By Team Mangalorean, Bangalore/Mangalore

Karnataka Assembly Elections 2008 - Complete Coverage

BANGALORE/MANGALORE April 22, 2008: The Communist Party of India (Marxist) had launched its campaign in the state. Its politburo member Sitaram Yechury launched the election manifesto at Bangalore on Monday April 21, 2008. At Mangalore CPIM’s candidate began his quest. 

Mr. Yechury said that Karnataka’s election will have a strong bearing on Lok Sabha elections next year and people should decide now if they wanted the BJP to win here and later rule the country.  He said the BJP had not opened its account in the South and if it does it will be an all India party and can make serious danger to the nature of the Indian polity.  It will have a devastating effect on the country’s integrity and unity he added.

B. Madhava flags off campaign in Mangalore

CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechuri releases Election Appeal in Bangalore on Monday. Party leaders GN Nagaraj, VGK Nair and GY Gurushanth are seen

Mr. Yechury said all right thinking people should try to stop BJP from coming to power and give democratic and secular parties a chance to remain in power in Karnataka. He also said that due to rise in inflation the poor people were reaching such a stage that they were not in a position to access food commodities. He said the country’s wealth sharing has taken a tumble. He said there are 36 persons in India who command 25 percent of India’s GDP and there are 78 percent of the people who are malnourished and living with only 20 Rupees per day, 30 percent of them live with only Rs. 12 per day and  50 percent of children are malnourished he added.

State Secretary V.J.K.Nair spoke on this occasion and appealed to the voters to defeat the BJP.

Mangalore South candidate Mr. Yashavantha Maroli wanted the secular parties to come to power and said Congress was the only party now which can defeat BJP, but that party has to do a lot to get into shape before the elections to carry out that job. He promised "beautiful, clean and harmony in Mangalore" if he came to power.

CITU state executive member B. Madhava inaugurated the election office here in the city. Addressing the presspersons on this occasion he said “we are contesting to win but not to put the democratic and secular parties into trouble in their quest to defeat the BJP.” He said that, his party was ready to support any secular parties to defeat communal BJP where CPIM candidates are not contesting. But he made it clear that, his party was not ready to support any party including Congress, where CPIM field its candidate.

JD(U) to go it alone in the state

BANGALORE: The Janata Dal United party will go it alone in the state. This decision was taken by the party after its talks on seat sharing with the BJP failed on Monday. Announcing this decision party's national general secretary Dr. Shambhu Srivatsa told in a press conference that the BJP had not kept up the coalition Dharma.

JDU General Secretary Shambhu Srivatsa flanked by Dr MP Nadagowda and GKC Reddy at a press conference

He said the party had five rounds of talks with the BJP but that party did not give any concrete solution to the seat sharing scheme offered by the JD(U). Mr. Srivatsa said the party will now go alone in the elections. He said the BJP's leaders had talked in such a manner that they were doing a favour to the JD(U) by seat sharing. The BJP leaders had agreed to give only 10 seats to the JD(U) which was not acceptable to the JD(U). Those were the seat where JD(U) had no base and there was no way the party could have won there.

Mr. Srivatsa said that the JD(U) could be a small party but it never had compromised on the standards it followed or had failed to keep up its commitments with the coalition dharma. But the BJP had not kept it up forcing the JD(U) to go it alone in the state.

He said the party had already identified 50 candidates in the state and already 25 of them have been given B forms and 10 of them have already filed their nominations in various constituencies he added. He said those party leaders who did not get value for their value based politics in other parties can come to take up candidature under the JD(U) banner. Karnataka State president V. Somashekar and general secretary G.K.C. Reddy were present at the press conference.

Karnataka Assembly Elections 2008 - Complete Coverage