From Our Special Correspondent
BANGALORE, JUN 1: Five senior cabinet ministers and a prominent BJP leader have lashed out against expelled party colleague and Lingayat leader from nothern Karnataka region Basanagouda Patil Yatnal for his diatribe against Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa and dubbed him as an ``agent of Congress and JD(S).’’
Dismissing Yatnal’s vitriolic outburst against the chief minister and what they termed as ``outlandish’’ claims that behind-the-scenes efforts were underway to replace him with as many as ``at least 40 MLAs, 6 MPs and an equal number of ministers’’ keenly gunning for his ouster, the six BJP leaders termed entire outburst as ``baseless and far from truth.’’
The five ministers are: Transport minister R Ashok, Excise and Information minister Katta Subramanya Naidu, Large and Medium Industries minister Murugesh Nirani, Cooperation mnister Laxman Savadi and Water Resources minister Basavaraj Bommai. Former mnister G T Deve Gowda, who had joined the party on the eve of 2008 assembly polls but lost, also joined the ministers.
"There is no substance in the allegations made by Yatnal against the Chief Minister or the claims that efforts were underway to replace him,’’ the six leaders asserted in a joint statement.
Asserting that Yeddyurappa was the undisputed leader and the BJP Government headed by him will complete its full term in office, they said Yatnal enjoyed all powers when he was in the party and was a minister in the Vajapayee-led NDA regime.` `Yatnal’s popularity and credibility can be judged from the fact that he lost miserably in the assembly elections,’’ they said.
"The Chief Minister has no bias against any MLA . He has been treating all sub-sects in the Veerashaiva community equally,’’ they said pointing out that there was no difference of opinion among ministers over the leadership Yeddyurappa’s leadership. ``BJP won 19 seats in the lok sabha elections mainly on account of the chief minister’s image, popularity and the Governmenty’s policies.’’
Answering questions on the absence of ministers K S Eswarappa, G Janardhana Reddy, G Karunakara Reddy and B Sreeramulu at the "Vikasa Sankalpa" programme on Sunday to mark the Government’s completion of one year in office, the BJP leaders felt it was wrong to attribute special meanings in their absence as the programme was essentially meant for the Bangalore division and there was no need for the presence of all ministers,
Incidentally, a high level meeting chaired by the Chief Minister decided to hold a Mysore division-level "Vikasa Sankalpa Utsava’’ to mark the first anniversary of the BJP government, on June 6 in Mysore City.
Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Shobha Karandlaje, Chief Secretary Sudhakar Rao and top officials of various civic agencies attended the meeting.
Meanwhile, former BJP MP H T Sangliana, who had joined Congress on the eve of Lok Sabha polls and contested from Bangalore South constituency to face defeat at the hands of BJP candidate P C Mohan, voiced suspicions that some pro-BJP officers had ``colluded’’ and worked for the success of the ruling party.
Sangliana revealed that he had found several discrepancies in the voting pattern in Shivajinagar area of the city. In one polling booth, he had got only one vote, while in the adjacent booths of the area, it was much more and there were similar reports from other areas as well suggesting a systematic ``rigging.’’
"I am collecting evidence to see whether there is a clear pattern to initiate appropriate legal remedies,’’ he said pointing out that he did not find any fault with the electronic voting machines. ``My defeat defeat could be due to lack of interest on the part of the educated voters as also large-scale deletion of names from the electoral rolls. There are suspicions regarding deletion of names after the publication of draft rolls and before the preparation of final rolls. We need to look into all aspects,’’ he said.
The former MP said that he had polled over three lakh votes in the elections, which spoke of the love shown to him by the people of Bangalore. He said that he had become a Mizo-Kannadiga, ever since he became an IPS officer in the state and added that he would continue to serve the people.