Mangaluru: Senior Congress leader Janardhan Poojary held a press meet at the district Congress Office here, on April 9.
Addressing the media persons, Poojary expressed his condolences to Journalist Haimad Hussain. A total of Rs 1 lakh will be given as compensation by Poojary, MLA J R Lobo, Gokarnanatha Temple and Poojary’s son Deepak, who each pooled in Rs 25000 towards the compensation amount. A minute’s silence was observed for Haimad’s soul.
Speaking on B S Yeddyurappa being appointed as State BJP President, Poojary said, “It is well known now that another name for ‘corruption’ is Yeddyurappa and the BJP has given us enough ammunition to fight them in the 2018 elections by appointing Yeddyurappa as the BJP State President. I thank Amit Shah and Modi for their blessings on Congress.”
In a reply to Yeddyurappa’s statement on making Karnataka a Congress free state, Poojary said, “Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made a similar claim, but he has failed. When the Prime Minister has failed, how can Yeddyurappa even think of it?”
He further said, “Yeddyurappa also promised development, but his government was ousted by the people of the state due to the corrupt practises of the party. There was no development by the Yeddyurappa government. In fact, Yeddyurappa was the first Chief Minister of Karnataka to spend 24 days in jail. Now that he has said that he will uproot Congress from the state, I would like to advise him to weigh his words before he speaks as we have sufficient material against him to retaliate. He should remember that the CBI court ruling is pending in the case where he had given Rs 40 lakh cheque to the Prerana Trust and though he was given a clean chit in other corruption cases by the High Court, the Supreme Court ruling is still pending.”
In the assembly election propaganda in West Bengal, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that TMC (Trinamool Congress) stood for Terror, Murder and Corruption. Poojary said, “Being a Prime Minister, he should be careful before he speaks. If I say that BJP is a jokers party, how will the people judge me?”
Speaking about the ACB, Poojary said, “When I expressed my displeasure at the formation of ACB, some of our party members said that it is my personal view, but now that the High Court has directed the government not to transfer any Lokayukta cases to ACB, what do they want to say about it? The Chief Minister should shut down the ACB and the public will appreciate him for that.”
He also asked the Chief Minister to visit the drought hit areas and speak to the affected people personally. He said that a video conference is not the right way to address the issue. He hit out at the BJP saying, “I will say Bharat Matha Ki Jai, but saying it is one’s personal choice. Nobody should be forced to say it as it violates one’s freedom. BJP sends ABVP members to universities in order to start quarrels and criminalize the students.”
“The Congress rule book has a chapter on discipline. Opposing the ideologies of Congress is indiscipline and transferring Lokayukta cases to ACB amounts to indiscipline. The Chief Minister should think about this and act without opposing the ideologies of Congress,” he added.
MLA J R Lobo, Arun Coelho, and others were also present.