Forget the past and cast your vote in favour of BJP'

Speaking at a party convention held in Mangalore on Friday in view of campaigning for upcoming Assembly elections, Mr. Joshi said that the phase of infighting within the BJP is over and everyone in the party now has a common goal.

“Those who fought are now outside the party. The BJP in Karnataka is now a united force with Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar being our captain. Mr. Shettar, Ananth Kumar, D V Sadananda Gowda, R Ashok and K S Eshwarappa are now the five Pandavas of BJP who will together ensure that victory will be ours”, Mr. Joshi said.

Urging party workers gathered on the occasion to convince people to “forget the past” and cast their vote in favour of BJP, Mr. Joshi assured that the party will give a “feud-less administration” if voted to power again.

“The similitude of these Assembly polls is like that of a semi-final match. We have to win this one as well as sweep the Lok Sabha polls which may take place anytime now considering the current political scenario of UPA's allies. As party workers, let us admit before people that there were some faults but assure them of the development of state that our party will bring about”, Mr. Joshi said.

Sharing his thoughts on the occasion, R Ashok, Deputy Chief Minister, chose to lambast the Congress and said that the state will suffer big time if Congress is voted to power.

“Congressmen from our state have already started camping in Delhi, knocking at Sonia Gandhi's door in the hope of an election ticket. They are under the impression that they are in to rule the state next. The truth is that Congress has only tortured people with its anti-people policies. The fisher folk of coastal districts of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi know the importance of petrol and diesel. Union Minister M Veerappa Moily who also hails from your own region, has granted the license to increase their rates every month. If Congress comes to power in Karnataka, perhaps the cooking gas will vanish from our society”, Mr. Ashok said.

Mr. Ashok also played the dynasty politics card in his speech by stating that both Congress and JD(S) are run by the Gandhi and Deve Gowda family respectively while BJP does not believe in such a system. “If today, Prahlad Joshi has been chosen as State President of our party, the only criteria which was considered was that he is a BJP activist. We do not believe in dynasty politics. Perhaps 50% of the people of Karnataka were not aware as to who Mr. Joshi was before we made him our party state president”, Mr. Ashok said.

D V Sadananda Gowda, Former Chief Minister, in his address said that the recent Gujarat Assembly elections have shown that people vote for development and BJP led Karnataka government has enough developmental works to its credit including 'Sakaala' besides other schemes. “Unlike in the past where key issues were not addressed during poll campaigns, the Gujarat elections have shown that it is development that people look forward to. In the last five years, the mantra of our government was development and we have utilised the resources of the state to great effect for the cause of development. It is true that there were a few mistakes done in our time but those get the entire spotlight and no one speaks about the development we brought about”, Mr. Gowda said.

The former Chief Minister declared that the fight is directly between BJP and Congress and other parties including KJP, formed by his predecessor and bête noire B S Yeddyurappa. “This election, it will be BJP's development versus Congress' false propaganda against us. Other parties are not in the picture at all as they are of no value to us. We have no threat from them”, he said.

One of the key attractions of the programme was the official re-entry of Former Minister B Nagaraj Shetty to BJP, after having spent some time in the JD(S) camp.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Shetty said that he was one of the many party activists who was hurt by the infighting in the BJP which led him to quit the party. “But now I have reaffirmed my 45 year old association with the Sangh Parivar and the ideology on which this party has been built”, Mr. Shetty said while urging the party leadership to always consider the party activist as supreme and avoid “casteism” and “groupism”. “Let us all forget all our differences and carry out pure and honest politics. Let us all work to make Narendra Modi the next Prime Minister of our country”, Mr. Shetty said.

Nalin Kumar Kateel, MP, and Kota Srinivas Poojary, Muzrai Minister, also spoke. N Yogish Bhat, Deputy Speaker, Karnataka Legislative Assembly, Krishna J Palemar, MLA, Mallika Prasad, MLA, Angara, MLA, Capt. Ganesh Karnik, MLC, Monappa Bhandary, MLC, Padmanabha Kottary, District President, BJP, were also present.