Euphoric over Success of Padayatra, Congressmen Boast of Regaining Power
Gabriel Vaz
Daijiworld Media Network - Bellary
Bellary, Aug 9: Euphoric over the unprecedented success of the 16-day padayatra from Bangalore to Bellary covering a distance of 320 kms and the mammoth rally in this steel city on the historic day of the launch of Quit India movement, the state Congressmen on Monday August 9 boasted that the party will regain power in the state and hoist the party flag on Vidhana Soudha.
The massive show of strength was attended by a mammoth crowd of over 5 lac people, if one were to go by the Congressmen’s estimates of 3 to 3.5 lac and as per the estimates by the state health and family welfare minister B Sriramulu – one of the key associates of the Bellary Reddy Brothers, who targeted the ruling BJP and chief minister B S Yeddyurappa regime for supporting illegal mining by the Bellary mining lords.
A battery of Central leaders, including union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and the cabinet ministers from the state like union law minister M Veerappa Moily, union external affairs minister S M Krishna, union labour minister Mallikarjuna Kharge, union minister of state for railways K H Muniyappa, deputy chairman of Rajya Sabha Rehman Khan, AICC secretary B K Hariprasad, former union minister Oscar Fernandes as also Congress opposition leader in the Assembly Siddaramaiah and his Council counterpart Motamma, KPCC president R V Deshpande, working president D K Shivakumar and almost all legislators and MPs from the state, who addressed the rally lambasted the Reddy Brothers and Yeddyurappa regime for illegal mining and declared that the Congress-led UPA regime would not remain a "silent spectator to the loot of the natural resources” by a handful of people.
Congressmen in the state had launched the 'Bellary Chalo' padayatra on July 25 accepting the challenge thrown at them by the tourism and infrastructure minister G Janardhana Reddy and revenue minister G Karunakara Reddy and their associate Sriramulu to enter their domain, and had been demanding a CBI probe into the entire illegal mining scam worth thousands of crores of rupees.
Homa, Havan and Bhajans to ward off Congress evil eye:
The Bellary Reddy Brothers, who had been reportedly directed by the party high command to stay put in the district to ensure that the Congress rally went on peacefully without any violence and also to be on hand in the event of any untoward incident, lambasted the Congress padayatra as a 'break-dance and free entertainment to the people' and the rally 'as a total flop show'. They declared that they would organise a 'massive homa, bhajan and havan' in Bellary city on Tuesday to 'ward off the evil eye of Congressmen' towards the pace of development ushered in by them.
The Reddy Brothers, Janardhana Reddy and Somashekara Reddy as well as Sriramulu, who addressed a news conference at their residence in Bellary immediately after the Congress rally alleged that the entire padayatra and rally was financed by Congressmen indulging in illegal mining. "Where did they get the crores of rupees for the padayatra and rally? Did the money come from the Congress mining lords – Anil Lad, Santhosh Lad and others?” Janardhana Reddy and Sriramulu asked and demanded that the Congressmen should enlighten the people.
If the Congress leaders, particularly Ghulam Nabi Azad and Mallikarjuna Kharge, accused their self-acknowledged 'amma' Sushma Swaraj, BJP opposition leader in the Lok Sabha, of taking 'huge loot' of illegal wealth from the Bellary Reddy brothers every year when she visits Bellary to attend the Varalakshmi pooja, Janardhana Reddy asked whether the state Congress leaders were "sending suitcases of ill-gotten wealth to their leader Sonia Gandhi” and asserted that they will not accept any baseless allegation against their leader. "The Congressmen should tender an unconditional public apology,” he demanded.
Ghulam Nabi Azad, who is also the party in-charge for Karnataka and quite familiar with the political developments here on account of his long association with Congress affairs in the state, accused the BJP ministers of 'looting the natural resources of the state' and declared that the Centre would not remain a silent spectator to this daylight robbery. "A handful of people will not be allowed to grab and dominate the state’s and country’s political landscape by indulging in illegal mining and unauthorized export of iron ore to enrich themselves,” he thundered.
"What is the source of Reddy Brothers’ wealth?"
