I did'nt switch loyalties for monetory considerations - Manorama
Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi (SP)
Udupi, Jul 24: Speaking to reporters here on Wednesday July 23, Udupi MP Manorama Madhwaraj said, that she did not receive money for abstaining from voting during the trust vote and that she was ready to swear to this effect even at Dharmastala temple. I am ever prepared for any kind of inquiry into the alleged deal, she declared.
She said, union minister Oscar Fernandes had requested her to vote in favour of the trust vote. My prolonged fight against the coal based Nagarjuna project did not receive support from the BJP leaders. I support the nuclear power plants to coal based ones because of the health hazards the latter pose. However, I did not vote for the UPA as Congress leaders too did not lend me support for my anti-Nagarjuna crusade, she clarified. Asked about the chances of shiftingback to Congress, she said she was not in favour of making any predictions about her future plans at this juncture. On the question of resigning from the Lok Sabha, she said that the voters had elevated her to this position although BJP had given her the ticket. I will resign only if my voters ask me to do so, she announced.
Manorama, a four time legislator representing Congress party(1972, 1978, 1985 and 1989) and who was given the post of a state minister thrice (1972, 1978 and 1989), also functioned as the chairperson of the Tourism Development Corporation, a post equivelant to that of a minister, decided to leave her parent party in the year 2004 and became a member of parliament in the same year after joining BJP. Now, by acting against the whip issued by BJP, she has revolted against the party and in a knee-jerk reaction, BJP has expelled her for choosing to abstain from voting in the trust vote.
After her husband Madhwaraj became a Congress MLA in 1962, Manorama continued to fight all the elections from Udupi constituency since 1972, before she was defeated by U R Sabhapathi, a candidate of Karnataka Kranti Ranga in 1994. In the next assembly election, Sabhapathi contested as a Congress candidate and became MLA. Manorama was defeated by Dr V S Acharya, BJP candidate once and U R Sabhapathi another time.
Manorama, who donned the role of state minister longer than anyone else from the district, found herself marginalised in Congressafter U R Sabhapathi emerged as a viable candidate in Udupi constituency. Even though chief minister S M Krishna gave her the chance to head the Tourism Devement Corporation, Congress was unwilling to give her a ticket for the Lok Sabha election. BJP found in her a suitable candidate to represent backward castes,but she somehow could not carve out a niche for herself in that party and Nagarjuna issue acted as a catalyst for her souring relationship with BJP.
It may be recalled however, that permission to set up Jesco Steel Plant, the predecessor of Nagarjuna Power Plant,at Tokur was given by Manorama. This was the first ever private power project cleared by the then state cabinet headed by Veerappa Moily. While Manorama has become the bete noire of Nagarjuna project now, Moily has not expressed opposition to it so far.
When Manorama became the BJP candidate from Udupi parliamentary constituency, her son Pramod Madhwaraj fought the election as the Congress candidate from Brahmavar assembly constituency. In the recent assemby election, Pramod again fought as the Congress candidate, but Manorama stayed away from canvassing for the BJP candidate. Although she cited her sore eyes as the reason for not taking active role in the electioneering, it caused lot of heart burn in the BJP camp.
Out of the three state MPs who acted against the whip issued by their parent party BJP, Manorama alone chose to abstain from voting. Kodgi, the erstwhile Congres colleague of Manorama who was instrumental in wooing her into the BJP fold, perhaps got scent of her dubious loyalties. For convincing her to vote against the trust vote, he went to New Delhi and stayed there to press her not to do so but failed. Her son Pramod too was in Delhi and he might have played a role in convincing her to support the survival of the UPA.
There were reports that Manorama, while coming back from Delhi, was accompanied by a strong police contigent from Bajpe airport and that she chose to ride alongwith her son Pramod in his car instead of the MP's car. Manorama has now expressed her willingness to face any disciplinary action that the party might initiate against her and also her decision not to contest for Lok Sabha seat again. She has also rejected the police security, provided at her residence in anticipation of retaliation by BJP supporters.
While the BJP is gearing up to stage a protest against Manorama, Congress district committee president M A Gafoor said that his party is ready to welcome her into its fold. The fact that she is toeing the congress line of thinking that nuclear power projects are indispensable for the country, we welcome her into the party, he said. Meanwhile, BJP, which has alleged that she supported the UPA in return for monetory gains, belying BJP's trust in her that she was a person with clean hands, has organised a protest meeting near Udupi bus stand at 4 pm today. The BJP workers have alleged that she was treated with respect in the party although she used to degrade and deride party leaders and workers. They complain, that she did not respond to the problems of the people as expected from a MP. Protests are planned in other constituencies in the district too. If she does not resign from her Lok Sabha membership, BJP workers will organise protests in front her residence too, party activists have warned.