Ballary, October 16: Congress candidate from Ballary LS constituency V.S. Ugrappa said that the by-election would become a referendum to the national politics in future.

Speaking to reporters here on Tuesday, Ugrappa said that “BJP leaders have been criticizing that I am outsider to Ballary. Why did BJP leaders left Ballary and contested from Molakalmuru constituency? Why did their family members contest from Raichur? What is the relationship between Molakalmuru, Badami and Sriramulu? A politician should not restrict to any single place. I will stay here and work for the development of the district”, he said.

“There are capable candidates in the district. In spite of it, as per the party decision, I am contesting from Ballary constituency. This election is a fight between Minister D.K. Shivakumar and Sriramulu, Congress and BJP, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi. In my 40 years political career, I have remained as honest. If I made mistakes, let the people ask me. I have the experience of working as the MLA for three times, MLC, Opposition Party leader”, he said.

“I have fought to include Valmiki community into ST category. In the last year, I have strived to install Maharshi Valmiki bust and Tapovana on the premises of the Vidhana Soudha. I have tried to set up Valmiki Study Centre at Hampi Kannada University”, he claimed.

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Bengaluru (PTI): The Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) has collected over Rs 19 lakh as a penalty from 10,069 passengers who were penalised for travelling without tickets and occupying seats exclusively reserved for ladies in the last three months, officials said on Thursday.

The checking staff of BMTC have intensified checking of buses operated in and around Bengaluru City to detect ticketless travelling by passengers, they said.

According to BMTC, during the months of August, September and October, the checking staff checked 57,219 trips and penalised 8,891 ticketless passengers by collecting Rs 17,96,030 as penalty and 5,268 cases were booked against conductors for their dereliction of duty.

During the same period, they have also penalised 1,178 male passengers for occupying seats exclusively reserved for lady passengers and imposed fines by collecting Rs 1,17,800 in accordance with the KMV (Karnataka Motor Vehicle) Rules of the MV Act of 1988.

"In total, during the months of August, September and October, 10,069 passengers were penalised and Rs 19,13,830 was collected," the BTMC officials stated.