Kalaburagi, March 20 Responding to a question about "dinner politics" within the ruling Congress party, State BJP President and MLA B.Y. Vijayendra said that the party's MLAs had informed him that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah would certainly resign. However, the question of who will become the next Chief Minister remains a crucial one, he added.
Speaking to the media on Friday, he said, "When we recently spoke to the MLAs of the ruling party at Vidhana Soudha, they expressed confidence that a definite outcome would emerge and that the Chief Minister would certainly resign. However, the question of who will become the next Chief Minister remains a crucial one. The answer to that must come from them."
Vijayendra expressed confidence that the party would win both Assembly constituencies going to by-elections in the state by a significant margin.
He responded to a query and said that the BJP high command has already announced candidates for the Bagalkote and Davanagere South Assembly constituencies. Former MLA Veeranna Charantimath has been fielded from Bagalkote, while Srinivas Das Kariyappa has been named as the candidate for Davanagere South, he said.
"Our party workers are highly enthusiastic. We are also seeing that voters are eager to teach a lesson to this anti-poor, anti-people Congress government, and are keen to ensure BJP's victory," he stated.
He further said that the BJP had also raised the issue of conducting Zilla Panchayat and Taluk Panchayat elections in the Assembly recently.
"You are aware who holds control from the panchayat level to Parliament in Kalyana Karnataka. Despite that, development work has not taken place. On the other hand, the Congress has dealt a blow to the Panchayat Raj system," he alleged targeting AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge and his son Minister for IT, BT and RDPR Priyank Kharge, who hail from Kalaburagi.
He further stated that due to the failure to conduct elections to local bodies, the state has not received at least Rs 14,000–15,000 crore in funds that were to come from the Centre. “This clearly shows that the state government’s approach has led to setbacks for the state,” he said.
He added that the issue of annual losses of Rs 14,000–15,000 crore due to not holding local body elections had been raised in the Assembly. “Even now, we hope that good sense prevails and the state government proceeds with conducting the elections,” he said.