Hassan: A farmer leader, who dared to take on Janata Dal (S) supremo , H.D. Deve Gowda over his efforts to bring drinking water to the people of the area and publicly mocked him in Soorapura in Belur, was allegedly manhandled by his party workers on Saturday.
Mr Deve Gowda came in for the unexpected verbal onslaught while inspecting the Ranaghatta project site in Belur in the presence of farmer leaders. One farmer, Kumar , who was given a chance to speak on the occasion, seized the opportunity to ask the former Prime Minister what he had done to bring drinking water to the people of Belur, Madihalli, Javagal, Halebeedu and surrounding areas despite representing Hassan in the Lok Sabha for two decades.
“Why are you inspecting the Ranghatta site after 20 years?” he demanded to cheers from other farmers, who shouted slogans in his support.
But JD(S) workers present at the site were infuriated at the attack on Mr Deve Gowda and reportedly confronted the bold farmer after he left. An altercation followed and the two sides almost came to blows . In the fracas Mr Kumar was allegedly manhandled by the JD(S) men.
The police were called to defuse the situation and the injured farmer, who claimed to have been hurt in the leg during the scuffle, was taken to a hospital in Belur. The JD(S) workers later accused him of making baseless allegations against Mr Deve Gowda.
