The Bharatiya Janata Party’s State unit on Thursday officially announced Jagadish Shettar as its candidate for the Chief Minister’s post.
During the launch of the party’s Vijay Sankalpa Yatra and election campaign here on Thursday, party State president Pralhad Joshi and national vice-president D.V. Sadananda Gowda announced the party’s decision, and appealed to the people of north Karnataka to support the BJP. He appealed for a second chance for the BJP to carry ahead the development programmes, and listed the party’s achievements. It was the people’s belief in the BJP that led them to reject the Congress and other parties in the 2008 elections, he said.
While the BJP has already found its candidate, the Congress is yet to decide, and as a result almost every senior leader in the party has projected himself as an aspirant for the post, said Mr. Gowda, taking a dig at the Congress.
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“Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly Siddaramaiah and KPCC president G. Parameshwara have both claimed to be the party’s candidate; so has N. Dharam Singh, and Union Minister for Labour M. Mallikarjun Kharge,” he said.
Mr. Gowda admitted that first three years of the BJP’s rule witnessed corruption, scams and denotification of land by individual leaders. However, the party had been scam-free for the past two years, he added.
Mr. Shettar said the BJP had fulfilled its promises, such as building the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha, and holding the winter session of the State legislature in Belgaum.
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He also listed various other decisions, including the crop loan waiver, the announcement of 43 new taluks in his budget proposals for 2013–14, the decision to regularise services of 23,000 daily wage employees in various State government departments.
He promised to double the number of development projects if the BJP was voted to power.
Mr. Joshi also spoke.