Silvester D’Souza
Daijiworld Media Network – Udupi (SP)
Udupi, Apr 18: “The state BJP finds itself trifurcated because of its own problems of corruption and instability. Its stature has touched all time nadir as of now. In Old Mysore region, BJP has vanished from the minds of the people. As per my estimate, BJP will be happy to get 25 to 30 seats, while the tally of the JD(S), which has some presence in only three to four districts, may not go beyond 15 to 20 seats,” analyzed union petroleum minister, M Veerappa Moily.
He was addressing an electioneering meeting held by his party at Kota on Wednesday April 17 evening.
“The high powered committee appointed by the Supreme Court has estimated that illegal mining has cost over Rs 50,000 crore to the exchequer. The Lokayukta report has pointed our deprivation of royalty to the extent of Rs 16,000 crore due to the state government. The BJP, which had made tall claims of generating 10,000 mw of power, failed to increase generation capacity by even one mw during its rule. On the other hand, the central government has planned to set up a unit to generate 4,000 mw of power in Bijapur district,” Moily explained.
Moily accused the BJP-led state government of boasting of presenting huge budgets, and then increasing the burden of loans on the people of the state to Rs 1,80,000 crore, duly pointing out that the government is faced with the need to repay Rs 7,500 crore in the form of interest on loan every year.
“Through religious councils, the government has been interfering with the traditions of religious centres, the primary concerns of which should be to inculcate a sense of spirituality and devotion among the people. The government, which convened an international investors’ meet, could not achieve anything. As such, one of the ministers had to invest in the state to show some success. The BJP has issued tickets again to ministers who watched obscene videos when the assembly session was on, thereby amply exhibiting its moral bankruptcy,” Moily said, adding that the Congress will rise to power in the state, and provide to the people stable and corruption-free governance.
MLC, K Pratapchandra Shetty, MP, K Jayaprakash Hegde, Kundapur constituency BJP candidate, Malyadi Shivaram Shetty, Congress leaders, Kishen Hegde Kolkebail, A Ramakrishna Herle, B Hiriyanna, Amruth Shenoy Udupi, Shankar Kundar Kota, Mamata Shetty, Uday Kumar Shetty, and many other leaders were present.
Former Kundapur Urban Development Authority chairman, Mani Gopal, who had recently resigned from the BJP, was welcomed into the Congress fold on this occasion.