Bengaluru: While admitting that the contest was between the Congress and the BJP in the coming polls to the state Assembly, AICC general secretary in-charge of Karnataka, K.C. Venugopal declared on Thursday that the Congress was up for any challenge from the saffron party. He did not dismiss the chances of the Janata Dal (Secular) either, saying it was a rival too, if not the main one.
Speaking to reporters after doing a division-wise review of booth level committees, he claimed the BJP was trying to polarise votes in the state, but the Congress too was leaving no stone unturned to return to power in the state. "Our party in Karnataka is ready to take on any challenge from the BJP as we have fulfilled 80 per cent of the promises made in our 2013 election manifesto and will fulfill the rest in the coming months," he said, adding, "We are going before the people with the achievements of the Congress government headed by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah over the last four- and- a- half years. While the BJP is propagating its ideology here, the Congress is chanting the mantra of development and welfare of one and all." On a possible Cabinet reshuffle, he said Mr Rahul Gandhi had already given the green signal for it and it could happen any time. Asked about the performance of the current ministers, he said they were all doing a good job and he had not received any complaint so far.
Denying the allegation that the Congress was trying to divide Veerashaivas and Lingayats in the run-up to the state poll, he said the demand for a separate religious tag had come from the community and the state government had nothing to do with it.
Coming to the defence of the state government on its objection to the use of Hindi on Namma Metro, Mr Venugopal said although it was the national language it could not be imposed by the Centre. "The UPA government circulated documents in Hindi and English but the Modi government is using only Hindi, which is unacceptable," he added.
Venugopal: What about booth panels?
A few ministers and MLAs close to Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah came under fire in the closed-door meeting of party leaders presided over by AICC general secretary, K.C. Venugopal here on Thursday.
Mr Venugopal who was here to review the progress of different tasks assigned to ministers, legislators and office bearers by AICC vice president Rahul Gandhi and himself, held meetings with leaders of four divisions, Kalaburgi, Belagavi, Mysuru and Bengaluru. One of the issues that dominated Thursday's meeting was the failure of legislators who are also the party general secretaries and secretaries, in constituting booth committees.
Last time when Mr Gandhi was in town, he had specifically asked them to constitute booth level committees which the party feel is the lifeline for winning elections. During the review, Mr Venugopal found that in nearly 65 constituencies represented by MLAs and ministers close to Mr Siddaramaiah, booth level committes were not constituted in spite of KPCC president Dr G. Parameshwar holding four meetings in this regard and reminding the MLAs and ministers. However, they reportedly did not co-operate with the party functionaries.
On learning about this, Mr Venugopal took the leaders to task making it clear that either they should buck up and do the work or they should give up the party posts. He said the MLAs and ministers had originally won the elections on Congress tickets, so they could not ignore the party diktat.
