Srirangapatna and Mandya were stuck in gridlocks on Friday with former Minister D.K. Shivakumar staging a show of strength with his supporters from Congress as well the Janata Dal (Secular).
The Congress’ trouble shooter was accorded a rousing welcome at Srirangapatna when he arrived from Mysuru. Two JD(S) legislators, A.S. Ravindra Srikantaiah of Srirangapatna constituency and K. Suresh Gowda of Nagamangala constituency, their supporters and loyalists of Congress welcomed Mr. Shivakumar on the Bengaluru-Mysuru highway.
The former Minister sought blessings from the deities at Sri Ranganatha Swamy temple and Sri Nimishamba Devi temples at Srirangapatna and he also visited the place where the body of Tipu Sultan was found during the fourth Anglo-Mysore War in 1799.
Local Muslim leaders honoured the Congress leader. Several hundreds of workers from both the parties had gathered in Srirangapatna.
Similar scenes were witnessed in Mandya too. Mr. Shivakumar visited Sri Kalikamba temple here and offered a special puja.
The Congress leader said that he had supporters/fans in the JD(S) too as the Congress had campaigned for the JD(S) candidate [Nikhil Kumaraswamy] in the general elections as per the seat-sharing agreement with the JD(S).
