BANGALORE: The ongoing tussle between Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa and former prime minister H D Devegowda's family will witness one more round of showdown on Monday. While state JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy is all set to take on Yeddyurappa at Dharmasthala, his father, senior Gowda, will be starting his hunger strike in front of the CM's residence, protesting the alleged 'step motherly' treatment to his home district, Hassan.Meanwhile, the police have denied permission to Gowda, stating protests and dharnas are banned within a 2km radius of Vidhana Soudha. Unperturbed, Gowda said he would go ahead with his proposed protest.Both Yeddyurappa and Kumaraswamy will be in the temple town of Dharmasthala on Monday to seek the blessings of Lord Manjunatheshwara. As per the challenge thrown up by the CM through advertisements, both were supposed to take an oath test before the deity to disprove each other on the alleged efforts by Yeddyurappa to buy peace with his predecessor. But due to the intervention of seers of various Mutts and party national president Nitin Gadkari, the CM had retracted from his challenge."Yes, the CM has sent a message stating that he would not take oath. All he would do is offer pooja and prayer at the temple," Veerendra Heggade, the Dharmadikari of Dharmasthala, told reporters on Sunday.According to him, the CM will visit the temple at 9 am and Kumaraswamy will follow after an hour.While Kumaraswamy has reached the temple town on Sunday evening itself along with 20 MLAs, Yeddyurappa left for Dharmasthala on Sunday night by train. About 30 BJP MLAs, led by Excise Minister M P Renukacharya have also left for Dharmasthala in a special bus.Meanwhile, Gowda's proposed hunger strike has become a headache for the state government, particularly for Yeddyurappa. Though the CM and some of his Cabinet colleagues huddled in a meeting on Sunday morning over the issue, they decided to leave it to the police to deal with the issue.Though the police denied permission to Gowda to stage protest in front of CM's office, the latter had decided to tread a confrontation path, and has even rejected the police suggestion to carry out his protest in front of MG statue on MG road or at Freedom Park.
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