Bangalore: Self-praise by Shettar for maintaining 'good law and order'

From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore

Bangalore, Mar 12: Unperturbed by the drubbing received by the ruling BJP in the recent civic polls in the State, Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar was in a self-congratulatory mood on Monday and said the government has maintained a ''very good” law and order situation in Karnataka.

''The law and order situation in the State has been very good after BJP came to power,” he said after inaugurating the new office building for the City Police Commissioner in Bangalore on Monday.

Shettar warmly appreciated and complimented the State’s police force for maintaining the State’s law and order situation, especially during volatile situations like the Cauvery agitations.

The State’s police force has successfully and effectively curbed anti-national and terror activities and also for its exemplary crime detection track record, he said.

He said his government had taken a number of steps to streamline the functioning of the department, establishing new police stations including traffic police stations.

Efforts were also being made for providing basic facilities to the police personnel, setting up a police commissionerate in Belgaum besides sanctioning 1,000 new police vehicles for Hubli-Dharwad Commissionerate, Shettar said.

The chief minister said his government had allocated Rs 3,849 crore to the Home department in this year’s budget, which was a record financial allocation in any year.

Deputy Chief Minister and Home Minister R Ashok said the long-standing demand of Bangalore police was fulfilled with the unveiling of the new building for the city police commissioner.

''The focus has been on cyber crime, narcotics, changes in the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), law and order and curbing terror activities,” Ashok said.

Bangalore which has three traffic police stations will have more such stations in the days to come.

In view of paucity of police personnel, steps were being taken to recruit 8,000 police personnel this year, Ashok said.

The deputy chief minister, however, said the old building of the city police commissioner, which has a history of over 100 years, would be retained as a heritage building.

He requested the chief minister to take steps for converting the old building into a Police Museum.

Deputy Chief Minister K S Eswarappa and former minister Ramachandra Gowda were also present at the function along with top government and police officers.

BJP to Hold Introspection on Civic Poll Setback on Mar 15-16: Shettar

The ruling BJP, which suffered a serious electoral setback in the recent civic polls in Karnataka that was considered as the semi-final before the final of the forthcoming assembly elections, will be holding a two-day introspection meet in Bangalore on March 15 and 16, chief minister Jagadish Shettar said in Bangalore on Monday.

The two-day introspection meeting will be attended by all presidents of the district units of the party and MLAs besides the district-in-charge ministers to discuss BJP’s performance in the elections to the urban local bodies in the State.

''We will have a detailed discussion and consultations and review the performance in all the taluks in each districts and find out what went wrong,” he said.

Shettar said the party would chalk-out a strategy to face forthcoming Legislative Assembly elections. ''We will pinpoint the lapses, if any,” he said.

The chief minister said the party high command will take the appropriate decision on selection of the next State BJP President.

The State BJP would also finalise a programme and shortlist eligible candidates to contest next assembly elections, the deputy chief minister K S Eshwarappa, who had recently quit his post as the State BJP President, said.

The Core Committee of the ruling BJP will be meeting again to introspect the performance of the party in ULB elections in various districts, Eshwarappa said.

Election results of ULBs, Eshwarappa said indicated the presence of the BJP in all taluks and districts.
Unlike JD(S), the BJP candidates were elected in all 207 urban local bodies.

The JD(S), which came second in the 2007 civic polls, had suffered heavily and has no presence in as many as 137 ULBs.

Though the seat tally of BJP was slightly less than that of the 2007 elections, the party organisation and support base was intact across all urban areas of the State, Shettar said.

The BJP candidates were elected in 905 wards in 207 ULBs against 1080 wards in elections held in 2007.
Shettar declined to draw any comparison between the party’s performance in elections to ULBs and forthcoming elections to the Legislative Assembly.

Though the party candidates had won in 1080 wards in 2007 ULB elections, it emerged victorious in 110 Assembly constituencies in 2008 while the Congress managed just 71 Assembly seats. The Congress secured 1606 wards in elections held to ULBs in the year 2007, the chief minister mentioned.

The JD(S), he said had won in 1502 wards in 2007 ULB elections but was relegated to third place with 26 Assembly seats in 2008.

He, however, admitted that splits in the party and victory of more than 700 independent candidates were major factors that contributed to the decline of the party’s tally in these elections compared to 2007 elections to ULBs.

Responding to Congress Opposition Leader Siddaramaiah’s allegations about kickback received by the Chief Minister’s office with regard to roads works in Kempe Gowda layout in Bangalore, Shettar said there was no substance in the charges.

“These allegations are totally baseless, unfounded and far from truth,” he said.

BJP National General Secretary H N Ananth Kumar, Deputy Chief Minister R Ashok and former Chief Minister D V Sadannada Gowda attended the meeting.