BJP State president B.Y. Vijayendra, along with other party leaders, leading the Ballari Chalo padayatra on its eighth day in Ballari on Tuesday (September 8).
| Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
The Ballari district administration on Tuesday (September 8) granted the BJP conditional permission to hold the concluding public meeting of its 10-day Ballari Chalo padayatra at the Municipal College Grounds in Ballari on Thursday (September 10), ending a dispute over the venue.The BJP had sought permission to use both the Ballari Medical College and Research Centre (BMCR) ground and the Municipal College Grounds for the concluding meeting. The request to use the BMCR ground was rejected citing traffic-related concerns, while permission for the Municipal College Grounds was initially denied citing a 2015 State government order restricting the use of Education Department grounds for political programmes.The issue turned contentious as the BJP insisted on holding the meeting within the city. Gali Janardhan Reddy, BJP MLA, Somashekhar Reddy, former MLA, Kudachi Rajiv, former Minister, and district BJP president Anil Kumar met the Deputy Commissioner on Tuesday amid the dispute over the venue. The district administration later granted the permission, with certain conditions, for holding the public meeting at the Municipal College Grounds.Welcoming the subsequent permission, BJP State president B.Y. Vijayendra alleged that the government had yielded to pressure from the BJP and the public. Addressing a press conference at Kuditini in Ballari district, he said there was no justification for denying permission to a peaceful political programme.Mr. Vijayendra alleged that the Deputy Commissioner had been under pressure from the State government to deny permission and claimed that the administration had initially suggested that the BJP hold the meeting at some other location outside the city.He urged Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar not to suppress democratic protests and questioned whether similar restrictions had been imposed during Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra in Ballari. “The government should not impose unnecessary restrictions on peaceful public protests,” he said.Former Minister B. Sriramulu alleged that the government had initially asked the party to hold the programme outside the city against his party’s desire to hold the programme within Ballari city.“The same ground, which we sought for our programme, was freely available for Rahul Gandhi’s public meeting during Bharat Jodo Yatra. When it comes to our public meeting, the permission was denied,” Mr. Sriramulu said.After covering around 14 km from Old Daroji, the eighth day of the Ballari Chalo padayatra concluded near Kuditini on Tuesday.Asked about the absence of JD(S) leaders from the padayatra, Mr. Vijayendra said the BJP had not invited the JD(S) to participate in the march, but had only sought its symbolic support.The Ballari Chalo padayatra began at Lingasugur in Raichur district on September 1 and is scheduled to culminate with the public meeting at the Municipal College Grounds on Thursday. Published - September 08, 2026 08:21 pm IST
