The Hindu : Karnataka News : Policies of new party in February

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 13, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

Policies of new party in February

By Our Special Correspondent

GULBARGA, OCT. 12. The policies and programmes of the new party floated by the Dalit Sangharsha Samiti (Muniswamy) and the Karnataka Rajya Raita Sangha (Puttanaiah) will be announced at a State-level convention to be held in Bangalore in February.

The DSS State convener, C.M. Muniswamy and the KRRS president, K.S. Puttanaiah, said the name of the new party and its flag would be revealed at the Bangalore convention.

They said the leaders of DSS and KRRS had initiated talks with other factions, including the DSS Sagar group and the KRRS Nanjundaswamy group, for unity. Mr. Muniswamy said a joint committee headed by Indudar Honnapur, one of the founders of the Dalit movement in the State, was holding talks with various Dalit factions and the KRRS faction. While the KRRS faction had responded positively to the move to float a new party, the Sagar and Mavalli Shankar factions of the DSS had sought time.

Mr. Muniswamy said the move of the DSS and the KRRS (Puttanaiah) factions at a meeting in June this year in Mysore to form an alternative political party had gained momentum and the leaders had held discussions with intellectuals, who kept away from political parties to join hands with them.

The two leaders were here to hold a preparatory meeting with farmers and Dalit leaders for organising a divisional-level convention comprising Gulbarga, Bidar, Raichur, Koppal, and Bellary districts on October 27 before holding the State-level convention of the two organisation in Davangere on November 28 and 29.

Mr. Puttanaiah said that similar divisional-level conventions were held in Mysore on August 26 and in Bangalore on August 30 and September 1. The divisional-level conference would be held in Belgaum next month and later in Mangalore.

Mr. Muniswamy said the KRRS (Puttanaiah) and DSS would hold a rally in Bangalore on November 8 demanding free electricity to farmers as was being provided in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Maharashtra, waiver of interest on crop loans, waiver of interest on loans extended by the Scheduled Caste Development Corporation, increasing the cost of construction of Ashraya houses from Rs. 20,000 per unit to Rs. 60,000, demanding implementation of the Government Order reserving 50 per cent of contract work and supply orders to those from the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Backward Classes, and a fresh survey of families living below the poverty line and distributing Yellow Cards to all of them.

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