The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : We did put up a fight, says Kharge

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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

We did put up a fight, says Kharge

Special Correspondent

Bangalore: Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly M. Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday ruled out any “match-fixing” by Congress leaders against party candidates in the byelections to the eight Assembly constituencies.

Speaking to presspersons, he said instead the party put up a united fight against the formidable Bharatiya Janata Party, exposing its malpractices and lapses. “Match-fixing” cannot be done with the ruling party, he added.

He said that all the lapses in the failure to win even one seat would be discussed at the party meeting on January 5.

Speaking about the Assembly elections, Mr. Kharge said the party won in 80 constituencies, which was not an ordinary achievement. In that elections, the party lost in 11 seats by a margin of 500 votes.

Thirty-seven leaders of the BJP and Janata Dal (S), who were Ministers earlier, were defeated. But, it was bad luck for him and the party that it could not come to power, he added.

Refusing to accept the argument that the Congress lost the elections because of its failure to enter into an understanding with the Janata Dal (S), he said that the batsmen who made centuries also end up scoring zero in the next match. Asked about “match-fixing” in the byelections, Mr. Kharge said nothing of that sort had happened. He said the party rank and file were against any such understanding at the local level.

The Congress leader demanded a CBI probe into the vandalism by a group of people, allegedly belonging to the BJP on senior politician G. Made Gowda in Mandya.

He alleged that the BJP Government, which discriminated against the Opposition MLAs in granting funds and over development works in their constituencies, had resorted to attacking those who did not agree with it.

Mr. Kharge said that Mr. Made Gowda would not get justice if the incident was probed by State Government agencies or officers. He demanded that action be initiated against the Deputy Superintendent of Police, the inspector of police and the Assistant Commissioner, for their failure to prevent the incident.

Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council V.S. Ugrappa, former Minister H. Vishwanath and K.C. Kondaiah, MLC, were present.

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