As inter-state commuters heading to Karnataka were left high and dry at the Margao KTC bus stand for want of KTC and Karnataka ST buses to head to the neighbouring state on Wednesday morning, some of them tried to call the KTC Chairman Ulhas Tuenkar to find out the reasons behind the KTC bus playing truant.
Little did they realise that the KTC Chairman along with other Goa politicians was right there at Ankola where BJP’s star campaigner for the May 10 polls for the Karnataka Legislative Assembly, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed an election rally on Wednesday noon.
It is precisely because of the PM’s rally at Ankola, which was meant to drum up support for the party candidates in about six Assembly constituencies going to the polls on May 10 that the KTC buses were requisitioned to ferry party workers for the public meeting.
The KTC Chairman informed from Ankola that the KTC buses will return to Goa on Wednesday night after dropping back the workers who attended the PM’s rally at their respective destinations. “The KTC buses were requisitioned for the rally in the past, Karnataka State Transport buses were requisitioned in Goa for similar meetings. The situation should return to normal on Thursday since the buses will start returning to Goa by Wednesday evening,” Tuenkar said.
A senior BJP functionary sought to point out that the 100-odd KTC buses will be paid for their services, with sources saying each bus may be paid around Rs 10,000.
The KTC Chairman Tuenkar has been assigned the task of coordinating with local BJP workers of Bhatkal during the ongoing election campaign. Besides Tuenkar, Minister Subhash Faldesai, party MLAs Joshua D’Souza, Premanand Shet and Krishna Salkar are looking after the six Karnataka Assembly constituencies.
The BJP netas from Goa are expected to stay put in their respective constituencies up to May 6-7 before they return home.
