Mysuru:  Slamming the BJP for making false claims on its (BJP)  ‘victory’ in the just concluded Gram Panchayat (GP) polls, Congress leaders of the city maintained that the party’s stupendous performance in the GP polls has proved that Mysuru and Chamarajanagar Districts are Congress strongholds.

Addressing a press meet at Congress Bhavan near the City Railway Station here yesterday morning, former MP  R. Dhruvanarayan lashed out at District Minister S.T. Somashekar and other BJP leaders of the city for making utterly false claims on their party’s victory even before the results were out.

Claiming that  Congress backed candidates had won in 2,410 out of the 4,238 seats in Mysuru district, Dhruvanarayan said that out of the 249 Gram Panchayats in the district, Congress backed candidates are likely to occupy President and Vice-President posts in as many as 170 GPs. 

Maintaining that the BJP backed candidates have been pushed to the third position in many  GP seats in Mysuru and Chamarajanagar districts, he accused the ruling BJP of trying to lure Congress backed candidates through false promises. 

He warned BJP against resorting to poaching of Congress backed candidates in its bid to gain power at grass-roots level.

Reiterating that Congress has regained the faith of people as can be seen in GP polls, in which Congress backed candidates have won in a majority of seats, the former MP challenged the BJP to come out with true statistics on the outcome of results.

Continuing, Dhruvanarayan said Opposition leader and former Chief Minister Siddharamaiah will felicitate Congress backed GP members at the Grama Janadhikar programme to take place at K.R.Nagar on Jan.8, at Nanjangud on Jan.9 and at Varuna on Jan.13. As far as Mysuru, Periyapatna,  T.Narasipur and Saragur Taluks are concerned, the programme will take place on different dates between Jan.15 and 25, he added.

Referring to Coronavirus vaccine, Dhruvanarayan urged the Union and State Governments to come  up with more clarifications and the results of the vaccine dry run that was conducted across the States last week. 

Asking the Government to chart out a proper schedule on the proposed vaccination drive, he wanted the Government to educate and sensitise all the citizens on the nature of the drive.

 H.D. Kote MLA Anil Chikkamadu, MLC R. Dharmasena and District Congress President Dr. B.J. Vijaykumar too addressed the press meet. Party leaders D. Ravishankar, Sunil Bose, Kalale Keshavamurthy, Sitaram and others were present.