Mangalore: `BJP Failed to Respond to the Problems of People' - Deshpande
Pics: Prajwal Ukkuda
The Hindu
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Mangalore, Feb 5: President of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee R.V. Deshpande on Wednesday inaugurated the Vijay Deeksha Abhiyan of the Congress here, in which hundreds of party workers took part.
Mr. Deshpande charged the BJP with failing to respond to the problems of the people. Those who had applied for ration cards were being made to run from pillar to post. The party had not bothered to implement the Prime Minister’s Grameen Sadak Yojana, he said and added that when the issue was raised by the Congress, the BJP chose to sideline its views.
He expressed regret over the BJP’s attempts to deny political representation to women and backward classes — something which the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had fought for. He was critical of the anti-terrorism movement of the BJP, launched in various educational institutions in the State. Some of those who had organised the campaign themselves were creating terror, he alleged.
He criticised some former party workers for leaving the Congress for the sake of power. He was apparently referring to Congress MLAs who defected to the BJP. He said the party was more important to him than the need for power.
He said the growth of the Congress depended on the work done by its cadres, who were familiar with ground realities.
It was to understand this that the abhiyan was being conducted in the State, he added.
Mr. Deshpande said strengthening of the party should be done not with the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections in mind, but aimed at rendering service to the nation and its people.
The former Minister Kumar Bangarappa said that all those who had quit the Congress should return.
The Congress flag was hoisted earlier by Ullal MLA U.T. Khader. Senior party leaders were brought to the venue in a procession by members of the local Congress unit.
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