'Cong. may assume power in 109 civic bodies'

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE, MAY 7. The Home Minister, Mr. M. Mallikarjun Kharge, on Monday said that the Congress was likely to control over 109 of the 148 urban local bodies to which elections were held recently, including 82 in which it had an absolute majority.

He told presspersons that the party was getting support from independents and others in some local bodies where it was the largest party. In some others, the party rebels who had won were keen on returning to the party.

Asked for his reaction to the statement of the Janata Dal (S) State unit President, Mr. Siddaramiah, that his party was ready to support the Congress, Mr. Kharge said the KPCC President, Mr. Allum Veerabhadrappa, would react to it.

Expressing his satisfaction over the verdict, he said it was the third consecutive electoral success for the party since the installation of the S. M. Krishna Government 17 months ago. The victory, he said, had brought with it the responsibility of fulfilling the aspirations of the people.

He denied the Opposition charge that the Congress misused official machinery and lured the electorate by distributing money and liquor.

On the appointments of chairmen of corporations and boards, he said only around 50 such organisations had vacancies. But the party had received thousands of applications for the 250- odd posts, including non-official members. The Chief Minister, Mr. S. M. Krishna, had realised the need to fill them and was likely to take a decision after May 10, when he returned from the Assembly election campaign in Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

Mr. Kharge, who heads the committee on appointment of chairmen to corporations and boards, said the MLAs would be considered as some of them had not been given representation. The appointment to various other organisations in the State had already been done, he added.

CBI probe

The minister said he had already expressed the opinion that he was not averse to entrusting the investigation of the inter-State racket involving the sale of female children from Gulbarga District to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Already, the Corps of Detectives (CoD) was inquiring into it and the Andhra Pradesh Government was collecting information. The Government would decide on the next course of action. It was the Karnataka Government which had arrested the accused persons after raiding some premises where the children were kept.

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Section  : Southern States
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