For the second day in running, the Karnataka BJP on Friday launched a statewide protest condemning the government's alleged move to notify land of farmers as Waqf property.
The BJP staged a protest before the offices of Deputy Commissioners at district headquarters.
BJP leaders are vehemently demanding that the state government cancel the 1974 Gazette notification in this regard.
The agitators also demanded the abolition of the Waqf Board and the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Minister for Waqf and Housing Zameer Ahmad Khan to resign from their posts.
The BJP MLAs, MLCs, MPs gathered in the premises of Freedom Park and staged a protest under the leadership of Leader of Opposition R. Ashoka and slammed the state government.
In Mysuru, protest led by MLA T.S. Srivatsa, hundreds of party workers and farmers staged protest under leadership of former MP Pratap Simha in Kodagu.
Sumalatha Ambareesh, the former MP, led the agitation in Mandya.
This was the first time that Sumalatha participated in the party's programme after Lok Sabha elections.
State president B.Y. Vijayendra accused, "The Congress government in Karnataka is issuing notices to farmers claiming the ownership of their lands to the Waqf Board and pushing them out on to the roads overnight."
In the first week of December, three teams formed by the BJP will travel across the state and record the grievances of farmers.
"The state government is trying to grab temple lands too," Vijayendra alleged and added that the teams would comprise all senior leaders of the BJP.
In the meantime, the police have arrested Sri Ram Sena chief Pramod Muthalik while taking out a protest march to the office of Zameer Ahmad Khan in Bengaluru.
Muthalik along with Hindu activists was planning to lay siege to Zameer's office over the Waqf row.
The police stopped Muthalik and requested him to submit the memorandum by reaching the minister's office in a vehicle. However, Muthalik refused to go with the police and continued his footmarch. The police took him into custody following arguments.
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