Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee Working President Saleem Ahmed on Friday said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Karnataka was still immersed in corruption that started with ‘Operation Lotus’ even as it was corruption that has witnessed manifold growth than development of the State.
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Speaking to reporters here, Mr. Ahmed said that Karnataka has become the capital of corruption with the allegations of 40% commission for sanctioning bills. People have been talking about ‘corruption menu card’ with rates of ₹500 crore for the post of the Chief Minister and ₹100 crore for the post of ministers.
“People are longing for a change in administration and the Congress has geared up to fulfill their expectations. The Party was focusing on strengthening the base and has already enrolled over 75 lakh new members. Dakshina Kannada has witnessed enrollment of over 1.14 lakh members in the first phase while the enrollment process gets completed on May 28 with booth level enrollment,” said Mr. Ahmed.
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Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly U.T. Khader, Dakshina Kannada DCC President K. Harish Kumar, former MLA J.R. Lobo and others were present.
Billava Ministers
In another press conference, former minister B. Ramanath Rai on Friday demanded the resignation of Ministers Kota Srinivas Poojari and V. Sunil Kumar to protest government’s move to drop the reference to social reformer Narayana Guru from the text book of Class 10.
He said that BJP that came to power with the massive support from Billavas has insulted the Guru, who was not only the guiding spirit for Billavas, but also was the torch bearer of equality of all communities by dropping his reference. It was not the Congress that had highlighted the issue, but the media which brought out the truth. The dropping of the reference was not just a coincidence in the backdrop of rejection of Narayana Guru tableau from the Republic Day parade at Delhi, Mr. Rai said.
The former minister said it was crime to include the thoughts of RSS leader Hegdewar or Mahatma Gandhi killer Nathuram Godse in text books. Let the RSS hail them on its forum; but not in text books thereby damaging social harmony. BJP has thus been opposed to the entire backward classes and Dailit sections of society, Mr. Rai said.