The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Venkaiah seeks ‘comfortable’ majority for his party

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Friday, May 16, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Venkaiah seeks ‘comfortable’ majority for his party

Special Correspondent

‘It will help the BJP to fulfill the promises made in the manifesto’

— Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

Oozing confidence: BJP leader M. Venkaiah Naidu addressing a press conference in Bangalore on Thursday. Former Union Minister V. Dhananjaya Kumar (left), former Minister D.H. Shankaramurthy (second from right) and party leader P.C. Mohan are with him.

Bangalore: Bharatiya Janata Party leader M. Venkaiah Naidu has appealed to the people to give it a “comfortable” majority to enable it to provide “hassle-free” governance.

He told presspersons here on Thursday that the BJP was confident of securing the voters’ support because it had been betrayed by the Janata Dal (S), the rising prices and the anti-people policies had made the UPA Government unpopular and because terrorist activities in the country were rising.

Mr. Naidu said the party’s performance in the first phase of elections was encouraging and it would do well in the remaining phases also. The party was confident of getting a majority, but only a “comfortable” majority would help the party in fulfilling the promises made in the election manifesto.

The pre-poll survey of the second phase and the exit polls of the first phase of elections conducted by some media houses with private agencies had predicted that the BJP was ahead of others. But the BJP was not complacent, he added.

Article 371

There was need to amend Article 371 of the Constitution to provide certain benefits to people of the backward north Karnataka region and the party would focus on that, he said. Mr. Naidu said that while the Congress was a divided house, the strength of the Janata Dal was declining.

What had happened in Shikaripur and Bellary constituencies spoke volumes of the “unscrupulous” politics and the low morale in those parties.

“They have entered into an unethical electoral deal not in one or two constituencies but the entire State,” the BJP leader charged.

Mr. Naidu said that it would have been fair if the Congress and the Janata Dal (S) had entered into an electoral alliance before the polls. But withdrawing candidates and extending support to a party or candidate just before the polling did not augur well for parliamentary democracy.

Referring to the Congress’s complaint to the Election Commission against Mr. Yeddyurappa, who reportedly likened the Congress to Ravana in an election speech in Koppal, Mr. Naidu said the Election Commission should also immediately initiate steps against the Congress for having “used” the national flag for electioneering in violation of the election code of conduct.

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