BJP rally holds up Bengaluru traffic for hours

Bengaluru: A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rally in poll-bound Karnataka that was flagged off here by party chief Amit Shah on Thursday caused the city’s traffic to be held up for over three hours.

Thousands of party cadres were on two-wheelers. They were en-route to the Bengaluru International Exhibition Centre (BIEC) on the city’s outskirts, where the rally began.

The arterial roads leading to the venue, located on the northwestern suburb of the city, on the National Highway towards Tumakuru and other districts, were completely choked.

Shah, who had landed in the Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) airport here on Thursday morning, was also stranded for over an hour. He was then flown in a chopper to the BIEC gathering.

The state-wide rally, titled “Nava Karnataka Nirmana Parivarthana Yatra”, is expected to muster over three lakh activists and supporters of the party on motorcycles and four-wheelers over the coming weeks.

Karnataka unit President B.S. Yeddyurappa will be in the forefront on board a customised bus.

IANS