The Hindu : Karnataka News : District Congress Committee calls for Turuvekere bandh

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Tuesday, Jul 15, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka

District Congress Committee calls for Turuvekere bandh

Staff Correspondent

The protest is against the BJP for engineering ‘unethical defections’

TUMKUR: Tumkur District Congress Committee has called for a Turuvekere bandh on Wednesday in protest against what the senior Congress leaders describe as the Bharatiya Janata Party’s engineering political defections in an unethical manner.

Jaggesh, Congress MLA from Turuvekere, resigned from the Membership of the Legislative Assembly and joined the BJP last Friday. The Tumkur DCC held a meeting of Congress workers at Turuvekere on Monday and decided to observe the bandh and to hold a public meeting on Wednesday at Turuvekere. It was announced at the meeting that Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president and the leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, M. Mallikarjun Kharge, would inaugurate the public function. Speaking at the meeting, G.S. Basavaraj, All India Congress Committee member, said that the Congress high command had initially denied ticket to Mr. Jaggesh as intelligence reports were against him. His loyalty to Congress was “highly doubtful”. He said Mr. Jaggesh was accommodated at the last minute as he [Mr. Basavaraj] saw in him a winning candidate. “I took the risk of contacting the Congress President and got Mr. Jaggesh nominated as the party candidate,” he said.

Support

Every Congress worker strived hard for his victory. As many as 48,000 voters of Turuvekere taluk supported Mr. Jaggesh. He, however, belied their trust within 48 days after he was elected, Mr. Basavaraj said.

He recalled how in 1999, Mr. Jaggesh pestered S.M. Krishna, the then Chief Minister, for an entry into the Congress.

“Mr. Krishna wanted to know if the Tumkur DCC could make use of him in the district, and we members agreed. Mr. Jaggesh betrayed all the Congressmen in the district,” he said.

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