Mangaluru: MLC Ivan D’souza held a press meet at his office in the MCC premises here, on December 31.
Speaking to the mediapersons Ivan said, “Members of the Congress party have proven the unity within the party by securing the victory for our candidate, even though there were two rebel candidates who had contested the election against us.”
Opposition leader K S Eshwarappa had previously claimed that he would take ‘political sanyasa’ even if Congress won just one seat more than BJP in the MLC election. “Eshwarappa failed to make a proper political assessment as Congress has now won 7 seats more than the BJP. He is not qualified even to be a ‘sanyasi’, so I request Eshwarappa to submit his resignation and honour his chair,” Ivan said.
When asked if the cash-for-vote allegations made by BJP and JD(S) against the Congress party were true, Ivan said, “They made these allegations to save their face when they could sense their defeat. There is no truth in it, the allegations are completely baseless.”
Ivan further said that Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) had formed a committee at the district level for the forthcoming Taluk Panchayat and Zilla Panchayat elections. “The committee will be headed by District in-charge B Ramanath Rai as the President and will comprise of Congress party members of Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, Vidhan Parishath, 2013-2014 Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha contestants and District KPCC members,” he added.
“The committee will accept applications from those who wish to represent the Congress and contest the elections. Candidate from general category have to deposit Rs 10000 and Rs 5000 for Zilla Panchayat and Taluk Panchayat respectively. Women and SC/ST candidates have to deposit Rs 5000 and Rs 2500 for Zilla Panchayat and Taluk Panchayat respectively. The committee will issue tickets to the suitable candidates to contest the elections after going through the applications,” said Ivan.
Ivan distributed cheques to the beneficiaries of Chief Ministers Relief Fund. 21 beneficiaries who were ailing from various illnesses received a total of Rs 14,10,000 from the Chief Minister. 15 others received Rs 10,23,496 under the recommendation of MLC Ivan D’Souza. While handing over the cheques, Ivan thanked the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and asked the beneficiaries to keep the CM in their prayers and wish them good luck.
“So far under my recommendation, the Chief Minister has given close to Rs 2.84 crore to the poor and needy. Even APL card holders with income less than Rs 36000 can apply for this scheme,” he said.
DCC secretary, Narayan Kotian, General Secretary of Minority, Manuraj, DK Minority Committee General Secretary, Chetan Kumar, Ravi Kiran and Satish were also present.