From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore
 
Bangalore, Aug 12: Despite the clamour for change in leadership in the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee with the politically powerful Lingayat community making a strong bid to grab the State Congress presidentship ahead of next year’s assembly polls, Union Power and Corporate Affairs Minister M Veerappa Moily has ruled out any change in the KPCC leadership.

''The Congress party does not believe in choosing its leaders on the basis of their castes," Moily said while talking to reporters on the sidelines of a function in Bangalore on Sunday.

"We are preparing ourselves to face the coming assembly elections in the State," he said pointing out that the incumbent KPCC president Dr G Parameshwara was unlikely to be disturbed.

Moily said there was no move to effect change of leadership in the State unit of Congress.
''We need to work and fight the elections unitedly," he said.

Asked about the speculation in political circles regarding change of leadership in the State unit of the Congress and the pressure mounted by a section of the partymen to install Union External Affairs Minister S M Krishna, who is a former chief minister, and senior MLA belonging to the Lingayat community Shamanur Shivashankarappa, Moily said there was no such move at the moment.

In any case, Krishna has already made it clear that he has no plans to enter the state politics as he has been entrusted with an important role at the Centre. Krishna and all other leaders will work for the success of the Congress party in the coming elections, he said.

The Union minister presented the Dr B R Ambedkar and D Devaraj Urs Awards to five persons each.

The former Chhatthisgarh Chief Minister Ajit Jogi was the chief guest at the function.

Moily, who himself is a former chief minister of the State, predicted that the Congress party would stage a comeback in the State as the BJP Government in the State was mired in corruption and a series of scams, which is unprecedented in the history of Karnataka.

The people are fed up with the BJP Government and are waiting for throwing out the corrupt regime, he said addi tng: ''It is only the Congress, which can provide a strong, stable and clean administration."
 

"Establish Power Tranmission Lines to Get Power from Centre"
 
Answering questions on the precarious power situation in Karnataka, the Union Power Minister said the State Government should take pro-active steps to get power from the Central grid rather than merely blaming the Centre.

''If the State Government takes steps for installing power transmission lines to get power from the Central Power Grid, the State can get 1,500 mw of power within a week," he said.

Moily said: ''It is State Government’s responsibility to put in place a suitable power transmission system after resolving the land issue for getting power from the Central grid. There is no point in blaming the Centre. Let them do their job first."

It may be recalled that the State’s Energy and Food and Civil Supplies Minister Shobha Karandlaje had recently urged Moily to allocate adequate coal and liquefied nitrogen gas to the State for the generation of power by the State undertakings.

Karandlaje has been alleging that the State had been denied its quota of power from the Central grid and the State’s full requirements of coal were not met by the Centre despite repeated requests.

On the Sate’s demand on coal, gas and more power in view of drought conditions, the Union Minister said: "In some places, power lines of central grid needed to be put up on small stretches ranging from two kms to five kms, but there are objections over land."