Stalin was arrested while attempting to stop trains and his sister Kanimozhi was arrested as she staged a road block in Chennai while Vaiko was arrested during the protest in Tiruchirappalli. Members of Virudhuthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) were arrested by the police when they tried to stage rail roko agitation at Mayiladuthurai.
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Shops, commercial establishments and all petrol bunks remained shut in view of the protests. However, the State transport corporation-run buses, besides trains were being operated as usual.
Supreme Court on September 15 had taken Karnataka and Tamil Nadu governments to task for failing to check violence following its order on the Cauvery dispute, asserting that its verdict “has to be complied with” and violent agitation would serve no goal as those aggrieved were free to take legal recourse.
Convenor of DMK S P Sivakumar said the party pledged support for the bandh in line with the decision taken by the party high command in neighbouring Tamil Nadu, where also a dawn-to-dusk shutdown is being observed tomorrow.
They condemned the violence against Tamils in Karnataka and sought protection for them.
The commission has issued notices to both governments through their chief secretaries and director generals of police seeking details of persons injured and property damaged.
The BJP workers took out a procession and raised slogans, condemning the attack on Tamils in Karnataka and staged a picketing near the bus stand. Police presence was prominent at all major traffic junctions and outside offices.
Police patrolling was intensified and all vulnerable areas were taken care of, a senior police officer said.
Kharge, however, played safe on the Supreme Court’s order in this regard and said that one can not criticize the same.
Meanwhile, a man who had set himself on fire on Tursday to protest Karnataka’s attitude to water-sharing succumbed to his injuries on Friday.
Hearing the plea, the Supreme Court then amended its order, directing the state to release a reduced quantum of 12,000 cusecs of water daily to Tamil Nadu till September 20. Siddaramaiah also requested her to issue an advisory to the media to report “responsibly” the incidents relating to the Cauvery agitation as was done by his Government.
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Karnataka unit of BJP on Friday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s intervention in the raging Cauvery row with Tamil Nadu was not possible at this juncture and termed the demand by the Congress government in the state as “petty politicking”.
