BENGALURU: Claiming that more contestants backed by Congress than those supported by the BJP and JD(S) won Gram Panchayat elections, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday exuded confidence that his party would repeat such a performance in forthcoming polls to BBMP, Taluk Panchayats, and to the Legislative Assembly in 2018.
Speaking to the media after garlanding the statue of the late chief minister D Devaraj Urs on his death anniversary here, he said 38,742 candidates supported by Congress were elected as Gram Panchayat members as against 27,000 sponsored by BJP, and 12,000 backed by JD(S). These figures mirror the fact that people have reposed faith in the Congress government because of its policies and programmes, he added.
The Chief Minister expressed confidence that the party would come up trumps in BBMP and Taluk Panchayat elections, and would be voted back to power in 2018 Assembly polls. Mr Siddaramaiah said the government would resolve issues concerning reservation for posts of chairpersons and vice chairpersons of Gram Panchayats. There would be no hurdle to announce the reservation list for these posts, he added.
He said the state government would organise events through the year to mark the birth centenary of the late chief minister Mr Devaraj Urs. Paying tributes to the late leader, he said Mr Urs was the pioneer in launching social welfare schemes.
BJP, JD(S) vie to claim on GP seats
BJP state unit chief Pralhad Joshi dismissed figures quoted by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on the number of seats won by candidates backed by Congress in elections to Gram Panchayats. While the Chief Minister had said BJP-supported candidates won 27,000 seats Mr Joshi said: “As per the feed back, the BJP has bagged maximum number of seats. Our party will be able to provide correct figure in a day or two.”
Meanwhile, sources in JD(S) said contestants supported by the party have won maximum number of seats in Mandya, Hassan, Tumakuru and Bengaluru (rural) districts. The sources countered figures quoted by Mr Siddaramaiah, saying they accounted for only 77, 742 seats while polls were held for 94,000 odd seats.
