Bommai urges party workers to gear up for upcoming polls

Davangere: Chief Minister Basavaraj S Bommai on Sunday exhorted party leaders and workers to gear up for the upcoming bypolls and Bengaluru municipal elections and said the party has to win all the elections.

"There are two Assembly bypolls (Hanagal and Sindagi constituencies), legislative council elections and a few panchayat elections. We, seniors, have discussed about them. We will take every election seriously right from the local-level elections to Parliamentary elections," he said at the inaugural session of the BJP's State core committee meeting.

He shared his joy over the BJP's victory in the Belagavi municipal election for the first time.

"We started with conquering Mysuru municipal corporation by having our own Mayor and now we have won the three municipal corporations in north Karnataka (Belagavi, Hubballi-Dharwad and Kalaburagi)," Bommai said.

He said the party has to gear up for the upcoming Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) election. He said he was confident of the BJP getting full majority in the BBMP poll.

The Chief Minister reiterated his commitment to serve the people. In this connection, he recalled the mega inoculation drive carried out to celebrate the birthday of Prime Minister Narendra Modi as Seva Samarpan Divas (Dedicating Services Day).

Referring to the demolition of a temple in Nanjangud, which drew widespread criticism, the Chief Minister said it was an act of a few officials who took a hasty decision without bringing the matter to the knowledge of the government and disturbed the peaceful atmosphere of Karnataka.

Bommai assured the gathering of a discussion with the legal experts to find out an administrative as well as legal solution to avoid an incident like this in the future.

Talking about challenges the government is facing, Bommai cited attacks on BJP workers without any reason, topics appearing in the social media against the nationalist ideologies, some people giving shelter to anti-national forces and foreigners occupying space here and taking away rights of the people.

He said, "We have accepted these things as a challenge. Our government and our party have the strength to face these forces, which we will demonstrate."

About reforms in the administration, Bommai said the portions of the first report on them submitted by former Chief Secretary T M Vijay Bhaskar would be implemented from November 1 after studying them.

"We want people to be benefited. The BJP government will win the trust of people. We should know that a good administration with bad politics has zero result whereas a good administration and good politics result in 100 per cent success," Bommai said.

Taking a dig at the Congress, he said after independence, Congress started its political innings by riding on the wave of independence.

"They (Congress) did not have any clear principle and ideology, due to which Mahatma Gandhi advocated disbanding the party but it always used Gandhiji as their ideological showpiece because they knew that their politics won't survive without him," Bommai said.

The Chief Minister said the Congress has shifted now from one Gandhi to another.

"On the one hand was a democratic Gandhi and on the other, there is a dictatorial Gandhi," Bommai said.

On the contrary, Prime Minister Narendra Modi changed the course of politics by showing concerns for everything right from cleanliness to sports.

According to Bommai, Modi government believes in 'Sarva Vyapi Aur Sarva Sparshi Sarkar' (a government all-pervading and touching upon everyone's life).

Senior party functionaries and Union Ministers Pralhad Joshi, Shobha Karanjlaje, D V Sadananda Gowda and BJP national general secretary and Karnataka in-charge Arun Singh, BJP State chief Nalin Kumar Kateel, Karnataka Ministers, former chief minister B S Yediyurappa, his son and BJP State vice- president B Y Vijayendra, BJP MLAs, MLCs, MPs and district-level BJP functionaries were at the meet.