Umesh Marpalli

Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi (SP)

Udupi, May 22: Udupi-Chikkamagaluru MP Shobha Karandlaje, commenting on the concerns expressed about electronic voting machines (EVM) and VVPAT by various political parties, wanted to know why the Congress did not raise this issue when it won assembly election in Rajasthan. Recalling a Kannada proverb which refers to a person who cannot dance complaining about the earth being slant, she said that the opposition parties have now started expressing suspicions as they have come to know that they would not be able to win this election.

She asked the parties to check for themselves during whose period these EVMs were introduced, and wanted to know why UPA government which came to power twice in the past, never expressed any doubts about them. "The EVMs are not defective, but you are. The whole of the opposition, their minds and Mahagathbandhan have become fragile," she stated.

In a statement issued from here, Karandlaje said that BJP never lures Congress MLAs. However, the party will start to speak to the MLAs once they leave the Congress. "BJP is a big ocean. Anyone can come into the party," she pointed out.

On the issue of the chief minister's much-talked temple run, Shobha reminded him that our elders had said that serving the people is tantamount to serving the Lord. "It is the duty of the person who rules the country and the state to follow this advice. But the CM has totally given up serving the people. He may be hoping that the God will come to his rescue. But those who fail to discharge their duties will not be protected by even God. If he understands this and works on these lines, he may progress towards getting his aim realized," she said.