Bangalore: BJP tries to go one up on Congress through booklet

 

• Releases compilation of 101 mistakes in first 100 days of Siddu govt

 

Bangalore, 01 Sep 2013, (DHNS): If Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has taken credit for having done 100 good things in the 100 days in office, the Opposition BJP has come out with a booklet outlining 101 mistakes, supposedly committed by the chief minister.

 

The booklet of the BJP titled ‘100 Days and 101 Mistakes’ is in Kannada. It was released by senior State BJP leaders here on Saturday. The party’s main grouse against the government is the introduction of a populist scheme like ‘Anna Bhagya’ and thus, depleting the financial reserves of the State.

 

Addressing the media, State BJP president Pralhad Joshi said Siddaramaiah’s intention of coming out with the cheap rice scheme was to take credit for himself rather than helping the poor.

 

Without understanding the consequences of such a scheme, he announced it and created a lot of confusion among officials. Steps to make the scheme fool-proof were not taken, he said.

 

Referring to the confusion in admissions to first year professional courses through the Karnataka Examinations Authority, Joshi said, “We want to let people know that the Congress regime mismanaged the entire admission system and allowed the Comed-K to conduct its counselling, before the CET of the government. It is as good as suggesting that the Congress government is hand-in-glove with private managements.”

 

Vote bank politics

In an attempt to suggest that the Congress was indulging in vote bank politics, Joshi attacked the Siddaramaiah regime for initiating fast track courts for speedy trial of convicts from a ‘specific community’.

 

“Why this special preference? Does the Congress believe that other community convicts do not deserve a speedy trial? Just to appease the minority community, the government is playing these tricks. The government must try to take all the communities together,” said Joshi.

 

Other mistakes of the Congress government, according to the BJP, are curtailing the powers of gram panchayats, not carving out 43 new taluks, withdrawing the Bill related to cow slaughter, supporting foreign direct investment in retail segment, increasing stamps and registration fee, trying to abolish temple management committees, not taking cognisance of the hardships faced by flood-affected people in North Karnataka, etc.

 

‘Anti-people policies’

“While three-and-half months is a short period for us to prepare a charge sheet against the government, the booklet is a compilation of the mistakes by the government,” said Joshi.

 

On the comparison between the first 100-day regime of the then BJP government under Yeddyurappa and the present 100-day rule of the Siddaramaiah government, BJP MP Ananth Kumar said: “Let us be clear. BJP stands for development and Congress stands for anti-people policies. The BJP government was much better.”

 

Door-to-door campaign

The BJP State leadership has said that it will now be taking up a door-to-door campaign, outlining the mismanagement by the Congress and the UPA regime, as part of their election campaign at the district level.

 

With JD(S) deciding not to continue its alliance with the BJP, Joshi said his party was never seeking any such ‘friendship’.

 

“We did not approach the JD(S). They approached us. As a national party, the BJP is not going to go behind any party for support in the general elections of 2014,” he said.