| Hubli, Apr 28, 2013, DHNS : Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar seems to be wearing a pair of skating shoes since the Assembly elections were announced. He has addressed public rallies in not less than 27 districts, while leaving Hassan and Mandya to his party colleague D V Sadananda Gowda. He is of the view that the regional parties - B S Yeddyurappa's KJP and B Sriramulu's BSR Congress - would not cross the single-digit mark. Shettar is not unduly worried about him contesting in the Hubli Central Assembly constituency. This is one reason why he has managed to spend a majority of his time for campaigning for his party candidates elsewhere in the State. On Sunday, he managed to squeeze in time for a road show in the Old Hubli area. Before leaving for the campaign, he interacted with Asha Krishnaswamy of Deccan Herald. Excerpts of the interaction: You have travelled the State far and wide. Of the four regions, where does the BJP have to buck up? We are a bit weak in the Mysore region. I have visited only Belur in Hassan district. Elsewhere, we do not have any problem. Our vote base is intact. The party is looking up even in Mysore and Chamarajanagar districts. How are the party's prospects in Bellary and Shimoga? Will Eshwarappa retain his seat? In Bellary, our four sitting MLAs will win. Eshwarappa will win in Shimoga. But Yeddyurappa was the problem for the party in Shimoga. You are carrying the corruption baggage left behind by some of your party leaders. On what basis you are seeking fresh mandate from the people? Those who were corrupt have left the party. So, we have no baggage to carry. We have to look at the BJP government from two different angles - one the good governance it provided while giving impetus to development works over the last five years. Another angle, which is a negative point, is corruption charges faced by some individuals. But myself and my predecessor Sadananda Gowda have given corruption-free governance for nine and 11 months, respectively. This is the topic being discussed by the public now. Corruption is not being discussed on a major scale. People just expect good leaders and good governance. The BJP has given both. We are taking this factor to the people. But Yeddyurappa has alleged that you are not free from corruption. Even KJP member Vijay Sankeshwar has threatened that he will release documents to expose your corrupt practices. What corruption have I indulged in? Yeddyurappa has alleged that Vidhana Soudha has become a den of corruption under my leadership. Then, why did he not continue as MLA and expose the corruption, in the Assembly? No MLA, including those in the Opposition parties, has said that I have indulged in corrupt practices. If somebody has documents to expose me, let them release them immediately, instead of threatening to release later. What are they waiting for? People make vague allegations so that there is public debate on them. It is nothing short of blackmailing. I have the courage to face any allegation. KJP's Dhananjay Kumar made some baseless allegations against Advani, for which Yeddyurappa had to tender an apology. If there is no proof, why is Yeddyurappa levelling charges against you? That is because the KJP has realised that it is going to be defeated. It is desperate. So, the KJP is indulging in character assassination of individuals. It has hatched a conspiracy to malign the BJP. All it wants to do now is harm the BJP. This is the reason why I have begun retaliating against Yeddyurappa in public. So you are not missing Yeddyurappa in the campaign? Individuals do not matter. This applies even to me. We are here because of the party. Shettar is not the BJP. I am just a worker of the party. The party's votebank has not been disturbed. I got the position I hold because of my seniority. There were many Lingayats in the party. But why only I was chosen for the post? Merit counts. Then how come Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is being projected as bigger than the party? A point to remember is that even before Modi became the chief minister, the BJP was in power in Gujarat under the leadership of Keshubhai Patel. But Modi has given good governance and launched many development works. In Karnataka, the Jan Sangh had four MLAs and under the leadership of Ananth Kumar, it went up to 79. If individuals mean nothing, why did the party declare you as the chief ministerial candidate? Yes. Projecting me as the CM candidate has helped the party. Vajpayee was projected as the prime ministerial candidate. Yeddyurappa too was projected as the leader. The party should groom leaders. But they are not bigger than the party. Bangarappa committed that mistake. Rahul Gandhi is saying the BJP government is corrupt. But both the BJP and UPA have lost moral right to talk about giving corrupt-free government, isn't it? Rahul comes here for five or 10 minutes and dubs the whole state as corrupt, going by somebody's briefing. Let him specify cases, instead of levelling vague charges. Karnataka has been bagging so many awards for its performance in various sectors. The department of rural development and panchayat raj has bagged the prime minister's performance award. If corruption is rampant, then how come we received appreciation by the Centre? The UPA government is facing so many scams, including the 2G spectrum scam, the helicopter scam and coal scam. Let Sonia Gandhi and Rahul talk about them. You are saying the party is free of fraud. But Katta Subramanya Naidu had his say in the selection of the candidate for Hebbal in Bangalore. So also Sampangi in KGF. Where will Shettar sit in the 14th Assembly? In the treasury benches or the opposition? (Pause). He will continue to occupy the chair which he has now.  via Top Stories - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNEUlwmegNhTe27IvLtVGADwF6NYOA&url=http://www.deccanherald.com/content/329128/039desperate-kjp-levelling-graft-charges.html | |||
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