CH NEWS, MAGADI
Municipal Administration Minister H.C. Balakrishna welcomed several Janata Dal (Secular) leaders from Kalya and Boregowdan Palya into the Congress party.
The leaders joined Congress at the party office after being welcomed with Congress shawls. Balakrishna said most of them were his old friends who had stayed away because of minor differences.
Balakrishna said everyone was now united and promised to provide suitable political opportunities to those joining Congress at the right time. He also assured villagers that development works would be taken up by bringing everyone together. Villagers discussed plans for a milk producers cooperative society in Boregowda Palya and construction of a temple near the Kalyani land at Kalya Colony.
Speaking at the programme, Narasimha Murthy said he and others had supported Balakrishna from the beginning and had contested several elections with him. They had joined the JDS because of differences, but now wanted to work with Balakrishna for the overall development of the area. He said the village could be developed into a model village with the minister’s support.
Veerashaiva leader Chidanand Prasad K.G. said they had remained distant from Balakrishna during the Lok Sabha election for various reasons, but those differences were now over. He said Congress workers would unite and prepare strategies to ensure victory for party candidates in upcoming Gram Panchayat, Taluk Panchayat and Zilla Panchayat elections.
Several JDS leaders, including Srikanth, Viresh, Narasimha Murthy, Ravikumar, Jagadish, Mahadevaiah, Nanju, Rudresh, Raghavendra, Nagaraju and Kantaraju, joined Congress. Leaders from Kalya and Basavanapalya also joined. Block Congress president K. Krishnamurthy, former Gram Panchayat member Jayashankar and several Gram Panchayat presidents were present. The programme reflected growing political activity in Magadi ahead of upcoming local elections.