Mangaluru | The BJP will hold statewide agitations if the Congress government in Karnataka fails to fulfil its five guarantees to the people, party state president Nalin Kumar Kateel said on Saturday.
Addressing reporters here, Kateel said the guarantees should be implemented within a month and warned that the government will face a series of protests if there is any delay in this regard.
He said government officials are bearing the brunt of people's fury who refuse to pay electricity bills and other charges citing the Congress promises.
Kateel, also Dakshina Kannada MP, alleged that the new dispensation is practising revenge politics and booking cases against BJP MLAs and party workers. Cases have been booked against MLAs Harish Poonja and C N Ashwath Narayan, while Congress workers are indulging in violence, he added.
The BJP state chief dared the Congress to probe the charges made by them against the previous BJP government. The government should also allow an impartial probe into the Lokayukta cases against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, he said.
On comments by some Congress leaders about banning the RSS, Kateel said even former prime ministers Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Narasimha Rao who tried to ban the organisation were not successful due to intervention of courts.
He also said the BJP government had appointed slain party activist Praveen Nettaru's wife as a government employee on contract basis and on compassionate grounds. However, the new Congress government has removed her from service.
Kateel urged the Chief Minister to allow her to continue in service on humanitarian grounds.
BJP MLAs from Dakshina Kannada district Vedavyas Kamath, Bharath Shetty, Harish Poonja, Umanath Kotian, Rajesh Naik. Bhagirathi Muruliya and MLC Prathap Simha Nayak were present at the press meet.
Bengaluru | While joy swept Raj Bhavan as 24 ministers were sworn in on Saturday, the discontent among many senior legislators who were denied a ministerial position in the 34-member Cabinet of the Siddaramaiah government erupted in the form of protests outside.
Dejected supporters of the legislators who could not make it to the Cabinet raised slogans outside the Governor's residence where the ministers took oath.
Apart from Bengaluru, protests were held in Sira in Tumakuru, Mysuru, Haveri, Kodagu and various other places as well, with many disgruntled legislators and their supporters voicing their discontent.
In Bengaluru, supporters of Vijayanagar MLA M Krishnappa gathered near Raj Bhavan and shouted slogans. They said the four-time MLA deserved the cabinet berth more than anyone else.
Similarly, the supporters of T B Jayachandra staged a demonstration outside Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's house alleging that a "grave injustice" has been meted out to the Kunchitiga community as no representation was given to them.
A disgruntled Jayachandra said he would meet the party high command and seek justice.
In Mysuru, supporters of Narasimharaja MLA Tanveer Sait agitated holding banners and placards in support of their leader.
Similarly, senior MLCs B K Hariprasad and Saleem Ahmed too expressed their unhappiness at being denied ministerial positions.
MLAs who aspired to be ministers, such as Vijayanand Kashappanavar from Hungund in Bagalkote district and Laxman Savadi, who switched from the BJP to Congress and won from Athani constituency, were also upset.
According to reports, protests broke out in eight districts in the state including Haveri, Hassan and Kodagu, where the representatives of the constituencies did not get a berth in the Cabinet.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah clarified that there were certain parameters according to which first-time MLAs from the party are not inducted into the Cabinet.
"We didn't make the first-time MLAs ministers," Siddaramaiah explained.
Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar consoled the disgruntled legislators, telling them not to lose hope as they had scope in the future.
