Bengaluru, Oct 4 (PTI) BJP Karnataka unit president B Y Vijayendra on Sunday alleged that the Congress government was pressuring police to file cases against BJP workers over Form-7 applications during the ongoing SIR of electoral rolls, following Chief Minister D K Shivakumar’s sit-in at the CEO’s office on Thursday.
Vijayendra said the BJP had raised the issue with Director General of Police M A Saleem after former Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, Leader of Opposition R Ashoka and other senior party leaders met him on Friday. He warned that the party would take to the streets if police action against its workers continued.
“Using Form-7 as an excuse, D K Shivakumar has forgotten that he is the CM of the state and staged a protest at the CEO’s office. As a consequence, the Congress government is putting pressure on the police department and getting FIRs registered against BJP workers,” Vijayendra told reporters during the Booth Vijaya Sankalpa Yatra in Gubbi Assembly constituency in Tumakuru district.
He said Form-7 was a provision under the electoral-roll revision process and could be used to object to the inclusion of names of duplicate or deceased electors in the rolls.
“If the Form-7 submitted by us is valid, it will be accepted. But the police department certainly has no authority to register a criminal case merely for submitting such a form. That is precisely what we told the DGP M A Saleem yesterday,” he said.
Vijayendra alleged that the Congress government was misusing power and money in the belief that it could win any election and said the BJP would give it an “appropriate lesson”.
He alleged that the state government had failed to adequately address farmers’ distress amid drought, claiming that it had announced Rs 2,500 in assistance but had not released the amount. He said the BJP had demanded compensation of at least Rs 50,000 per hectare for drought-hit farmers.
“The financial condition of the state has deteriorated severely,” Vijayendra said, reiterating his demand for a White Paper on Karnataka’s finances.
Targeting the Congress government, he alleged that it was unable to release funds for irrigation and road repairs and claimed that salary payments in some departments had also been delayed.
Vijayendra said the BJP and JD(S) should contest future elections together and that he had requested Union Minister and JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy to work towards such an arrangement.
“Our national leadership also wants the BJP and JD(S) to move together and contest all future elections together,” he said.
Vijayendra said the Centre had a responsibility to provide relief to the state amid the drought, but maintained that the state government also had to discharge its own responsibilities.
He said the BJP had demanded an agricultural loan waiver of up to Rs five lakh for farmers, citing the Maharashtra government’s recent announcement of a Rs 28,000-crore package, including a loan waiver of up to Rs two lakh.
Vijayendra said the BJP’s Seva Sankalp Abhiyan, marking Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 25 years in public life, was being combined with the Booth Vijaya Sankalpa Yatra, which is being held across all 224 Assembly constituencies in Karnataka. PTI GMS SSK
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