Pics: Umesh Marpalli
Daijiworld Media Network – Udupi (JD)
Udupi, Jun 3: “People of India are satisfied with the governance of the past five years and have again given a chance for Prime Minister Narendra Modi government to rule the country again. In the last five years, Modi government has rebuilt all the central government offices, which were corrupt during the UPA reign and given them freedom to work. This time too our government will give utmost priority to defence sector and various other developmental schemes,” said Udupi-Chikkamagaluru MP Shobha Karandlaje.
Shobha was addressing media here in the city. Speaking about her vision to develop the constituency, Shobha said, “In our twin districts, many problems are persisting. The main problem is relating to the farmers. Arecanut imports must be reduced to help our arecanut growers to get a good market. Doubling the lines and electrifying of the Konkan railway and many other challenges are in front of me. All these major problems will be solved as soon as possible.”
Speaking about the tremendous win of BJP in recently concluded Lok Sabha polls, Shobha said, “People of Karnataka have warned the coalition government for their poor performance in running the state machinery. People have given us tremendous victory. The coalition government should start functioning now itself. Otherwise, Congress and JD(S) will vanish from our state. For the first time in our history, our government is functioning from Taj Westend Hotel. Our CM has shifted his office to a five-star hotel. He never comes to the Vidhana Soudha. Politics is an ongoing process. BJP is always ready to fight elections. We are also preparing for the upcoming gram panchayat elections from now itself.
“Prominent leaders of Congress and JD(S) lost in the recent election. The government should learn something from this loss. People of Karnataka are in a very miserable situation. Sand issue in the coastal districts is very serious. Due to shortage of sand, many governmental and private development works have slowed down. Government is transferring officials frequently which create a barrier in conducting the developmental activities,” added Shobha.
Alleging the state government of maintaining a double standard in conducting developmental programmes, Shobha said, “Udupi has five BJP MLAs. Due to this, the state government is not allowing our MLAs to carry out developmental activities on their own. It is preventing them by various means from. Many taluks of the state are drought-affected. The state government is not taking any measures to help areas affected by drought. Not a single tanker of the state government is involved in supplying water to people.”
Replying to a reporter’s question on ‘Operation Kamala’, Shobha said, “We are not going to initiate ‘Operation Kamala’. If JD(S)-Congress MLAs resign from their position and the party, we will welcome them to BJP.”
Speaking on about Congress influencing Sumalatha Ambareesh to join their party, Shobha said, “Sumalatha Ambareesh is still an independent MP. She has freedom to join any party of her choice. As we have supported her in elections, we expect her to join BJP. She is welcome to join our party. We supported her to end family politics in Mandya.”
“I do not want any ministerial post. There are members who are far more experienced than me. I am still a junior member in politics. I have to gain more experience. My seniors Sadananda Gowda, Suresh Angadi and Prahlad Joshi are given ministerial posts and I am happy for them,” she added.
MLA K Raghupathi Bhat, district BJP president Mattar Rathnakar Hegde, zilla panchayat president Dinakar Babu, Sandhya Ramesh, Geetanjali Suvarna and others were present.