a face-off between BJP workers and farmers agitating over the Mahadayi river water sharing issue.
According to sources, nearly 100 BJP workers arrived at the venue of the indefinite strike by farmers and entered into a verbal exchange with Karnataka Raitha Sena leader Veeresh Sobaradmath and others. They said that Mr. Sobaradmath was trying to tarnish the image of the BJP and raised objections against him and his supporters holding a protest in front of the BJP State headquarters in Bengaluru recently.
They also said that Mr. Sobaradmath had a soft-corner towards the Congress and was trying to mislead the people in the matter. The BJP state leaders were trying their best to resolve the issue amicably but Mr. Sobaradmath was not mentioning about this in his speeches and statements, they said.
Mr. Sobaradmath and his supporters objected to the charge made by the BJP workers and asked them to leave the venue. This led to heated verbal duel between the BJP workers and the farmers. Meanwhile, the police rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control.
Meanwhile, reports were aired by some news channels saying that the BJP workers are said to have made an attempt to assault Mr. Sobaradmath and the others. The BJP workers denied these reports and resorted to a protest. They raised slogans against Mr. Sobaradmath, burnt tyres and blocked the roads. The police intervened and convinced both the sides of the need to keep law and order. Senior police officials rushed to the spot and are now monitoring the situation.
Mr. Sobaradmath was not available for comments.
