Mangalore, Mar 11: The victory of Congress party in ULB polls in Dakshina Kannada district is a pointer that the party will take away Assembly constituencies from the BJP too, said B Janardhana Poojary, Former Union Minister and party in-charge for ULB polls for the district.
Addressing media persons at a news conference in Mangalore on Monday, Mr. Poojary said that BJP's anti-people policies and communal approach had attracted the wrath of the people which has translated into electoral defeat for them in the ULB polls. The BJP will meet similar fate in the upcoming Assembly elections too, he said.
“Out of the 28 MCC wards in Mangalore South Assembly constituency, the BJP won only 10, while we bagged 18 seats. In the Mangalore North constituency, we bagged 12 wards, while the BJP won 10. We have won wards in BJP MLA constituencies. We are confident that we will bag at least 7 out of the 8 Assembly constituencies in the district”, Mr. Poojary said.
The veteran leader revealed on the occasion that the Congress High Command will be pressed to give tickets to all sitting MLAs in the district. “With the exception of Vasanth Bangera, the High Command will be asked to give tickets to all sitting MLAs”, Mr. Poojary said. Mr. Bangera has already communicated his unwillingness to contest Assembly polls this time to the party leadership.
Mr. Poojary however denied that Congress benefited solely because of BJP's failures and infighting and creation of KJP and BSR parties. “It may be one of the reasons. But if votes were to be deviated from the BJP, why did the people choose Congress? They could have voted for others. They voted for us because they know that we have the capacity”, Mr. Poojary said.
Promises will be fulfilled
Mr. Poojary said that people have voted for the Congress with many expectations and the party will ensure that their expectations are not left unattended.
“We will not increase Property Tax and Water Tax for the next five years. We will ensure that for people who want to build houses within 10 cents of land, licencing is done within the MCC itself rather than taking the matter to MUDA. The BJP encouraged communalism and atrocities on women. We will ensure that harmony prevails in society. I would like to tell our newly elected Corporators that if we also resort to their methods, we will also meet the same fate that they have today”, he said.
Remains silent on Ashraf issue
Mr. Poojary said on the occasion that party activists and leaders had displayed unity which bore fruit in terms of electoral victory. However, when asked about Former Mayor Ashraf's resignation, Mr. Poojary refused to comment and requested District Congress President B Ramanath Rai to also maintain silence on the matter and not speak about it in public.
When asked about Former Mayor Gulzar Banu's defeat to SDPI candidate, Mr. Poojary played down her defeat by saying that winning and losing is part and parcel of life.
“Indira Gandhi had also lost. There is no account of how many times Vajpayee and Advani have lost. Bangarappa had lost. Moily had lost. Poojary too had lost”, Mr. Poojary said.
MLA UT Khader, Ivan D'Souza, Kripa Amar Alva were present among other Congress leaders.
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