Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)

Bengaluru, Dec 26: Union minister for law and justice, D V Sadananda Gowda, is of the firm opinion that former chief minister, B S Yeddyurappa, has the capacity and conforms to eligibility criteria to become state president of BJP. He added that there cannot be two opinions on Yeddyurappa's credentials for becoming BJP's Karnataka president.

Addressing a press conference here on Friday December 25, Gowda pointed out that Yeddyurappa was in the forefront of a comity of leaders of the party who toiled to bring the party to power in the state and succeeded in their efforts. "As the chief minister, he introduced several schemes and did things which popularized the party in the state. Having discharged duties in different posts in the party, Yeddyurappa is currently the national vice president of the party. There is no doubt that he is fit to become state president of the party," he explained.

At the same time, he hastened to add that the party high command decides, after taking account several issues, as to who should become the state president of the party. He also stressed that the decision of the party high command would be final and binding on this matter.

Gowda strongly backed the recommendation made by the parliamentary secretariat to double the salary and allowances of members of parliament. "On an average, a MP's area of work spreads over eight assembly constituencies. Therefore, a MP needs to move around a large geographical area covering eight assembly constituencies. At present, MPs get about Rs 50,000 as salary and Rs 45,000 as allowances. In my opinion, this is grossly insufficient," he reasoned. He clarified that recommendation itself does not mean it is final, as it has to pass through several departments including finance, and get a number of approvals. There is still time to debate on this issue, Gowda said.

Sadananda Gowda expressed the opinion that unnecessary blocking of parliamentary proceedings by opposition parties is tantamount to anti- national activity. Congress behaves as if it has no knowledge whatsoever about the seriousness of its conduct in the parliament. Because of the fact that it was responsible for the downfall of the country during the last ten years of its rule, it could get only forty odd seats in the Lok Sabha, he felt.

The union minister exuded confidence about bagging at least 15 seats out of 20 candidates fielded by the party in the legislative council election in the state. He blamed Congress of buying the people's representatives as compared to buying votes from voters that was practiced in the past. He felt that the people will be teaching a lasting lesson to Congress in this election.