Tension in Chandra Layout after Councillor is detained

Tension prevailed at Chandra Layout for some time after the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Councillor (Nagarbhavi ward) was detained by the police just hours ahead of the inauguration of the Chandragiri Park and Palike Bhavan on Sunday.

The police, besides imposing prohibitory orders in the area, have also deployed around 300 personnel to monitor the situation and prevent any law and order problem. Councillor Umesh Shetty, who was detained by the police at around 8.30 a.m., was reportedly taken around the city and let off hours later.

Mr. Shetty, who is also the chairperson of the Standing Committee for Town Planning, told

The Hindu that the inauguration of the park had been postponed twice already at the behest of the Govindarajanagar MLA Priya Krishna. “We have sought time from him and scheduled the inauguration accordingly. However, there was pressure on me to postpone the event again in the past two days. Mayor B.S. Sathyanarayana has been trying to get in touch with him. He has even foul-mouthed the BBMP officials, who went to invite him personally to his house.” However, Mr. Krishna claimed that the programme was not “official” and would not allow it to be held.

The inauguration was to be attended by Union Minister for Fertilizers and Chemicals Ananth Kumar, MLC V. Somanna, Mr. Krishna and Mr. Sathyanarayana.

“I was supervising the event details till late last night and when I went to the spot in the morning, I was shocked to see so many police personnel. Till the last minute, I believed the MLA would change his mind and attend the programme. But due to unforeseen events, the programme was postponed again,” Mr. Shetty said. Meanwhile, Police Commissioner M.N. Reddi justified imposition of Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) in the area in anticipation of trouble due to a possible clash between the BJP and Congress workers. Based on the intelligence report, prohibitory orders were imposed till 6 p.m., he said.