Deliver or quit, Shah warns state BJP leaders

Wants visible changes by Sept

A day after pulling up the state unit for its lax attitude, BJP president Amit Shah on Monday curtly told local leaders to either deliver or quit.

Chairing the state core-committee meeting, that went into the early hours of Monday, Shah said that he expects visible progress and improvement in the party’s image in the coming weeks, failing which he will be forced to crack the whip.

Shah also told the 12-member core-committee members, including state unit chief B S Yeddyurappa and K S Eshwarappa, that he will have no option but to sack a few if they fail to deliver.

On Sunday, the BJP president expressed strong displeasure at the lack of aggressiveness in the state unit to take on the ruling Congress.

Shah, who has held four rounds of core-committee meetings during his three-day stay in Bengaluru, told the leaders that he will be returning in September and expects results by then.

‘Must win election’
Shah told state leaders to shun all differences and focus on winning the Assembly polls. He sought immediate steps to strengthen the party at the booth-level and boost the morale of the workers.

Shah said corruption will be the main issue in the Assembly polls and asked local leaders to chalk out a detailed action plan to take on the Congress.

Interestingly, the state leaders swung into action within hours after the meeting.

Yeddyurappa announced a state-wide agitation against the Congress government for shielding “corrupt” ministers, including Energy Minister D K Shivakumar who faced I-T raids recently.

The BJP will organise protests, rallies, two-wheeler rallies, torchlight processions and silent protests at the state, district and taluk levels, said Yeddyurappa.

Addressing reporters before concluding his three-day visit, Shah attacked Chief Minister Siddaramaiah for not acting against Shivakumar.

“The government is shameless. One gets the feeling that the government considers corruption as a badge of honour. It takes pleasure in winning medal after medal,” he said.

On Siddaramaiah’s statement that his move to galvanise the state unit will not affect the Congress, Shah said, “Why did he make that statement?...Is he afraid of my presence here? Let him comment when the counting process is complete."

The BJP chief also charged the Congress of playing politics on providing separate religion tag for Veerashaiva-Lingayat dharma, official status for the state and primacy to the Kannada language.

“The fact that Siddaramaiah has raised these issues just months prior to the election makes it obvious that he is playing vote-bank politics,” Shah added.