Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)
Bengaluru, Nov 3: Chief minister, Siddaramaiah, is inclined to organize 'Janashirvada Rally', a rally seeking people's blessings, to counter the moves undertaken by BJP and JD(S) to organize state-wide rallies to garner support for the run up to the next year's assembly election.
It is said that this rally will be driven by the aim of placing the achievements of the Congress government in the state during the last four and half years before the people and seeking support of people for another term. This rally plans to cover all 224 assembly constituencies in the state to showcase the might of the party. Siddaramaiah is said to have held a few rounds of discussions about the rally with some ministers who are close to him, and some legislators. As per information, modalities of the rally are being worked out now.
Reports also said that the concerned have been asked to prepare a bus with new design like the 'Panchajanya chariot' used by the then chief minister, S M Krishna in the past for similar rally. At his press conference on Thursday, the chief minister dropped broad hints about the upcoming rally, by saying that the Congress will place the government's achievements before the people and seek their blessings again. "BJP had made elaborate preparations for Parivarthana Yatra. Shobha Karandlaje and Ashok had undertaken tour of the state for mobilizing the crowd. But people are not with BJP and therefore, the crowd at their rally was very less. Instead of Parivarthana Yatra, it can better be termed as pilgrimage," Siddaramiaah said, lampooning the BJP for its failure to attract sizable attendance at the launch of the rally.
He said that this has proved that the people of the state are not with the BJP and that in spite of the herculean efforts put in by its leaders, BJP will fail to get people to back it, he analyzed. Mentioning about the comment made by MP. Prahlad Joshi, that the government had stopped people from coming to the BJP rally, he quipped as to how people can be blocked if they never turned up.
Sidaramaiah said that in the past, permission for BJP's plans of holding bike rally to Mangaluru had been denied as it was meant to stir communal passion. "This time around, we have permitted it as they are going for party work," he clarified. About BJP national president, Amit Shah's charge that the union government had given grant of two lac crore rupees to Karnataka and that the same was not properly utilized by the state, he felt Shah is unable to get proper figures about the grant and that the grant given did not belong to Shah's family, nor was it earned by his son. "The central government is giving us our share out of taxes collected from different states as per the recommendations of the Finance Commission which is formed once in five years as per constitution," he stated.