Sunday, January 18, 2009

JD(S) tries to woo Kurubas




By Shivakumar G Malagi

Former prime min ister H.D. Deve Gowda has received an enthusiastic response to his bid to disprove the anti-Kuruba propaganda being carried out by Ahinda leaders against the Janata Dal(S) with around 3 lakh people turning up for the party’s backward classes convention here on Saturday. Koppal is considered a stronghold of the Kuruba community.

The convention was organised by the JD(S) to gear up its cadre following speculation that former deputy chief minister Siddaramaiah — an Ahinda leader and an archrival of the Gowda family — is likely to contest the coming Lok Sabha election from Koppal constituency on a Congress or BJP ticket.

But Mr Gowda firmly stated in his speech that the convention was not mean to build an alternative to the Ahinda movement. “The Ahinda movement is centered around one man (hinting at Siddaramaiah). But, this convention is meant to rejuvenate the JD(S) cadre and keep the party away from caste-politics that has corrupted the political environment in the state,” he explained.

He also announced more backward class conventions before the Parliament elections in Siddaramaiah’s home town, Mysore and the border city of Belgaum.

Taking over from Mr Gowda, former chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy continued his tirade against Siddaramaiah saying, “The JD(S) enabled a leader from the backward class to table the state budget for seven years but is now being projected as anti-Kuruba. This same leader is using the Ahinda movement to gain political mileage. I request you to teach them a befitting lesson.” Siddaramaiah had served as finance minister when he was in the JD(S).

Hitting out at tourism minister G. Janardhan Reddy who is expected to contest from Koppal as a BJP candidate, Mr Kumaraswamy called upon people to revolt against the Bellary mining lords for equating democracy with money-power.

Referring to Mr Reddy’s comment on the JD (S) convention, he said, “The Bellary mining lords have described people attending this convention as meanminded. This shows how arrogant they are when it comes to the cause of the downtrodden. It’s time for people of this region to revolt against the mining lords and teach them a lesson in the parliament elections.


Koppal Convention Resolutions

JD(S) patriarch H D Deve Gowda has called upon all the political parties to include the Koppal Backward Classes' Convention resolutions in their election manifesto in the coming elections to Parliament and thereby, prove their commitment for the total uplift of the backward classes'.



Resolution-1
Political reservation accorded to backward classes and women in the rural and urban local bodies under the Karnataka Panchayat Raj (amended) Act 1995 in Karnataka state must be implemented in all the states under the Union Government of India.



Resolution-2


Reservation accorded to backward classes, women and religious minorities in education and employment during H D Deve Gowda-led government in 1995 in Karnataka must be implemented in the all the states and Union Government should bring in necessary amendments to the Constitution in this regard.

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