Shobha blames Congress for Bangarpet bypoll

Stifling environment compelled Narayanaswamy to quit the party

Addressing an election rally at Karahalli in the taluk on Wednesday, Shobha said Narayanaswamy had to resign as Congress legislator owing to the stifling environment in that party.

She said Bangarpet constituency has not witnessed any progress even after 13 elections. Roads and drains continue to be problem areas as previous governments have neglected development.

The BJP government has taken up several development projects in its two and half year stint. The chief minister has earmarked Rs 200 crore for linking rivers to provide permanent irrigation facility.

Milk producers are being provided an incentive of Rs 2 a litre. Steps have been taken to tackle power crisis in a phased manner and bogus ration cards will be waded out shortly, the minister said.

Several vehicles lined up during the campaign were found to be without the mandatory permission obtained from the election officer. Candidate M Narayanaswamy, former legislator B P Venkatamuniyappa spoke on the occasion.

Poor response

Though wide publicity was given about Shobha’s visit to the constituency, very few people turned out to attend the poll meeting. In fact most of the people who attended the campaign were those who were accompanying the minister in seven to eight vehicles.

Even the presence of District In-Charge Minister A Narayanaswamy who was accompanying the minister didn’t elicit good response from the public. People stayed indoors and didn’t bother to visit the campaign meetings.

Warning from tahsildar

Tahsildar C Nagaraj has warned legal action against election candidates who have not furnished true and fair election expenses.

In a press statement, tahsildar has stated that expenditure statement furnished by all contestants except independent candidate S M Krishna were wrong.

He said expenses have not been paid through banks and some details were not supported by receipts.

Even the information furnished is incomplete and notices have been issued to all such candidates.

The tahsildar has said that sinking of borewell sunk near Maragal does not amount to violation of model code of conduct. The work was taken up to tackle water crisis.