"Where did these Reddy Brothers come from and what is the source of their wealth?,” asked Ghulam Nabi Azad, "15 years ago, when I came into close contact with the state politics as party in-charge, I had not heard of these Reddy Brothers. How did they rise to this position all of a sudden? They did not even have a bicycle then. Now they possess tens and thousands of crores of rupees. They own flashy cars and helicopters. How did they amass so much wealth and did they inherit the wealth? Their wealth is because of illegal mining and irregularities and reckless exploitation and export of precious mineral wealth. They control the government and dare to insult their own chief minister. This is shameful,” he said.
"How can one district, which has not seen any development and lacks infrastructure facilities and a handful of people who have overnight become mining magnates to threaten all democratic systems, dictate terms to the chief minister? The chief minister is so completely helpless that he cannot have his choice of persons as ministers or post or transfer officials in Bellary. The Centre cannot allow such a situation and will not allow a handful of people to loot the state’s and country’s mineral wealth,” he declared.
Union external affairs minister S M Krishna and union law minister M Veerappa Moily, both former chief ministers, declared that the Centre would not allow the reckless plunder of the precious natural mineral wealth. A handful of people with huge illegal wealth will not be allowed to derail the democratic processes, they said and warned that the Centre would come out with stringent measures to curb the evil.
Challenges and counter-challenges on by-elections:
Siddaramaiah, who was the star attraction and the key leader of the entire padayatra, said the Congress party was well on the path of recovery of lost ground. The revival of the Congress party has commenced and the partymen will not rest till they captured Vidhana Soudha. "We will take steps to expose the misdeeds of the government and the illegal activities,” he declared.
While Congress mining lords Santhosh Lad lambasted the chief minister B S Yeddyurappa for equating all those indulging in legitimate and legal mining with the same yardsticks as the Reddy Brothers and for banning genuine export of iron ore, his elder brother and Congress Rajya Sabha member Anil Lad challenged the Reddy Brothers to get all the nine MLAs elected on BJP symbol from Bellary to resign and facilitate by-elections. "I will get the Sandur Congress MLA Tukaram to resign. Let there be fresh by-elections and we will show who enjoys public support,” he declared.
Siddaramaiah, on the other hand, challenged the Reddy Brothers to prevail upon the chief minister, who is anyway under their control, to dissolve the state Assembly and enable fresh elections. "I will contest against Janardhana Reddy from Bellary,” he said responding to Janardhana Reddy’s challenge to face a by-election from Bellary city. Janardhana Reddy had declared that he would get his younger brother G Somashekara Reddy, elected from Bellary city, to resign to enable a by-election.
While KPCC president R V Deshpande and working president D K Shivakumar urged the chief minister to order a CBI probe or dissolve the assembly to seek a fresh mandate on the illegal mining issue, former union minister C M Ibrahim regaled the audience with his Sanskrit shlokas and vachanas from Sarvagna and criticism of the chief minister and Bellary Reddy Brothers.
BJP has rooted out Congress from Bellary:
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Meanwhile, the Reddy Brothers and Sriramulu singled out each and every Congress leader for their speeches at the rally and asserted that they had ensured that the Congress was rooted out from the district. "Let them indulge any kind of tamasha. We will see that Congress does not come up in the district,” declared Sriramulu.
"Congressmen are dreaming of coming back to power merely because of assembling a crowd of 3 or 3.5 lac people. The BJP rallies held at Gulbarga and Davangere were attended by over 3 lac people. Let them wait and watch. We will show them what we are capable of when a host of developmental programmes will be launched in the district with a massive rally on August 20, which will be addressed by Sushma Swaraj and other BJP leaders including the chief minister,” Sriramulu said.
Sriramulu and Janardhana Reddy ridiculed C M Ibrahim for his cheap attacks against Sushma Swaraj and BJP leaders and reminded him that people know the kind of language he had used against Indira Gandhi and H D Deve Gowda. "He is now shamelessly trying to curry favours with Sonia Gandhi after being rejected by even Deve Gowda,” Janardhana Reddy said terming the former union minister as a 'circus joker.'
Janardhana Reddy said Ghulam Nabi Azad had proved his contempt for the poor people by ridiculing them as being unable to own even bicycles or having footware and now worth thousands of crores of rupees. "We have come up due to hard work and our own efforts. We have not cheated or looted anybody. All our activities are legitimate. Yes, we were poor and have now come up in life. But is there any law against the poor becoming rich or wealthy?,” he asked and said that they had changed the face of Bellary city and the district through developmental works while Congressmen had kept it backward.