National General Secretary of the BJP Muralidhar Rao, who is also in charge of the party affairs in Karnataka, has said that party legislator and mining baron Anand Singh had not consulted the party before resigning from the assembly and sending a letter in this regard to the Speaker Kagodu Thimmappa.
Addressing a press conference in Kalaburagi city on Friday, Mr Rao said that in the normal course before taking such important decisions öne is expected to consult the party. “We do not know under which circumstances and state of mind Mr Singh decided to resign,” he said.
Mr Rao said “We need to sit to together to discuss this issue….”(The speaker had summoned Mr Anand Singh to meet him and submit his resignation papers after Mr Singh sent his papers through the Superintendent of the Parappanahara Central Jail in Bengaluru).
Referring to the revived activities of the Naxalites in parts of Karnataka and appearance of the posters and wall writings by the Naxalites in Agumbe in Thirthahalli Taluk in Shimoga district, Mr Rao said that there were sleeping cells of naxalites in Karnataka and the State is being used as safe haven for waging war in other neighbouring states. “Naxalites have not made Karnataka as a war theatre, However, the activities of the naxalites needs to be viewed as a threat to the polity of the country by both the central and state governments”.
Mr Rao said that although the gram panchayat elections in Karnataka, due in the month of May, is fought on non party basis, the BJP would take the elections seriously and work hard to win majority of the gram panchayats by fielding its supporters in all the seats. Gaining power in the gram panchayats was important for implementing various programmes launched by the union government including the Swatcha Bharath Abhiyan and other programme. “The Gram Panchayat elections were discussed in the meeting with the party leaders in Kalaburagi on Thursday and Friday”.
To a question on the decision of the state government to convene a special session of the assembly to pass the bill to trifurcate the Brahat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), Mr Rao said that the BJP was opposed to any division of the BBMP and said that the Congress Government in the state which is not confident to face the elections in Bengaluru was making these attempts to delay the elections to the BBMP. (EOM)