BJP meets Governor Vajubhai Vala to checkmate Congress-JD(S)

BENGALURU: In an attempt to checkmate leaders of ruling Congress and JD (S) from gaining a hold over BBMP, leaders of the state unit of BJP and newly elected corporators knocked on the doors of Raj Bhavan on Saturday and appealed to Governor Vajubhai Vala to direct the state government to delete names of new entrants in the list of voters ahead of the crucial Mayoral polls on September 11.   

These leaders and corporators met Mr Vala, and sought his intervention to stop the state government from going against the mandate of voters of Bengaluru.

In their memorandum, they alleged that several Congress legislators, who voted in their home districts, also had voting rights in Bengaluru. Deletion of names of such voters was essential to stop the ruling party from grabbing power in BBMP.

Leaders of Congress, who suffered a humiliating defeat in polls to BBMP, were resorting to illegal means to increase the party’s strength by including the names of legislators of other districts in the voters’ list. This was a classic example of derailing the mandate. “In order to increase their strength, MLC Raghu Achar who was elected from Chitradurga has been included in the voters list taking advantage of a lacuna in the KMC Act. Similarly, the name of Mr Ugrappa, MLC, has been included in the city voters list only two days ago though he voted in Pavagada in gram panchayat elections in July,” charged these leaders.  

After giving a patient hearing, the Governor reportedly promised these leaders that he would look into the issues of ineligible voters. If necessary, he would also consult legal experts in this regard, Mr Vala told the BJP delegation.

Later, BJP leader R. Ashok alleged that the Congress was trying to gain a hold over BBMP administration through the backdoor. His party, however, would not allow such illegal steps.

“The allegation by Congress corporator that the BJP made an attempt to woo him is false, I will file a defamation case against this Congress corporator. Our state unit president Prahlad Joshi categorically told us that the party should not approach Congress members to regain power in BBMP. Thus, the party has not approached Congress members, and such allegations are far from truth”, he told the media.

You are the real winners: Deve Gowda to JD(S) losers

A ‘Thanksgiving’ event was organised for unsuccessful candidates who contested the recent BBMP polls on Janata Dal (S) tickets at the party office here on Saturday.

As many as 130 candidates participated in the event where JD (S) patriarch H D Deve Gowda them thanked profusely for contesting on his party tickets and for putting up a tough fight against both Congress and BJP nominees in many wards. “You are the real winners as you gave a good fight to our opponents. We will not forget your brave fight,” he added.

JD(S) President H.D. Deve Gowda interacts with candidates who had contested BBMP elections, in Bengaluru on Saturday (Photo: KPN)

Mr Gowda said he plans to address a meeting of JD (S) workers to select candidates for elections to the Legislative Assembly scheduled for 2018. The process of identifying potential candidates would commence soon. The party’s strength was hard-working and dedicated workers. Therefore, candidates who lost in recent BBMP polls could win the elections to state Assembly, he added. Mr Gowda said he would write to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the need for an expert committee to gauge the storage levels in various dams in the wake of Tamil Nadu CM J Jayalalithaa’s demand for release of 25 TMC feet by Karnataka.

He told the media that Ms Jayalalithaa must desist from politicising the issue. He was not against farmers of Tamil Nadu but the ground reality was that not much water was available in Karnataka following a failure of the monsoon, and more than 140 taluks were reeling under drought.