Daijiworld Media Network – Udupi (SP)
Udupi, Oct 26: All India Congress Committee secretary, Shantaram Naik, termed the Rath Yatra undertaken by BJP national leader, L K Advani, as a gimmick at bringing back black money stashed away in foreign banks by a deceased BJP leader in a fake name. He also demanded from Advani account for the donations collected during the previous Rath Yatra undertaken by him relating to Ayodhya issue. He was addressing a press conference here on Monday October 24.
“Anna Hazare, who is fighting against corruption, is personally a good person. But, people of his team are misleading him. The team is trying to demolish the democratic structure of the country, which was carefully built by leaders like Gandhiji, Nehru and others. Lokpal Bill does not have any proposal to curtail corruption. It is just a bill meant at setting up of an independent authority,” he commented.
He gave credit to Congress for taking initiatives aimed at ending corruption, citing that the Anti Corruption Act brought into force by Rajiv Gandhi in 1988 is still in force. “Our government at the centre had introduced liberal economic policies in 1991, and ended the menace of licensing that was prevalent till then,” he explained.
Naik branded BJP as a party run with remote control by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), and termed Nitin Gadkari as a person deputed by RSS to control BJP. On the other hand, he said that the process of allotting election tickets in Congress begins at the grassroots level and ends at AICC.
“Yeddyurappa, a king of denotifications, with his corruption scams, has ruined the name of Karnataka at global level. Rath Yatra should not have passed through Karnataka, as several BJP leaders have raised objections against it. If Modi or Gadkari rise to power at the centre, they will denotify Taj Mahal and Vidhan Soudha,” Nayak added. He also accused the state government of projecting schemes of the central government as its own.
Naik said that opinions of party workers are being collected from the party workers relating to the choice of a suitable candidate for the Udupi-Chikmagalur Lok Sabha constituency, and that he had toured the constituency for this specific purpose. He claimed the party activists and leaders are bubbling with renewed vigour and energy to face this election.
Former state ministers, K Jayaprakash Hegde, and Vasant Salian, D K Taradevi, former MP, Vinay Kumar Sorake, leaders, M A Gafoor, Pramod Madhwaraj, and others were present.