Youth Congress announces calendar of events
The Indian Youth Congress (IYC) announced the calendar of events for the Karnataka elections.
Addressing the media on Saturday, IYC’s Arivalagan said the process for booth-level elections would start on September 11 and 12 through the nomination process.
The scrutiny will be held on September 13 and the symbols will be allocated on September 14. Elections will be held between September 16 and 21, and the results will be posted on the party’s website on September 23.
The elections will be held in 18,951 booths, where five members each will be elected – president, vice president and three general secretaries (from OBC, minority, and SC/ST quota).
These will further elect the candidates at Assembly, Parliament and State levels, and the schedules for these are yet to be announced.
‘Cong Nadige a success’
In a joint press conference on Saturday, Congress leaders Kagodu Thimmappa and B L Shankar said the Congress Nadige programme had been a “success”. Thimmappa said the valedictory function will be held at Kudala Sangama in Bagalkot on September 12 where all top State Congress leaders will be present. The same evening the party would kick-start its election campaign for the Koppal byelection.
The Nadige programme, which began on June 15, has completed meetings in about 95 per cent of booths, with eight to nine Assembly constituencies yet to be covered. So far meetings have been held in 10,901 places -- 5,696 gram panchayats and 5205 municipal corporations.
Thimmappa said 20-member committees would be formed for the 10,901 wards, while 10-member committees would be constituted for a total of 46,666 booths, which have 7,42,247 elected members.
On October 2, the party will launch its second campaign titled ‘Face-to-Face with Voters’, a process that will go on till December-end. Thimmappa termed this as the largest organisational process initiated in any political party. He said by strengthening the grassroots, the party would be able to focus on micro level issues like PDS, drinking water, roads, health and social security.
Siddu’s retirement
Reacting to Congress leader Siddaramaiah’s announcement of retiring from active politics, Thimmappa blamed the present political situation for Siddaramaiah’s reaction.
“The present day political situation is so bad that even veteran politicians like Siddaramaiah, who has had over three decades of experience, are forced to take such a decision,” he added.
Thimmappa said that though Siddaramaiah’s retirement would come as a loss to the party, the leader would not be indispensable. “The party is always bigger than an individual,” he added.
