Chandra Mishra, the national coordinator of the ‘No Job, No Vote’ campaign, was allegedly attacked by a group of men led by a Congress corporator in Mysuru on Thursday, 11 January.
The attack took place at around 9:15 am near Mysuru’s Freedom Fighter’s park, where Mishra and three volunteers were preparing for a press conference to be held at the Mysuru Press Club.
‘No Job, No Vote’ is a nationwide campaign that demands youth employment – the press conference was called by Mishra to present the findings of a survey on employment they had conducted in Varuna, the constituency of Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
“For past seven days, we have been conducting a survey in the villages of Varuna constituency, where we were asking youngsters whether they were satisfied with the job opportunities provided by the government. We had interviewed over 11,000 youngsters, following which we had called for a press conference to announce the findings,” Mishra told The Quint.
The activist alleged that the attackers were led by Prashant Gowda, a member of the Mysuru Mahanagara Palike. He said his team was followed by Congress workers even when they were conducting the survey.
“Around 9.15am, while we were preparing the banners and press notes for the briefing, the group of men, led by Gowda, approached us. They asked why we had the Chief Minister’s photo on the banner and started attacking us,” Mishra said.
Mishra was left with a bleeding nose and mouth.
Speaking about the survey, Mishra said it was not politically motivated and they had conducted a similar survey in Shikaripura, the constituency of BJP’s chief ministerial candidate BS Yeddyurappa.
A complaint has been lodged with the police. However, Mishra said police refused to register an FIR against the Congress workers. “Although we had categorically named Prashanth Gowda, the police registered a FIR claiming we were attacked by an unidentified mob,” he said.
Gowda was unavailable for comment.
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