The Hindu : Front Page : Defeat BJP in the bypoll, Congress urges voters

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Oct 07, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Front Page

Front Page

Defeat BJP in the bypoll, Congress urges voters

Special Correspondent

— Photo: K. Murali Kumar

The new team: D.K. Shivakumar (left) and R.V. Deshpande who took charge as KPCC working president and president respectively at a public meeting at Doddaballapur near Bangalore on Monday.

CHICKBALLAPUR: The public meeting of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) at Doddaballapur in Bangalore Rural district on Monday where R.V. Deshpande took over as new KPCC president and D.K. Shivakumar as the working president, virtually turned into an election rally with all senior Congress leaders appealing to voters to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the ensuing byelections to the Legislative Assembly from eight constituencies.

All the speakers at the rally, including the AICC general secretary in-charge of Karnataka and Union Minister Prithviraj Chavan, who inaugurated the convention, criticised the BJP Government in the State for “encouraging defection” of MLAs from the Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular) by using “money power” and they called upon the voters to teach the BJP a suitable lesson in the coming byelections.

Mr. Deshpande said if the Congress could win all the eight seats in the byelections, it would result in the fall of the B.S. Yeddyurappa Government. The Congress workers would forget their differences and function under “collective leadership” to bring the party back to power in the State, he said.

Stating that the BJP government was a curse to the State, Mr. Deshpanade said the BJP was implementing its hidden agenda through its frontal organisations such as Bajrang Dal, Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Sri Rama Sena. The minority communities in the State were living under fear as the State Government itself was using the police to attack churches and Christian prayer halls, he charged.

Mr. Shivakumar said the BJP Government had become the Government of a “particular community”.

“We will ensure that J. Narasimha Swamy who was elected on the Congress ticket from Doddaballapur and later resigned his Assembly membership to join the BJP will be defeated in the bye-elections,” he said.

Although Mr. Deshpande, Mr. Shivakumar, the former Chief Minister N. Dharam Singh, Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly M. Mallikrajun Kharge and the former Union Minister B. Janardhan Poojary attacked Mr. Narasimha Swamy for joining the BJP, they did not speak harshly about his father and Congress MP from Chickballapur R.L. Jalappa, who did not attend the meet.

The former Deputy Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, the former Chief Ministers M. Veerappa Moily and S.M. Krishna and Union Minister Oscar Fernandes did not attend the meet. Veteran Congress leader C.K. Jaffer Sharrief arrived almost at the end of the meeting.

Show of strength

The convention, attended by an estimated 15,000 people, was a show of strength of Mr. Shivakumar’s rather than that of the party.

His supporters burst fire crackers as he started his speech and raised slogans every time the speakers took his name.

The crowd even booed Mr. Deshpande and shouted that Mr. Shivakumar should address them.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Front Page