On Monday, Maski town saw a dozen leaders and several hundreds of part workers from both the BJP and the Congress taking part in the process of filing of nomination papers of their respective candidates, Pratapgouda Patil and R. Basanagowda Turvihal, for the bypolls in the constituency.
Mr.. Turvihal filed his nomination papers accompanied by senior Congress leader and MLA Amaregowda Bayyapur. Mr. Pratapgouda Patil filed his nomination papers as Minister B. Sriramulu, MLA Narasimha Nayak and MLC Ravikumar were present..
In an open function held near Ter Bazaar area, Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah and KPCC president D.K. Shivakumar spoke.
While addressing the gathering, Mr. Siddaramaiah appealed to voters to defeat the candidate who had backstabbed the party and sold himself out for money. The party has given him a chance and made him MLA twice. However, he left the party by taking money from the BJP, he said. “ You have to uphold the dignity of the constituency by sending Mr. Pratapgouda Patil back home,” he said.
Mr. Siddaramaiah said that B.S. Yediyurappa had entered from the backdoor to become the Chief Minister. People of the State are fed up by bad governance. He had failed to execute pro-people and pro-farmer policies. The Leader of Opposition further said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has brought in anti-farm laws against which farmers have been holding protests for a couple of months now. “People must understand the agenda of the both the Union and State governments of favouring the rich industrialists and capitalists and then vote against the BJP candidates for a better future,” he said.
Mr. Shivakumar said that Mr. Pratapgouda Patil failed to address the woes of farmers. He did not support farmers who are demanding 5A canal for irrigation in dry land in the constituency.
On the other hand, Minister B. Sriramulu, while addressing people at his party office, said that the Congress is a sinking ship and Mr. Shivakumar is a sailor on it. Congress MLAs had joined the BJP after they realised this fact, he added.
