The Dakshina Kannada district Congress on Saturday alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) resorted to unfair practices to gain hold of gram panchayats.
DKCC president K. Harish Kumar told reporters here that the BJP that could not face the elections in a straightforward manner resorted to several other methods to threaten candidates supported by the Congress. Issuing threats to Congress-supported candidates, preventing them from filing nomination papers, and luring them with money were some of the tactics used by the BJP to deter the Congress from gaining hold of panchayats, he said.
Still, Congress-supported candidates were able to get hold of 49 panchayats. Of the 3,200 candidates supported by the Congress, 1,011 candidates won the elections, Mr. Kumar said. The party received good support in Bantwal, Moodbidri, and Mangaluru (Ullal) constituencies while its performance was not that good in Belthangady and Sullia constituencies.
Speaking on the occasion, former Minister U.T. Khader chided the government for not framing proper guidelines for conducting classes despite resuming physical classes from January 1. Students and parents were confused as online as well as offline classes were in vogue. The government was yet to prescribe the syllabus for the academic years, he said.
Mr. Khader wondered how the teachers could conduct both online and offline classes. The government was playing with the system, he alleged.
