Daijiworld Media Network - Puttur (SP)

Puttur, Oct 30: There is every indicaion that the stand-off between Uppinangady gram panchayat and MLA Mallika Prasad will hot up in the coming days.

The panchayat administration has decided to ignore the instructions given by the MLA not to go ahead with the works of constructing a commercial complex at the local bus stand. The panchayat says that it will do what the special session of the panchayat decides on the issue.

It may be noted that the panchayat is ruled by the Congress while Prasad belongs to the BJP. The BJP workers had staged a protest against the ongoing complex work on Tuesday October 28, saying that it affects the passengers and the bus movement in the small bus stand. The MLA had visited the spot and asked the panchayat to stop the works and to fill up the trenches dug by it for the purpose.

While the works have been suspended temporarily, trenches remain. The BJP workers had threatened to fill the trenches on their own. It is said, that the district level Congress leaders have asked the panchayat leaders not to bow under the pressure tactics of the BJP.

The BJP's demand for the superseding of the gram panchayat has angered the Congress. The Congress feels that the BJP is doing all this to please the merchants, who happen to be its vote bank. The fact that a unanimous decision was taken at the general session of the panchayat to building the complex and also that the BJP members who are in the opposition, were party to the decision, has caused embarrassment for the BJP circles.