Cong will repeat GP election success in ZP, TP polls: CM

 With just a week left for the first phase elections to Zilla and Taluk Panchayats on February 13, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday exuded confidence that the Congress party will bag at least 20 of the 30 ZPs and more than 100 of the 176 TPs.

Addressing a gathering of party workers, after launching ‘Gram Swaraj’, a public meet starting from Mysuru revenue division comprising eight districts, Siddaramaiah urged  people to vote for the Congress, which during its tenure at the Centre, empowered the local bodies by vesting power in them.

Siddaramaiah said, the first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, laid the foundation for local self government. Calling  himself a product of the local body system, Siddaramaiah recalled his foray into politics as a taluk board member in the year 1978. Later, he contested the Assembly election as an independent candidate from Chamundeshwari constituency and won, he said.

The chief minister said, it is due to the contribution of the Congress-led governments in the past that party-supported candidates won a majority of the seats in the recent Gram Panchayat elections in the State.

The wave appears to continue in the upcoming elections as there were multiple aspirants for tickets in every constituency, while the BJP and the Janata Dal (Secular) were facing a dearth of candidates.

Against Modi

Home Minister G Parameshwara, who also holds the reins of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) as president, launched a tirade against the BJP, especially Prime Minister Narendra Modi, for not waiving farmers’ loans (advanced by nationalised banks). When the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government was in power, then prime minister Manmohan Singh waived off Rs 76,000 crore loans advanced to farmers.