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Lok Shakthi dares J H Patel on fresh polls

Lok Shakthi general secretary M Raghupathy today demanded that Karnataka Chief Minister J H Patel dissolve the state assembly and face fresh elections "as the Janata Dal government has lost the mandate of the people of the state".

Addressing a press conference, Raghupathy said never before in the history of Karnataka had there been a "super jumbo size ministry" of 51 ministers. Of the 110 Janata Dal MLAs, more than 100 were either ministers or chairpersons of boards, he added.

Pointing out the recent resignation of two ministers of state, he said: former prime minister H D Devegowda will "not allow Patel to sleep". "After all, we have known Gowda better," he added.

He said, "Following the endemic crisis in the Dal government, all developmental activities had come to a standstill and the state exchequer was further burdened with additional perquisites given to ministers and chairpersons of boards."

Expressing confidence that the next assembly elections in Karnataka would be fought between the Lok Shakthi-BJP alliance and the Congress, he said the Lok Shakthi had already passed a unanimous resolution at its meeting in Bangalore last month urging Union Commerce Minister and party chief Ramakrishna Hegde to return to Karnataka politics.

Asked about the possibility of Gowda too returning to Karnataka politics, Raghupathy quipped: "We welcome him back. In any case, I don't think he ever left Karnataka politics even when he was prime minister."

Replying to a question on whether the Lok Shakthi's alliance with the BJP would alienate the party from the minorities, he said: "We are committed to secularism and have condemned the recent attacks on the minorities in some northern states. In fact, outfits like Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad have become migraine headaches for the BJP-led government at the Centre."

UNI

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