At the same time, senior Congress leaders at a rally in Mysore countered the BJP show of strength, saying the government “is mired in scams and that its days in power are numbered.” The Congress leaders said they will not rest till the B S Yeddyurappa government is shunted out of power.
It was a show of strength and unity among the top brass of the BJP at the Palace Grounds in Bangalore. Thousands of booth-level workers descended on the capital city. A convention was also organised to mark the completion of the party’s 1,000 days in power in the State.
Congress leaders led by Siddaramaiah and G Parameshwara in Mysore, addressing an impressive gathering, ridiculed the BJP for celebrating “its corruption and scams.” They said the time has come to rescue the State from the “communal” and “fascist” BJP.
The BJP convention also sent a message to the cadre that the party is more supreme than individuals. The party had selected four persons from each of the 43,000 booth committees across the state to participate in the convention.
BJP president Nitin Gadkari ruled out dissolution of the State Assembly and asserted that “Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa will complete his full five-year term. He has the full backing of the central leadership.”
Party State unit president K S Eshwarappa said Gadkari should constitute an internal panel to probe the charges against Yeddyurappa. The Opposition is misleading the people by making false allegations. Therefore, a fact-finding mission must study all the documents and give its verdict, he told Gadkari.
Gadkari said Yeddyurappa need not worry about the campaign by the JD(S) and Congress to destabilise the government. He also complimented Yeddyurappa on launching many welfare programmes. The State’s initiatives, particularly in the agriculture sector, are worthy of emulation by other states, he noted.
Yeddyurappa utilised the platform to strike an emotional chord with the workers by recalling his days as a young party worker who used a cycle as his mode of transport. He appealed to workers to ensure that the Congress and JD(S) are confined to the opposition benches for the next 20 years.