NIZAMABAD: BJP MP Arvind Dharmapuri claimed that he has begun a new tradition of zero-budget elections in Telangana state.
“Setting aside pressures from different sections, I did not distribute any money while contesting as MLA from Korutla assembly constituency. I was defeated by the BRS candidate. But the margin between the winner and me is just three per cent,” the MP explained.
Speaking to media persons in Nizamabad on Tuesday, Arvind called for clean governance in Nizamabad Lok Sabha limits and entire Telangana state. He maintained that to contest as MLA, the expenditure in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Gujarat is just ₹40 lakh. But in Telangana, it turned out to be ₹50 crore to ₹90 crore in recent Assembly elections, he remarked.
He said despite spending such huge sums, many MLA candidates faced defeat.
The MP said as they have spent so much money, MLAs recover it from sand, gravel, illegal quarries, bribes from building constructions, commissions from roads and projects like Kaleshwaram.
He called upon people to end the culture of spending money in elections. “People of Korutla have set the tradition of voting BJP without taking a single rupee,” he declared.
Arvind asked intellectuals like doctors, advocates, chartered accountants and teachers to promote the culture of zero-budget elections. He said there is a strong wave of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Surveys indicate that BJP will win 350 to 400 MP seats in next Parliament elections.
“We are hopeful of breaking the record of Congress winning more than 400 MP seats in 1984 elections after Indira Gandhi’s assassination,” he added.
