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

Mangaluru, Jan 23: Former mayor K Ashraf, who had resigned from Congress in January 2014, rejoined the party at a convention held at Cordel hall, Kulshekar here on Saturday January 23.

Ashraf had resigned after he was miffed over the appointment of a non-Congressman as chairman of district Wakf committee in January 2014.

Addressing the party workers' convention, which was also a 'thanksgiving' for the party's recent victory in MLC elections, district in-charge minister Ramanath Rai said, "The MLC election had created lot of curiosity, and even though there were rebel candidates, the party's official candidate Pratapchandra Shetty won by a huge margin.

"We have noticed that though BJP won, there were cross votes from that party, but all of our supporters, be it in gram panchayat, taluk panchayat or city corporation level, have voted for our candidate," he added.

"Some communal incidents have occured in the district. It is a conspiracy by the communal forces, and we condemn such communal forces irrespective of who they are. There have been repeated attempts to create trouble in the district. Many incidents have occured in which innocents were killed without any reason, as in Harish Poojary case. The RSS has not contributed anything to the development of the district or to the nation, it has only given machetes to youngsters," he alleged.

"When BJP was in power in the state, there were incidents where police officers were attacked, and when action was taken, the police officials were transferred. One of the MLCs (Capt Ganesh Karnik) in a sting operation had said that 60 percent of the police force was from RSS, and I condemn it. Communalism is not the answer to communalism. The answer is love," he added.

"From the past nine years BJP has been in power in zilla panchayat, but there has not been much progress, even when BJP government was in power in the state. When UPA was in power, maximum amount of grants was given to our district through various schemes, but now with NDA ruling, most of the grants have been cut down. We are facing shortage of funds," he claimed.

"India is a country where people of different religions and languages live together and if someone has upheld this value, it is the Congress party. Congress is a party that is loved by all. It has upheld secular ideology throughout the nation. We might have lost some elections, but in the last Karnataka Assembly elections, people of this district gave us 7 out of 8 seats. In Lok Sabha elections we lost because of so many reasons. In the upcoming ZP elections we will come to power again," Rai said.

"Under the leadership of Indira Gandhi, poor people of the country progressed a lot through various schemes, be it removal of bondage labour, providing houses to the poor, loans, monthly pensions to widows or any other scheme for that matter. Through nationalization of banks, the economy of the country got a boost. Whenever Congress has been in power, it has focussed on welfare schemes for the poor, be it mid-day meals for school children, compulsory education or free uniforms. Congress has done the maximum for the poor," he said.

On the issue of title deeds, he said, "BJP talks about title deeds but it did not do anything about it. Yesterday a leader of a party that was in power in the state for 8 years said that title deeds issue should be solved within a week. Previously when BJP was in power, it did not make any effort to solve the issue. Now under 94 C, because of our efforts, title deeds can be given to land owners. The state government will take necessary steps in this regard."

Rajya Sabha MP Oscar Fernandes said, "I congratulate Pratapchandra Shetty on behalf of all the party workers. He is the only politician from this district who has been an MLA and MLC for the past 33 years. Our government in Karnataka has announced the celebration of Swami Vivekananda Jayanti every year.

"ZP/TP elections are due, and I am sure all of you have started preparing for it. Each party worker should resolve to work for the victory of at least one candidate," he added.

"It was the dream of Rajiv Gandhi to strengthen the panchayats and decentralize the administrative power. Panchayats have been strengthened in Karnataka by implementing the Ramesh Kumar report. Now the ZP president's post will get cabinet ranking. Our government has made a law that gives 50 percent reservation to women," he added.

Former chairman of the Legislative Council B R Sudarshan said, "You have converted the victory of Pratapchandra Shetty into a victory of party workers, and I congratulate you on that. Decentralization of power in administration has been done only by the Congress party. We should ask BJP what they have done to decentralize power in panchayats. BJP's efforts have only been to weaken the power of the panchayats. Now with Congress in power in the state, the Siddaramaiah-led regime has made all efforts to strengthen the panchayats. For the upcoming zilla and taluk elections, I request the party leaders to choose suitable candidates who have worked for the party."

Prataphandra Shetty, Ibrahim Kodijal and other party leaders were present.