Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)
Bengaluru, Oct 30: BJP's announcement about leading a Rath Yatra all over Kerala is being hotly debated. Even as controversy over this plan is refusing to die down, Ayyappa devotees in Karnataka have planned similar Rath Yatra in this state. The Yatra will be a month-long affair, sources stat end.
The Yatra will begin from the city on October 31. It will end on reaching Jamkhandi in Bagalkote district on December 20. On that day, a mega rally of devotee is planned at Jamkhandi.
The choice of Jamkhandi as the end point of the Yatra has raised several eyebrows as BJP is engaged in a battle for supremacy with the Congress in the bypoll being held there on November 3. While the critics have smelt politics in this plan, the organizers insist that they are apolitical. They say that the Yatra has been planned to spread awareness about the rituals associated with Lord Ayyappa shrine at Sabarimala.
All Karnataka Lord Ayyappa Swami Seva Sangha, Jamkhandi, is organizing this Yatra. The Yatra will begin from Lord Ayyappa temple at Jalahalli in the city, which has come to be recognized as the Sabarimala of Karnataka. Convener of the Yatra, Veeresh Kaladagi, stated that a number of Swamijis belonging to different Maths, film stars and others will take part in the Yatra.
He said that the Yatra will reach Hubballi, tour north Karnataka from there and then reach Jamkhandi where a four-day rally would be held from December 20 and 24.