Siddu blows poll bugle from Mysuru

 Chief Minister Siddaramaiah blew the poll bugle for the State Legislative Council polls here in Mysuru on Saturday.

Giving a clarion call to party workers at a campaign meeting, Siddaramaiah said:  “There is no confusion this time because the party is contesting on its own. Earlier, the party had a truck with Janata Dal (Secular) and that had caused trouble to a certain extent. This time, party workers should ensure rivals (JD(S) and BJP) are pushed to the second and third slots. Of the total 25 constituencies in the State, five are dual-member seats. However, the party has fielded single candidates in these constituencies to avoid confusion,” he said.

The campaign meeting was organised at Jaya Govind Convention Centre in Kuvempunagar. Giving the break-up on the number of voters, Siddaramaiah said that of the total 7,600 electorates, a majority of 4,000 are Congress members, while the remaining belong to BJP and JD(S). It indeed gives an edge to Congress to romp home victorious, he added.

“Congress is the only party committed to giving more powers to GPs through decentralisation. When S M Krishna was the chief minister, he brought in an amendment, transferring 27 powers vested at State-level to local bodies. Besides, women got 50 per cent reservation in elections, following the recommendation of Congress president Sonia Gandhi. The contribution of both BJP and JD(S) to strengthen the Panchayat Raj system is zero,” he said.

Public Works Minister H C Mahadevappa, Cooperation Minister H S Mahadev Prasad, Chamarajanagar MP R Dhruvanarayan, Periyapatna MLA K Venkatesh, N R MLA Tanveer Sait, sitting MLC and party’s candidate from Mysuru-Chamarajanagar seat R Dharmasena, Zilla Panchayat President Pushpa Amarnath and other leaders were also present.