Bagalakote: The BJP’s humiliating defeat in the recently held Assembly elections has upset party workers, whose displeasure came out at an Office-bearers’ Convention in the City on June 26.
The situation took a turn for the worse while discussing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s nine-year-old achievements and party’s achievements, the members came down heavily on party members who indulged in anti-party activities through their speeches at the office-bearers’ convention at Charantimatha Kalyana Mantapa here.
The BJP, which claimed to be a disciplined party, had an internal tussle at the meeting. The inner meaning of each leader’s words was a mystery. They hurled accusations against each other. The frequent skirmishes at the meeting were resolved after the intervention of the police and senior leaders. The meeting culminated in a resolve to win the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
BJP Leader Raju Revankar insisted that those responsible for the defeat of the BJP candidate in Bagalakote should not be allowed to attend the meeting and should leave voluntarily or else we will walk out of the meeting, he said. He was supported by other activists. BJP’s medical fraternity Shekhar Mane, Shambhugowda Patil and Chandrakanta Kesanur were sent out.
Former MLA Veeranna Charantimath said that a plot of land has been allotted for the installation of Basaveshwara and Shivaji statues in Navanagara and Rs. 24 lakh each has been sanctioned. We had planned to prepare and install the statue at a cost. On Sunday, when they went ahead to install them, Dr. Shekhar Mane MLC P. H. Pujara called the police and objected to it. Should such people be in the party? They should be thrown out immediately. There are 46 gangs in Navanagara. Pro-Hindu activists were attacked. If such incidents are not curbed, we will launch a struggle,” he said.
Former Minister Murugesh Nirani said, “We lost the election and are not dead. If something is said from the point of view of suspicion, it cannot be tolerated. If we point out at someone else, four fingers will point at us. Don’t forget that. It’s not that we can’t talk like them, we have the capacity. We are just trying not to go that way.
MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal said that even good crops were cut in some places while removing garbage. Some had given money to defeat me. But I didn’t give up and won. We are not here to do goondaism,” he said.
Speaking at the meeting, Former CM Basavaraj Bommai said, “It is a good thing to say right and wrong in the meeting. I am happy that the BJP will bounce back. We have to work hard for the party’s victory in the Lok Sabha elections. There is really a spontaneity in the BJP. There is no equal leader in the country like Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Modi’s comparison with CM Siddaramaiah and Rahul Gandhi is not correct. The Congress is playing vendetta politics in the state. BJP workers are being threatened. If this doesn’t stop, we will definitely fight,” he said.