More than 25,000 people are expected to hit the streets of Bangalore on Friday in a protest against the release of Cauvery waters to Tamil Nadu.
Karnataka Rakshana Vedike (KRV) will be seen playing a big role in Friday's rally. The pro-Kannada outfit received support from several city-based activist groups, including organizations of the film industry for its massive rally.
The street rally is likely to disrupt normalcy across the city for most part of the day. The agitators will march all the way to Raj Bhavan to express their strong dissent over sharing of water with Tamil Nadu.
The KRV will begin their demonstration from National College Basavanagudi to Raj Bhavan. The crowd will march through the busy roads of JC Road, Hudson Circle, Mysore Bank Circle and Seshadri Road, affecting normal-flow of traffic.
"The 25,000-30,000 participants are from our organisation alone. Besides our workers and volunteers we have the support of the several movie stars, writers, businessmen and we are hoping that even the citizens, as urged by us, would come onto the streets in support of the cause," Deccan Herald quoted T A Narayana Gowda, head of KRV, as saying.
The protests across the state have been going on for the past few days over the long-standing issue of Cauvery river between the two neighbouring states- Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
Meanwhile, some groups of farmers from the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS) and Hasiru Sene have organised protests at Freedom Park, Bangalore, against the orders of Supreme Court, Centre and State government.
The police department has reportedly deployed about 18,000 personnel across the city to prevent an unexpected incidents during the protest.
The rally comes ahead of the state-wide Bandh on Saturday called by several pro-Kannada organisations.
Last month, the BJP-run state government complied with the Supreme Court order that allowed the flow of Cauvery from Krishna Raja Sagar and Kabini dams to make sure that up to 9,000 cusecs of water goes to Tamil Nadu on a daily basis.
