Karnataka - Bangalore   

BJP protest hits traffic in city

— Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

Chaos on road: Traffic jam was witnessed on Mahatma Gandhi Road in Bangalore on Saturday because of the BJP’s protest near the Gandhi statue. The BJP is demanding an invitation from the Governor to B.S. Yeddyurappa to form a government.

BANGALORE: By now, it is an all-too-familiar situation for Bangaloreans. Traffic was frozen solid on Mahatma Gandhi Road and surrounding areas in the city on Saturday for nearly two hours following a demonstration by the BJP near Mahatma Gandhi statue.

Hundreds of BJP workers gathered on Queen’s Road, near the Gandhi statue, where the party legislators and leaders are staging an indefinite dharna urging Governor Rameshwar Thakur to invite B.S. Yeddyurappa to form the government.

The traffic jam on Queen’s Road had a ripple effect leading to snarls on Mahatma Gandhi Road, St. Mark’s Road and Cubbon Road. The police, who did not allow traffic on a stretch of Queen’s Road for some time, later erected barricades and prevented the BJP workers from gathering on the road.

Several cars, vans and sports utility vehicles belonging to the party leaders and all those that had ferried the workers were parked on the road. Another demonstration staged by Dalit Action Committee workers near the Queen’s statue in support of the BJP’s demand also contributed to traffic chaos. Thousands of people were put to inconvenience following a gridlock in the central business district for over four hours on Wednesday because of a massive rally held by the BJP near the Gandhi statue.

Meanwhile, vehicular movement came to a near halt for about an hour on Old Madras Road on Saturday afternoon.

Assistant Commissioner of Police (Traffic-East) Mallikarjuna Swamy told The Hindu that the last coach of a train stopped on the tracks at BEML railway crossing and this led to the traffic jam.

Vehicles were stranded on either sides till the train moved. It was an infrastructure problem and the Railways should construct an underpass at the railway crossing, Mr. Swamy said.

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