In tit-for-tat, Maharashtra bus painted with ‘Jai Kannada’ slogan, crew given Kannada flag

BAGALKOT: A day after a NWKRTC bus bound for Ilkal from Solapur in Maharashtra was stopped by Shiv Sena (UBT) men who painted ‘Jai Maharashtra’ on the windscreen of the bus, garlanded and driver, smeared his face with vermillion and was forced to chant ‘Jai Maharashtra, Jai Karnataka’, residents of Koodalasangama indulged in a tit-for-tat act.

A Maharashtra transport corporation bus plying between Chitradurga and Solapur was stopped near Koodalasangama on National Highway-50 and ‘Jai Kannada’ painted on its windscreen on Monday night. The Kannada activists handed the bus driver a Kannada flag, handed a Kannada shawl and asked him to raise ‘Jai Karnataka’ slogans. The bus had just left the Ilkal bus stand on its way to Solapur.

A day earlier, In Solapur town, the driver of a bus plying between Solapur and Ilkal, was garlanded, smeared with vermillion and forced to chant ‘Jai Maharashtra, Jai Karnataka’. The Shiv Sena (UBT) men also painted ‘Jai Maharashtra’ on the windscreen of the bus.

In Pune, two buses of NWKRTC, one plying from Pune-Indi-Sindagi and another plying from Mumbai to Ilkal, were stopped and all the Kannada letters on the buses, including the destination nameboards and number plates, were blackened by Shiv Sena (UBT) activists on Sunday night.