Mangaluru: Several reports have been making rounds about the ‘not-so cordial’ relationship between BJP’s state President Nalin Kumar Kateel and Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa. What fuelled these speculations was the recent move of Kateel appointing two BJP leaders as Vice-Presidents of the party when CM BSY had distanced them during his tenure as the BJP Chief.
However, Playing down the issue, BJP National General Secretary and state in-charge Muralidhar Rao said that the fight between Kateel and BSY was more like a ‘quarrel between husband and wife’.
Rao was in the city to participate in a program ‘One Nation, One Constitution’, organized by the BJP, which intends to educate the people about the importance of abrogation of Article 370.
“One should not give importance to such fights as the intention of the BJP is to grow stronger. Everyone in the party accepts that Yediyurappa is the tallest leader in the party, due to which he was selected as the chief minister of Karnataka. The responsibilities of party leaders keep on changing and state president Nalin has appointed Bhanuprakash and Nirmal Kumar Surana as vice-presidents of the state BJP recently. There are no groups and factions in the party as claimed by the media,” Rao clarified.
BJP will win in all 15 constituencies in by-polls
Replying to a query if the disqualified MLA’s would be provided ticket for the by-elections in the 15 Assembly constituencies, Rao said that the disqualified MLAs have not applied for party’s member so far and hence there is no question of providing tickets to anybody as of now.
“There are a lot of procedures to select a candidate in BJP and party’s high-command would select a final candidate. However, I can say that the BJP would plant victory flag in all the 15 constituencies in an ensuing by-election”, he predicted.
When asked about delay in announcing compensation for the flood-victims of Karnataka, Rao informed that Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa has been in touch with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the flood relief fund will be released soon.
Abrogation has brought in reservation
Rao has opined that if the Congress is against abrogation of the Article 370, then it also means that they are against the SC/ST and the OBCs, for the simple reason that abrogation of Article 370 has provided reservation for SC/ST and OBCs.
Rao said, “abrogation of Article 370 allowed SC/ST and OBCs to enjoy the facility of reservation. If the Congress party is against the abrogation of Article 370 and 35 A, it should agree that they are also against SC/ST and OBC community and also in favour of violence. The citizens of Jammu- Kashmir admit that the violence has come down after the abrogation of Article 370 and 35 A.”
Rao also informed that dynasty and Democracy cannot go together. “If we are in a democratic country, we must opt out of dynasty administration. The Congress has been hiding the facts while opposing the move of revoking of Article 370. If the Congress is supporting separatists, they should agree that they are favouring our enemy nation Pakistan,” he stressed.
MLAs D Vedavyas Kamath, Umanath Kotian, Hareesh Poonja and other party leaders like Prathapsimha Nayak, Brijesh Chouta, Monappa Bhandary, Pooja Pai, Santhosh Boliar among others were present.
