Kickstarting his two-day dharna before the Mahathma Gandhi statue here on Friday, former Chief Minister, B.S. Yeddyurappa declared that he was ready to quit the assembly and join the Cauvery agitation if need be to get justice for the state's farmers.
He pledged his support for president of the Mandya District Farmer’s Hitharakshana Committee, G. Madegowda in his struggle to stop the release of water to Tamil Nadu and offered to join his dharna in Mandya, if he so permitted.
“I will give my full support to your struggle for Cauvery water. I am prepared to resign today as MLA and join you,” he said, speaking to the farmers' leader over the phone.
Demanding the resignation of Union ministers from the state for failing to persuade the PM to see Karnataka's point of view in the Cauvery dispute, he told his supporters, “If the Union ministers from Karnataka have any regard for the state they should immediately resign and urge the Prime Minister recall his one- sided order.
Farmers did the right thing by not allowing opposition leader, Siddaramaiah to join their protest in Mandya.”.
Mr Yeddyurappa said he would consult his supporters before deciding to go on a padayatra to Mandya from Bengaluru.
Revealing that he would continue his dharna till Saturday evening , he said he would spend Friday night at the venue.
Interestingly, Mr Yeddyurapa did not use the BJP flag or the party's name during his day- long agitation which was supported by MLAs loyal to him like H. Halappa, Hemachandra Sagar, Vishwanath, B.P. Harish, M.D. Laxminarayana, Mumtaz Ali Khan, S.R. Leela and Bengaluru Central MP, and P.C. Mohan. The entire show was handled by BJP leader, V Dhananjay Kumar, who too is among his loyalists.