Bengaluru, Aug 14: Senior BJP legislator Basanagouda Patil Yatnal on Monday claimed that Siddaramaiah-led Congress government in Karnataka will collapse before Lok Sabha polls next year, as about 25 legislators from the ruling party are ready to quit.

The MLA from Bijapur (Vijayapura) City also expressed hope that the BJP will once again come back to power.

''Congress which says it has got 135 seats is unable to sleep; if 30 people go out, the government will fall. 25 people are ready. Some Ministers are behaving as though they have got all powers and are removing or transferring officials,'' Yatnal, a former Union Minister, said addressing a crowd here.

Alleging that Muslim officials are being posted in Vijayapura, he asked ''what can you do by bringing in Muslims? I'm an MLA and they should abide by me....If any official plays any drama to oppress Hindus...We will come back in January. You guarantee...it is till March. You will be out before Lok Sabha (polls).''

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''That's the reason both Ministers from Vijayapura, who were behaving as though they were flying high after coming to power, have now toned down.... they have realised that 35-40 people are ready. If 30-35 people are ready the government will go,'' he added.

Pointing to comments made by senior Congress MLAs like Basavaraj Rayareddy expressing displeasure about Karnataka becoming a ''corrupt state'' and disgruntlement expressed during the recent legislature party meet regarding the functioning of Ministers, Yatnal said, ''their own MLAs are speaking out.''

''What they (Congress leaders) want is money, because they have spent during the election...''he said, alleging that large scale corruption in transfers and lack of funds for development due to 'guarantee schemes' (poll promises) have upset MLAs. It can also be recalled that Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar too had recently claimed that a plot was being hatched in Singapore to topple the government.

 

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Ahmedabad, Apr 8 (PTI): The Congress is going to have a "massive organisational reshuffle", AICC general secretary K C Venugopal said on Tuesday as the party's top leaders met here and vowed to embark on the "path of social justice" espoused by Sardar Patel.

Briefing reporters after the extended Congress Working Committee meeting at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Memorial here, Venugopal noted that the Congress has dedicated this year to a complete restructuring of the party organisation and the issue was discussed at length at the meeting.

"We are going to have a massive organisational reshuffle, and there will be guidelines for the same. Our general secretaries and in-charges are on it," he said.

Venugopal also stressed that measures to empower the party's district unit chiefs will be rolled out soon.

"We have already decided on that issue, empowering the DCC presidents and duties and powers of the DCCs has been discussed in various forums, already general secretaries and in-charges have approved the proposals and we are going to roll out that proposal in the near future," he said while replying to queries.

Venugopal said the Extended CWC passed a resolution that "our party will walk on the path showed to us by Sardar Patel ji".

"He stood up against the oppression of the British, fighting for the rights of workers and farmers. He rejected communal forces after Bapu’s assassination. He fought for an India where everyone had fundamental rights and freedoms.

"Today, as we embark on the path of social justice, our Nyay Path follows the same principles laid down by Sardar Patel," he said.

In his opening address at the meeting, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge also asserted the party's claim to Sardar Patel's legacy and accused the BJP and RSS of trying to usurp it under a "well-planned conspiracy" against national heroes.

Kharge stressed that the Congress is taking forward the legacy of Mahatma Gandhi and Patel.

"Sardar Patel Saheb lives in our hearts, lives in our thoughts. We are taking his legacy forward. We have organised this CWC meeting in Ahmedabad at Sardar Patel Museum with this thought in mind. We pay our heartfelt tributes to him," he said.

Earlier in the day, AICC general secretary Sachin Pilot told reporters that the Congress intends to create more empowered district units with their presidents having enhanced accountability, responsibility and political strength.

He said that the Congress would fight the upcoming elections with strength and expressed confidence that the Congress and its supporting ideologies would come together to give the BJP and the NDA a tough challenge.

Briefing reporters outside the venue, Pilot said, "The intention of the Congress president and the Leader of Opposition is to create a more empowered district unit."

"The accountability, the responsibility and the political strength that we have thus given to the district presidents is set to be enhanced," he stressed.

The final outcome will be decided after the convention on Wednesday but the intention of the Congress is to make the District Pradesh Congress (DCC) presidents more empowered than before, the former Union minister said, adding the move is aimed at expanding the party's reach in villages, divisions and booths.

"The year 2025 is the year of the organisation to strengthen our workers, expand our party ideology and to make sure that the Congress reaches out in a mass contact programme through padyatras and door-to-door programmes," he said.

The party wants to send a clear message not just to its opponents but to its supporters and workers that the Congress will not step back and fight aggressively both within Parliament and outside, and make sure it wins the next political challenge, Pilot said.

"Elections are fought to be won, the next few elections we will fight with strength and I am supremely confident that the Congress and its supporting ideologies will come together to give the BJP and the NDA a tough challenge," Pilot said.

He said the resolution passed at the end of the session on April 9 will be named 'Nyay Path'.

"Tomorrow' session will write a new chapter in history," he said

The grand old party has announced that the Ahmedabad Session will be themed "Nyaypath: Sankalp, Samarpan aur Sangharsh", with more than 1,700 elected and co-opted AICC members attending the main conclave on April 9 on the banks of the Sabarmati river between the Sabarmati Ashram and Kochrab Ashram.