Over a dozen former members of the Syndicate and Academic Council of Gulbarga University came out in support of senior politician M. Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress candidate for Kalaburagi constituency.
At a press conference here on Monday, K.M. Maheshwara Swamy, V.B. Reddy, M.N. Patil, Suryakanth Korallalli, Syamrao Pyati, and others said they had called upon people to re-elect Mr. Kharge for the development of not just Kalaburagi but of the entire Hyderabad Karnataka region.
Commending Mr. Kharge for his crucial role in the amendment of the Constitution to insert Article 371(J) for according Special Status to Hyderabad Karnataka region, they said that the people of all six districts of the region owed a lot to the senior Congress man.
“We recognise the people’s movements that erupted under the leadership of veteran social activist Vaijanath Patil for the special status. However, Mr. Kharge’s voice in the parliament in favour of the demand was crucial in realising it. As a Union Minister, he did a lot of development work for the region and the State. As Railway Minister, he gave 17 new trains to Karnataka out of 65 that were introduced for the entire State. The region has seen a tremendous development under his leadership,” Mr. Swamy said.
Pointing to what he called ‘BJP’s one-man-show’, he said personality cults and rallying behind one man, in an obvious reference to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was not good for any democracy.
“In the last Lok Sabha elections, BJP and Narendra Modi had got such an overwhelming majority in the Lok Sabha that no party was even in a position to demand for the Leader of the Opposition post. Yet, Mr. Kharge practically served as the Leader of the Opposition though he was just a Leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha. The way he countered the ruling establishment and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s misrule was appreciated by all Opposition parties. His presence in the parliament is very much required to protect secularism and democracy,” he said.
