Minister for Home and Transport R. Ashok on Friday said Bellary would remain the Bharatiya Janata Party's stronghold even though the former Minister B. Sriramulu quit the party and was fighting the byelection to Bellary Rural Assembly Constituency as an independent candidate.
“The party is above individuals. It is the party that has produced leaders. Therefore, being a national party, the BJP will fight the byelection and win it,” he said.
Speaking to presspersons after participating in the passing out parade of 35th batch of probationary police sub-inspectors at the Karnataka Police Academy (KPA) here, Mr. Ashok stated that the party leaders would actively campaign for the official candidate.
Asked whether the party could win the byelection without the backing of Reddy brothers, he said: "BJP is a national party and I am sure the party, which has been voted to power in the State, will romp home in this byelection too."
Expressing regret over the exit of Mr. Sriramulu from the party, Mr. Ashok said the former Minister, a close aide of G. Janardhan Reddy, could have sorted out his differences with the party, talking to party president Nitin Gadkari and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley. “It is not appropriate to speak against the party,” he said,.
Mr. Ashok appealed to the truckers transporting sand to call off their agitation with the government agreeing to meet some of their demands. “We have agreed to issue permits; release the sand transporting trucks that have been seized and reduce penalty. It is not right on the part of the truckers to continue the strike despite the government's promise,” he said.
He said the truckers should withdraw the agitation immediately as their strike had hit the people hard and the construction activity.
The Minister said the sand policy had not come into effect in some districts due to lack of participation in the auctions. Steps would be taken to implement the policy across the state in the two months, he added.
