BJP State President D V Sadanand Gowda said the 15-month rule of the State government should get a fillip from the birth place of Rani Abbakka with the victory of BJP candidate Chandrashekhar Uchil.
   Speaking at the party workers’ campaign held at Thokkotu after a colourful procession on Wednesday, Mr Gowda said the Congress Party does not have the vision of Mahatma Gandhi to build ‘Grama Rajya’ neither have they strived to make the country liquor-free.
   In fact, it is the JD(S)-BJP government that banned liquor and lottery in the State, he claimed. He said the Congress Party is divided, which is why they have been coming in groups to conduct campaigning in Ullal unlike the BJP campaign. The efforts of the Congress Party to win the elections by tarnishing the image of BJP will not bear fruits, he said.
   Refuting the allegations made by Congress State President Mallikarjuna Kharge, he said in the Mangalore Lok Sabha constituency, 75 per cent of the MP’s Fund has already been utilised.
   JD(S) and BJP are contestants in Ullal as the Common Minimum Programme does not stop them from contesting against each other. In fact, the Congress party will be relegated to the third place, he added.
   Deputy Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa challenged the Congress Party for a debate with regard to the failures and achievements of the State government.
   He said the Congress Party must be rooted out to ensure development of the State. Speaking about the achievements of the JD(S)-BJP government, he said for the first time in the State, a government has announced many scheme for girls like the Bhagyalakshmi Scheme.
   Former Ullal MLA Jayaram Shetty accused the former MLA U T Fareed, U T Khader and Idinabba for communal clashes in Ullal. He also claimed that when he was the MLA, there were no communal clashes in Ullal and hence the clashes were being engineered.
   The Congress has been talking about water woes, but till date the problem has not been solved as the Congress candidates in Ullal were never sincere, he charged.
   Minister for Medical Education Dr V S Acharya said the Congress is disillusioned with the speedy development undertaken by the State government. He lauded the Budget presented by Deputy Chief Minister for allocating suffient funds for all sectors and for being the first gender sensitive Budget.
    Minister for Industries Katta Subrahmanya Naidu said the Ullal constituency must give a message to the State government to move forward through bringing victory to BJP in the by-poll.
   Minister for Fisheries Nagaraj Shetty, MLC Shobha Karandlaje and BJP minority wing President Anwar Mayippady addressed the gathering. MLAs N Yogish Bhat, J Krishna Palemar, Lalaji R Mendon, Padmanabha Kottary, Shakunthala T Shetty and Chikmagalur MLA C T Ravi, Rashtreeya Yuva Morcha President Sunil Kumar and Zilla Panchayat President Sushma Janardhan were present.