The Hindu
- Predicts dissolution of the Legislative Assembly by the end of the year
Udupi,. Jul 7: The former Chief Minister S. Bangarappa said on Thursday that the days of the Janata Dal (Secular)-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) coalition government were numbered and the Legislative Assembly would be dissolved by the end of the year. He was speaking after inaugurating the office of the district unit of the Samajwadi Party, here.
Mr. Bangarappa, who is the president of the Samajwadi Party State unit, said whenever the elections were held, the Samajwadi Party would independently contest all the 224 Assembly seats in the State.
The BJP, he said, had proved itself to be a master of double-talk. Deputy Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa, when in the Opposition, had called the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) project the biggest scandal of the decade. Now he was silent on it.
The Janata Dal (S) was saying that the excess 6,000 acres given for the BMIC project should be auctioned and the revenue generated from it should be put in a revolving fund. This fund could then be used for the betterment of the poor. The entire idea was laughable. The value of the 6,000 acres was estimated at between Rs. 30,000 crore and Rs. 33,000 crore, he said.
After the recent expansion of the State Cabinet, there was discontent in both the Janata Dal (S) and the BJP, he said. It would be difficult for the parties to accommodate aspirants in the remaining vacancies.
The picture was not rosy for the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at the Centre either, Mr. Bangarappa said. Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Prakash Karat had already held talks with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, and a third front government at the Centre was a distinct possibility. The UPA government would not survive if the Left parties withdrew their support to it. Though Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was a good person, Congressmen themselves were against him.
He said both the Union and State government had failed to protect the interests of the common man.
The Union Government had increased the prices of petroleum products leading to a sharp increase in the prices of essential commodities, he added.