Chitradurga/Ballari: Sudarshan Kiresur and his spouse Sujatha reached Karnataka’s Ballari from their village Honnali on Friday morning. By the point they landed at I-Roomz Hoysala Residency searching for a spot to remain, they’d misplaced rely of the variety of resorts they’d been turned away from.
They know the explanation. “Due to Rahul Gandhi”, the aged Sudarshan mentioned with a grimace. He had ignored the ‘No Rooms’ signal on the entrance of the residency to strive his luck.
The couple’s plight isn’t an remoted occasion. For many individuals, getting short-term lodging has been a nightmare within the villages and cities of Chitradurga and Ballari districts of Karnataka, by way of which Congress chief and MP Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra has handed by way of in the previous couple of days.
The yatra entered its Karnataka leg on September 30 and can proceed by way of the poll-bound state till 21 October.
Chitradurga and Ballari aren’t any main enterprise or tourism centres to see such excessive demand for lodging.
Most resorts have been booked approach prematurely, some in bulk by the All India Congress Committee (AICC), others by teams of “state yatris” who’re strolling solely the Karnataka leg and therefore can’t be housed within the transport containers which can be travelling with the yatra. These function evening shelters for the yatris who intend to finish the complete stretch from Kanyakumari to Kashmir.
The handful of rooms that stay are going at a premium, with resorts typically charging a 100-200 per cent greater fee.
“I’m charging Rs 3,500 per evening for a non-AC single room. That’s my value, take it or depart it. And I cannot give an bill,” the supervisor at Pawan Lodge on Anantapur Highway informed ThePrint.
Usually, the rooms would go for Rs 1,400-1,500 per evening, mentioned a staffer on the lodge. “It’s completely different now. Bharat Jodo Yatra is right here. Rooms are booked throughout the town and in some neighbouring areas too,” the employees member added.
On-line reserving web sites like Trivago, MakeMyTrip and Goibibo, too, have run dry of rooms in Ballari by way of this week and the approaching weekend. A “not obtainable” message flashes each time check-in and check-out dates between October 14 and 16 are punched in.
Ballari isn’t the one place. Because the yatra strikes from one place to a different, resorts are struggling to maintain tempo with the demand, forcing many Congress staff to traverse lengthy distances by automotive every single day to affix the stroll.
Sitting on the Konsagara camp for yatris on Thursday, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee normal secretary Kavitha Reddy informed ThePrint: “Resorts in all places are booked to capability. We’re travelling 70 km each morning from our lodge in Hiriyur to affix the yatris. Many others are travelling even longer distances.”
“On Wednesday evening, because the yatra rested for the evening at Hirehalli, there have been no rooms obtainable in Challakere — the closest city from that location — with even tiny lodges working full,” she added.
Cyril Prabhu, vice-president of the Indian Youth Congress in Karnataka, together with a number of others, spent Wednesday evening on the Anand Sagar lodge earlier than becoming a member of the yatra about 60 km away at Konsagara village.
Additionally Learn: Grappling with fever, blisters & 4.30am alarms, what’s preserving Rahul’s Bharat Yatris going
Crowds wait hours
On 17 October, when the Congress elects a brand new president for itself — solely the fifth time will probably be doing so in its 137-year historical past — Kadri Anjaneyulu shall be one of many 9,500-odd Pradesh Congress Committee delegates who will truly be casting their ballots.
On Friday, although, he was half of a giant crowd in Karnataka’s Anantapur, pleading with cops and Congress’ safety employees to be allowed contained in the “Yatris-only” tent, citing his “delegate” standing. Confronted by this reporter, he was sheepish.
“Not that it’s that vital to go in. I can wait right here for my chief. My job is to affix them once they begin strolling. Truly, I’ll get a ‘Yatri card’ solely when the yatra enters Andhra Pradesh. It’s now in Andhra however they are going to transfer again into Karnataka,” he mentioned.
A Congress safety official informed him: “Name your boss.”
In a couple of minutes, Anjaneyulu had crossed a low wall and in a short while, ushered into the tent. He was among the many fortunate few who managed to try this.
Within the morning on Friday, because the yatra briefly traversed the border of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, giant crowds gathered at Madanapalle, a small taluka in Andhra Pradesh.
The rasam, rice and papad meal obtainable on the yatra’s cease was a draw, however most had assembled for a glimpse of Rahul. Those who missed him going inside his tent waited patiently within the noon solar hoping that one thing would possibly make him come out or by some quirk of destiny, they may go in.
Neither occurred and cops from each states had a tough time controlling the crowds that threatened to interrupt the rope obstacles each now and again.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
Additionally Learn: Mountaineering, organ donation, a canine he misplaced — Rahul’s ‘apolitical’ chats with Bharat Yatris