News and pics: Silvester D’Souza

Daijiworld Media Network – Kundapur (EP)

Kundapur, Dec 22: “The people of Karnataka who are watching chief minister Siddaramaiah’s administration, have concluded that the government will not last long. It will be no surprise if elections are held within the next six months,” said Vidhana Parishat member Kota Srinivasa Poojary. He spoke at the meeting of BJP activists held at Koteshwara Kalyana Mantapa here on Wednesday December 21.

“Incidents of Congress ministers and MLAs whispering about joining BJP are created due to miserable conditions of Congress. Party activists should be filled with enthusiasm when they hear of elections like soldiers practice every day. When the union government banned high value currency notes, there was electric shock all over the country. But Congress party to the embarrassment of civil society blocked parliament proceedings for days causing loss of several crores. Neither Congress nor the country prospered because of it. Rahul Gandhi who had banned Lok Sabha met Prime Minister Modi after the parliament session with his delegation and requested to condone the loans of farmers. The exhibition of such dual standards shows the cowardly attitude of that party,” he said expressing anguish.

MP Shobha Karandlaje who inaugurated the conference said that as per new law an independent party MLA should within six months inform which party he will join. “Kundapur MLA who has not announced till now which party he will join said that he will join BJP. There is no scope for it in the law. Therefore Srinivasa Shetty did not come to the dais at Bengaluru’s conference today and remained a spectator supporting the campaign of BJP president Amit Shah and Yeddyurappa. Haladi will be with BJP in the next elections. The clarification is because many activists are repeatedly asking why Haladi is not being admitted in BJP,” he said. "We are confident that BJP will win more than 150 seats in 2018 elections. But it is not an easy target. The party should become strong in Hassan, Mandya, Chamarajanagar, Chickaballapura, Kolar and other districts. When we compare the then BJP government and the present Congress government, we can make out which government is pro people. There is a systematic conspiracy to stop pro people programmes such as Suvarna grama, Suvarna Bhoomi and Bhagyalaxmi. Thousands of crores sent by the union government are misused. Congress had said before the elections that they will complete the irrigation projects in the state. However even after three and a half years after coming to power, no irrigation projects including Varahi are completed. The irrigation minister has made ‘Golmal’ of Rs 10 thousand crore released by the union government for irrigation projects. A letter is written to the union government for its enquiry,” he said.

BJP district president Mattaru Ratnakar Hegde, state BJP secretary Thingale Vikramarjun Hegde, Kundapur taluk panchayat president Jayashree Mogaveera, vice president Kadke Praveen Shetty, zilla panchayat members Taranath Shetty, Raghavendra Kanchan Barikere, Srilatha Suresh Shetty, Geethanjali Suvarna, Laxmi Manju Billava, Supreet Uday Kulal, Nalini Pradeep, Pratap Hegde Mandarthi, Yashpal Suvarna, Suprasad Shetty Baikady, former Zilla panchayat members Ganapathi T Sriyan, Prakash T Mendon, Shamala Kunder, Jyothi Uday Poojary, Prakash Bhandary, Sandhya Ramesh, Kundapur BJP constituency committee president Suresh Shetty Kaduru were present.

Former taluk panchayat president Bhasker Billava Koni welcomed the gathering. BJP constituency committee chief secretary Shankera Ankadakatte compered the programme. Youth Morcha president Sathish Poojary Vakwady proposed the Vote of thanks.

MP Shobha Karandlaje who had attended to participate in the programme said to media representatives, “Congress government which has been governing the state for the last three and a half years has completely neglected developmental works in the state. Though there is severe draught in the state, it is not releasing funds for any developing works in any department. As rainfall was less by 25% this year there is scarcity of drinking water in many gramas in the coastal area,” she said.

“Funds are not being released for zilla panchayats. The amount that is released this time is being used to repay past loans. There are no funds for borewells, pipelines etc. Rs 34 crore pertaining to drinking water last year is yet to be repaid. If the situation in Udupi is this what will be of other districts,” she lamented . “The concerned minister has admitted in the assembly that Rs 22,000 crore are misused under rural development project of the state government. What was the government doing till then?” she asked.

“Several ministers are stuck in corruption as it was going on under the nose of the government. Chikkarayappa and Jayachandra arrested by CBI are telling the names of some ministers. Jayachandra has confessed that they have indulged in corruption for giving money to ministers. Cabinet ministers are acting in an indecent manner. Though the chief minister knew of Meti incident two months ago, he has not asked for resignation from the minister. As Karnataka is the largest state among states ruled by Congress, the party runs with its resources. Therefore Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi do nothing about the corruption in the state. People have decided to throw the government whose pot is filled with sins without morale,” she said.

Answering a question of dispute in Kundapur, she said that there is no dispute there. We are together. Kundapur independent MLA had come to the conference of backward class in Bengaluru. We welcome anybody who comes appreciating the programmes of BJP. We are thinking whether to welcome Jayaprakash Hegde if he says that he will join BJP. We try to pacify one or two who object. Nobody has the authority to say that a particular person cannot come as BJP is a national party,” she clarified.

“The candidates for next elections are selected through a survey. As Jayaprakash Hegde has not come to the party yet, it is irrelevant which constituency he represents. Rs 200 crore are sanctioned for Udupi under union government’s CRPF project,” she said.

BJP district president Mattaru Rathnakar Hegde, state BJP secretary Thingale Vikramarjun Hegde were present.