The Hindu : National : Congress questions haste, BJP welcomes poll dates

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Congress questions haste, BJP welcomes poll dates

Gargi Parsai

NEW DELHI: All-India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary in charge of Karnataka, Prithviraj Chavan, on Wednesday questioned the haste with which the dates for elections in the State were announced, for which the President’s rule would have to be extended.

On the other hand, the Bhartiya Janata Party welcomed the decision of the Election Commission and declared that it had always demanded that elections be held in the State before the end of the six-month President’s rule on May 19.

The Commission has announced a three-phase election in Karnataka on May 10, 16 and 22. Mr. Chavan said the Congress was “ready” but wondered at the hurry over it. “What was the great hurry since President’s rule was to be extended in any case,” he said answering questions from journalists on the declaration of election dates.

According to him, electoral rolls for all de-limited districts were not published yet and maps were not ready for seven districts. “We don’t know when final rolls will be published,” he said.

Electoral planks

Senior Karnataka leader and Chairman of the Media Committee, Veerappa Moily, said the party was “fully ready” for elections.

Expressing the confidence that his party will win a two-third majority, he said development, social justice and mis-rule under the BJP-Janata Dal (Secular) alliance would be the electoral planks. He said party general secretary Rahul Gandhi, who has had a successful tour in the State recently, will address election rallies in the State.

First meeting

The former Chief Minister, S.M. Krishna, who is in charge of Coordination and Election Campaign Committee, will hold the first meeting of the panel in Bangalore on Thursday.

There has been a substantial increase in the number of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes seats after delimitation with potential advantage to Bahujan Samaj Party but general secretary B.K. Hari Prasad, who may contest from Bangalore South, asserted that as long as PCC chief and dalit leader Mallikarjun Kharge was there, the BSP won’t make a dent in Congress party’s traditional SC/ST votes.

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