Mangalore: Storm in District BJP - Palemar's Supporters Take on Leaders
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore (SP)
Mangalore, Feb 10: The district leaders of BJP faced a new challenge on Thursday February 9, when a huge crowd of youths, staunch supporters of former minister Krishna J Palemar, rushed to the BJP office and took the party leaders to task for not coming to the rescue of their leader.
Initially, rumours spread like wildfire when a large crowd of Palemar’s supporters and well-wishers gathered at the district BJP office. Party leaders and city corporators also rushed to the office upon learning about the incident. After some of the youths claimed that they were there to effectively counter the planned protest by Congress, police also came on the scene. However, some Congress leaders, when contacted, expressed ignorance about protest planned by their party.
The crowd argued that BJP and the district have benefitted a lot from Palemar’s services, and expressed anguish at including his name in the list of tainted ministers at the last minute. They also gave vent to their anger at the fact that the district BJP leaders had not issued any statement supporting Palemar. They were of the opinion that the BJP should have, if it had problems in coming to the rescue of Palemar, at least raised issues relating to J H Patel and Rahul Gandhi to counter the attack on the party. They expressed anger at the district leaders, who they felt, had fallen silent, because of the fear of party high command.
Prior to the incident, discussions had been held between supporters and followers of Palemar with party functionaries on Wednesday. District president of BJP, Padmanabha Kottary, had promised to discuss the issue in the party office at 4 pm on Thursday and then take a decision. However, Kottary failed to make an appearance at the district office, although other leaders had come there. Leaders Monappa Bhandary, Srikar Prabhu and Umanath Kotian were present.
The crowd waited for long as the leaders present tried to arrive at a decision. Later, when questioned, the leaders said that they were yet to take up the minister’s issue. This angered the youth, who barged into the party office. The leaders convinced them to control their anger, and took them to the upper floor, where they held a secret closed-door meeting.
At one stage, everyone targetted Umanath Kotian for remaining silent, after bagging the post because of Palemar. When he expressed helplessness at the stern stand taken by high command, they questioned him about the relevance of lower rung leaders, if everything is left to the discretion of the high command. Ten corporators said they were ready to resign. The activists then left the office, leaving behind a warning to the party leaders that a decision to extend moral support to Palemar should be taken before Friday evening, and a statement thereof should be released to the media. If the party fails to do so, they warned that various leaders, activists, and party well-wishers including leaders heading various organizations will together take an independent decision, irrespective of its fallout on the party’s future prospects and image.
City corporators, Rajani Dugganna, Roopa D Bangera, Shanta R, Rajeshwari, Ashwin Kumar, Madhu Kiran, Sharat Kumar, Santosh Kumar, Tilakraj, apart from party leaders Jagadish Shenava and Satish Munchoor were present.