Mangaluru: State BJP president B.S. Yeddyurappa has assured that he will take all measures to open a branch office of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in Mangaluru within three months after the BJP comes to power in the state. During the ongoing Parivarthana Rally of the party, Yeddyurappa has been making various assurances which he said the party will fulfill if voted to power in the forthcoming election and the opening of the NIA branch in Mangaluru is the latest. The BJP state president and other leaders completed their Yatra in Dakshina Kannada district on Saturday and left for Udupi district on Sunday morning. "The Kerala model of violence has influenced Mangaluru too. It is a known fact that terror elements are using the coastal region for their activities. So we want a branch of NIA here," he told reporters in Mangaluru on Sunday.
"Within three months of us coming to power in the state, with the help of the Central government all necessary steps would be taken to open a new branch office of NIA in Mangaluru. All basic facilities needed for the office would be provided by us. The state government should have taken this step by now. But it has not made any attempt till date," he alleged. At present, the NIA has its branches only in five places- Hyderabad, Kochi, Mumbai, Guwahati and Lucknow.
Answering a query on finalising the list of candidates for the forthcoming MLC election, Yedyurappa said that the list would be sent to national leaders on November 13. The names would be finalised during the meeting to be held on November 15, he added. Expressing his unhappiness over the functioning of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), Yedyurappa alleged that it did not conduct a proper inquiry when the CM faced several charges. "The ACB’s functioning is limited to giving a clean chit. Instead, if an independent judge or the CBI had conducted the probe, the Chief Minister would have been exposed," he said.
