Pics: Spoorthi Ullal
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (DV)

Mangaluru, May 15: With gram panchayat elections round the corner, BJP spokesperson and former minister Suresh Kumar on Friday May 15 visited the district and held meeting with BJP workers of Beltangady and Moodbidri constituencies in Beltangady.

Addressing a press meet at the district BJP office in Mangaluru later in the evening, Suresh Kumar said, "I visited Dakshina Kannada as gram panchayat elections are coming up and we are preparing for it. Tomorrow union minister Ananth Kumar will visit the district."

He further said that the BJP has complained to the state election commission about the ruling Congress government regarding distribution of subsidized items ahead of the gram panchayat elections. "Today (May 15) our party filed a complaint with the election commission against the state government. Though gram panchayat elections are just days away, the state government is distributing iodized salt packets and palm oil sachets carrying images of chief minister Siddaramaiah and minister of food and civil supplies Dinesh Gundu Rao to BPL families at subidized rates. The election commissioner has taken the complaint very seriously and assured us of writing a letter to the state government. The Supreme Court has issued strict rules that government should not use public money for publicity. As gram panchayat elections are coming up, this issue has been brought to the notice of the election commissioner."

"Our party has good candidates who can provide able administration at the gram panchayat level. I hope that the election is favourable to BJP. The party workers have assured that we would win," he added.

Commenting on Congress MLC V S Ugrappa's statement about moving a previlege motion against him on the Benguluru encroachment issue, Suresh Kumar said, "MLC V S Ugrappa said that he would move a privilege motion because we protested when poor people's houses were being demolished in Bengaluru. I welcome this move. Ugrappa is my friend, but he has forgotten that we came into politics through lot of struggle. Sixty years ago on this day, Ugrappa was not in the Congress party. During Emergency Ugrappa and I fought against the clamp and we were in jail for 15 months. But now he has forgotten all this. Now he wants to send us to jail. He should not just threaten but actually send us to jail. Let us see who has made mistakes."

He further added, "A committee has been formed to probe the encroachment of Bengaluru tanks under the leadership of K B Koliwad. He has asked us to study about the encroachment of tank beds and give a report. We are yet to submit the report. The state government has used JCBs and bulldozers to raze down the houses of the poor. We raised our voice against as we felt the pain of the poor.

"All in all, the state government is passive. It has most inactive ministers in the history of Karnataka. The CM should request his ministers to come and sit in Vidhana Soudha. People are highly disappointed with the state government. The government is busy in demolishing houses of the poot, but we have decided not to let this continue," he added.

Lashing out at home minister K J George, he said, "It is the responsibility of the home minister to protect the interests of the people. He becomes powerless whenever there is any problem of law. He has been given the post of home minister for some different reason. He has failed to protect the people of his own constituency. Though houses in his constituency were demolished, George visited only yesterday (May 14) after H D Kumaraswamy and I went there. After visiting, he said there was no tank in his constituency and hence demolishing houses was a mistake. These are the kind of people we have in the state cabinet.

"People are disappointed with the two years of Congress government. At least in the remaining three years it should give good administration," he added.

To a question by a reporter on K J George, Suresh Kumar quipped, "Continuing with George as the home minister is injurious to the state, just as the warning given on cigarette packets that they are injurious to health."

State vice-president Krishnamurthy, treasurer Gopinath Reddy, MP Nalin Kumar Kateel BJP district president Pratap Simha Nayak and others were present.