E-petitioners to CM: Focus on farmers, not Bangalore Club

BENGALURU: The Bangalore Club controversy is creating buzz in the virtual world too. An online petition filed by some members is garnering a good response, with many members and non-members joining the fight against the government.
The petition addressed to chief minister Siddramaiah says the government must focus on farmers' plight instead of trying to grab land -- Bangalore Club and its 13 acres.As many as 476 persons have signed the petition which asks the CM to "Grow up and don't be petty." It claims revenue department officials lied in the court though the order to take possession of the club property was delivered after the case was heard.
"Once a paradise of gardens, Bengaluru is on its last life-support of green and open spaces. Trees have been felled for concrete towers, blaring horns have replaced the chirping of birds and lakes have been choked. Now, the city's historic institutions are under attack. The 'arm-twisting' has started with one club. It doesn't matter if we are members of such institutions or not. If citizens don't unite and preserve our iconic institutions now, there won't be any heritage to speak of," club member Prithivi Raj Urs said in his petition on July 29.
Sunita Kondur, an architect, who signed the petition, said the government's move is unreasonable.
On July 29, Biocon chief Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw tweeted saying, "The government has no right to usurp an old institution like Bangalore Club. It is just mean-minded bureaucracy." On Thursday, she tweeted: "Govt is meddling n intimidating BC unfairly and unnecessarily."
However, club secretary Col. KD Murthy said the online petition wasn't filed by the club per se. Suresh Hari, a club member, said: "Some individual members of the club have filed the petition. We are not even aware of what is going on online. We are fighting the case legally."