JD(S), KJP are opportunistic, says Congress leader

Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) vice-president B.L. Shankar on Sunday said the Janata Dal (Secualr) and the Karnataka Janata Paksha were election-time parties and had no long-term policies and programmes for the welfare of people.

At a public meeting organised by the Bangalore district unit of the Congress in Ullalu ward of the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) here, Mr. Shankar said these two parties were opportunistic in their approach and could not offer any ideology or programme as an alternative to those of mainstream political parties.

He said the Bharatiya Janata Party, which got people’s mandate to govern the State for five years, had miserably failed to solve any problem. Leaders of the ruling party were indulging in power struggle, nepotism and corrupt practices. The BJP-ruled BBMP had failed to tackle garbage issue in the city, he said.

This being the case, the Congress leader said, the BJP had no moral authority to seek fresh mandate. He urged the electorate to reject the BJP in the next elections and vote his party to power instead.

On the open letter written by Energy Minister Shobha Karandlaje to Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar complaining about increasing cases of crimes against women especially in his constituency, Mr. Shankar said Ms. Karandlaje should not pass the buck to Mr. Shettar as the entire Cabinet was responsible for the state of affairs in Karnataka.

President of the Bangalore district unit of the Congress S.T. Somashekar, who lost to Ms. Karandlaje in the 2008 elections, said the Minister had failed to address peoples’ problems. The former Minister and MLA Ramalinga Reddy claimed that a number of infrastructure projects were implemented across the State, especially in the city, during S.M. Krishna’s tenure as Chief Minister.