Even as Governor Thawar Chand Gehlot on Tuesday gave conditional approval to a proposal for bifurcating Hubballi-Dharwad Municipal Corporation so as to facilitate the creation of a new Municipal Corporation for Dharwad, the Separate Corporation Agitation Committee has decided to continue the agitation till it receives official communication from the State government on the issue.

Meanwhile, there was high drama at the protest site in Dharwad on Tuesday, where the leaders of both the BJP and the Congress who took out their own protest marches in support of the demand for a new municipal corporation, came face to face, engaged in a verbal battle and stopped just short of manhandling each other.

On Tuesday, Congress leaders led by Nagaraj Gouri took out their march to the protest site with various music bands and hundreds of people.

Close behind them, BJP leaders with hundreds of people marched to the protest site in support of the demand, accusing the Congress of politicising the issue and misleading the Governor.

As both the groups came face to face at the protest site, a verbal duel started, with them accusing each other of politicising the issue and questioning their role in the development of Dharwad.

Those sitting on agitation and the police personnel had a difficult time controlling them and pacifying them. Both the party leaders accused their counterparts of doing nothing for creation of a new municipal corporation for Dharwad and its development.

Governor’s approval

When the former Mayor of Hubballi-Dharwad and BJP leader Shivu Hiremath referred to the Governor’s approval and started reading the approval letter, the Congress leaders objected to the “conditions” and said that the BJP leaders should have convinced the Governor of the need to do away with the “conditions”.

The verbal duel continued till afternoon until senior advocate and agitation committee member B.D. Hiremath, who has begun a day-and-night indefinite dharna, intervened and took to task the leaders of both the parties for politicising the issue.

He said that the BJP leaders should have convinced the Governor of the need to give unconditional approval and only then, they would have become eligible for praise.

As, now, the ball is in the court of Congress-led State government, it should immediately convene a special Cabinet meeting to come out with solutions to address the conditions laid down by the Governor and take further steps to facilitate the creation of a new municipal corporation, he said and added that the Congress leaders should now do their bit of getting the work done at the earliest.

Mr. Hiremath said that it is time for showing unity in the fight as was done during the High Court agitation.

“As it is an apolitical fight, all political parties should join hands in the fight,” he told them. Consequently, all political party leaders came on stage and expressed their solidarity with the agitation committee.

Mr. Hiremath also urged for a round table meeting involving Union Minister Pralhad Joshi and district in-charge Minister Santosh Lad to find a solution.

Meanwhile, the agitation committee has announced that the protest will continue and the call for Dharwad Bandh will remain valid till the approval letter reached them through the Deputy Commissioner of Dharwad and the State government took immediate steps to find a solution.