Bengaluru, Jan 13 (IANS) The Congress party in Karnataka has called upon its party workers and leaders to be alert about the upcoming Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state, saying that the exercise will shape its future.

Speaking at a preparatory meeting for the “MGNREGA Bachao Sangram” protest held at Palace Grounds here on Tuesday, Deputy Chief Minister and State Congress President D.K. Shivakumar warned that the SIR of electoral rolls was approaching in the state and that officials had already begun work. There would be no leniency regarding booth-level agents, he said, stressing that SIR would decide the future of the party.

He urged Booth Level Agents (BLAs) to remain alert and protect voters’ rights, warning of a “vote theft” campaign.

He congratulated all district presidents, MLAs and office-bearers for collecting 1.41 crore signatures as part of the campaign against vote theft, and said that Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge had appreciated their efforts. He said the party’s survival depended on collective effort.

He said discussions were on to hold a major programme on February 13, and called for beneficiary conventions at every taluk and panchayat.

Calling the meeting historic, Shivakumar said due to court orders, local body elections could not be held earlier, but a decision had now been taken to conduct all local body elections within the next four to five months.

He said the Supreme Court had also issued orders regarding municipal elections. The government was committed to conducting district, taluk and gram panchayat elections, and Cabinet decisions had been taken to resolve issues related to reservation and other hurdles. He urged party workers to prepare accordingly.

He said the government’s guarantee schemes and development works had reached the people, and that workers had already been empowered through guarantee committees and local-level nominations. Except for 600 state-level nominations, all appointments had been completed, with only minor technical changes pending. So far, 20 DCC presidents, 25 office-bearers and 47 MLAs have been appointed as heads of boards and corporations. Nineteen workers who were denied tickets during elections had also been given chairperson posts, he said.

He strongly criticised the BJP-led Central government, alleging that it had “killed” the MGNREGA scheme, which had supported rural employment.

“Sonia Gandhi, during the Manmohan Singh-led government, had provided the poor with the constitutional right to employment guarantee. As a result, works worth around Rs 6,000 crore were being carried out every year at the panchayat and village levels in Karnataka,” he said.

Recalling the Ballari padayatra, he said some women had told him they were unwilling to work on others’ land. At that time, when he was the KPCC working president, he went to Delhi and brought the issue to Sonia Gandhi’s notice. She had then instructed C.P. Joshi to look into the matter, following which provisions were made to pay wages for work done on farmers’ own land, including land levelling, construction of cattle sheds, compost pits and farm ponds. Farmers were also given opportunities to grow horticultural crops on their land, he said.

Shivakumar said every panchayat used to receive an average annual grant of Rs 1-2 crore under the scheme. However, he alleged that the VB-G RAM G Act introduced by the Centre had disrupted this system.

He said he had seen media reports quoting Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu as saying that the new law was impractical.

Shivakumar said the AICC had held a working committee meeting and issued directions on how the party should conduct agitations on the issue. In the first phase, district-in-charge ministers would hold press conferences in all districts. Taluk-level press conferences should also be held. MLCs and MPs had been appointed as observers in constituencies without MLAs, and everyone must address the media.

All AICC-mandated programmes must be implemented compulsorily, he said, warning that reports would be sought against observers and office-bearers who failed to comply, and those showing no interest would be removed.

He said a decision would be taken in the Cabinet meeting on convening a two-day special Assembly session on the issue. The importance of restoring MGNREGA and the drawbacks of the new Central law would be discussed in detail, following which the government would take a decision.

–IANS

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