“The Congress is the only opponent of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the State,” Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar has said.
He was addressing a convention of BJP functionaries from Shimoga, Uttara Kannada and Chikmagalur districts here on Sunday.
Without mentioning Karnataka Janata Paksha, to which the former Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa joined recently, he said Karnataka had witnessed new political experiments in the recent times. People of the State would not support regional parties, he said, and called upon BJP activists not to get confused over the recent political developments.
BJP activists should enlighten people on the “failures” of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in the Centre. They should initiate a debate among people on the alleged involvement of UPA leaders in corruption and failure of the government to control the price of essential commodities, he said.
Mr. Shettar expressed confidence that his government would complete its term. All BJP MLAs were loyal to the party and they want the government to complete its term, he added.
He said the BJP had a strong base in the State. People were impressed with the achievements of the party government in the last four-and-a-half years, he claimed. Development works initiated by the government would help the party to come back to power, Mr. Shettar said. Bold steps were taken to protect the interests of farmers of the State in the Cauvery river water sharing dispute, the Chief Minister said. To protect the interests of farmers in drought-affected regions, the government waived farm loans taken from cooperative institutions, he said.
He said the National Democratic Alliance would support the Constitutional Amendment Bill to provide special status to the Hyderabad Karnataka region.
Political polarisation
BJP national general secretary Ananth Kumar said Karnataka would witness political polarisation in the coming days and it would become inevitable for regional political parties to identify themselves with either the BJP or the Congress.
Deputy Chief Minister K.S. Eshwarappa, Minister for Primary and Secondary Education Vishweshwara Hegde Kageri, Uttara Kannada MP Anant Kumar Hegde, and Rajya Sabha member Ayanur Manjunath were present.
