Date:12/10/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/10/12/stories/2007101253860400.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Parliament will ratify Governor’s action, says Janardhana Poojary

Special Correspondent

‘Chief Minister aspirants in the Congress will be disappointed’

— Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

Charge sheet: Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president M. Mallikarjun Kharge addressing presspersosn along with senior Congress leaders after meeting the Governor at the Raj Bhavan in Bangalore on Thursday.

Bangalore: The former president of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) B. Janardhana Poojary on Thursday said that the Congress wanted fresh elections to the Legislative Assembly and that Parliament would ratify the imposition of President’s Rule in the State.

Speaking to reporters, Mr. Poojari said the Congress high command had sent a clear message to the people as well as the party workers in the State when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited Bangalore recently. He said that Dr. Singh had asked Congressmen to be ready for the elections any time, but unfortunately they had failed to understand the importance of his message.

When countered that his party leaders such as Union Minister of State for Planning M.V. Rajasekharan were trying to woo the former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda, to become the Chief Minister, Mr. Poojari was emphatic that all the aspirants would be disappointed.

Mr. Poojari said that given the confused political situation and the rot set in during the 20-month rule of the Janata Dal (Secular)-Bharatiya Janata Party coalition Government, it would not oblige the party leaders to make such an effort.

Earlier, KPCC President M. Mallikarjun Kharge, the former Chief Minister N. Dharam Singh and Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council H.K. Patil and others spoke on similar lines at the Raj Bhavan. They were speaking to reporters after presenting a memorandum to the Governor complaining about the lapses committed in the reservation of wards in the urban local bodies’ elections.

Charge against BJP

Mr. Poojary accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of breaking promises made to the people and courts, and had lost moral authority to accuse the former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy as one.

He dubbed the ‘Dharma Yuddha’ launched by the former Deputy Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa and his party colleagues at Tumkur as “childish” and ridiculed the BJP leaders for complaining about a “silly” cause like the handing over of power.