Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar has said that the outcome of the urban local body (ULB) elections will be a pointer to the Assembly election results in the State.
At a public meeting here on Sunday, as part of campaigning for the BJP candidates contesting Gulbarga City Corporation council elections, Mr. Shettar said the ULB elections were crucial in many ways and appealed to the people to support the BJP to help the party continue the “good work” done in the last five years.
He listed the achievements of the State government, particularly devolution of financial powers and releasing more funds to urban local bodies for development works. Mr. Shettar claimed that the BJP government was the first in the State to strengthen urban local bodies by releasing more funds.
He said while city municipal councils, town municipal councils and town panchayats were provided special grants for development works ranging from Rs. 5 crore to Rs. 30 crore, city corporations were provided Rs. 200 crore each for improving infrastructure in tier II cities.
The Chief Minister said the government had earmarked Rs. 1,780 crore in the 2013-14 budget under the Nagarothana programme for providing special grants to the ULBs for taking up development works.
“No previous government had provided such plush funds to the ULBs,” he claimed.
People of the State would support the BJP based on its performance in the last five years, he said, and added, “We have made honest attempt to provide good governance through transparent administration.”
Senior leaders of the party, including Animal Husbandry Minister Revu Naik Belamagi, K.B. Shanappa, Shashil G. Namoshi, Amarnath Patil, Doddappa Gowda Patil and Raghunath Malkapure, accompanied Mr. Shettar in a roadshow from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Chowk to Super Market ahead of the public meeting.
