“Take full use of the God-sent opportunity or perish” is the message a buoyed Congress has conveyed to its leaders in Karnataka in the wake of the ‘porngate’ scandal that has come as a major embarrassment for the ruling BJP in the state.
The party’s central leadership has also told
the state leaders to “close ranks and show full aggression” against the BJP during their mass contact programme that would start in March across the state.
“I have told them this is a God-send opportunity. We should grab it and not let it go waste...BJP needs to be ousted,” said Madhusudan Mistry, party general secretary and in- charge of Karnataka.
The Congress has been out of power in Karnataka since 2006 but the serious infighting in the state unit has deflated all revival attempts.
The central leadership has now categorically told the state leaders that if they don’t unitedly fight against the BJP, the chances of the Congress coming back to power in the state appear bleak.
Mistry is now going to Bangalore on February 17 to give a final shape to the party strategy for the next assembly elections. “We will be going to the people with issues ranging from BJP's financial corruption that includes illegal mining and illegal land deals to its moral corruption and attempts to create communal tension in the state,” he said.
Though scheduled for mid-2013, the party anticipates that the elections might be held in October-November this year along with Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.
But before the reach-out programme, the party's women wing is planning to hold statewide protests in the next few days against the BJP over the 'porn gate' scandal.
On its part, the BJP tried to contain the damage by asking Karnataka ministers Laxman Savadi (cooperation), CC Patil (women and child development) and Krishna Palemar (ports, science and technology) involved in the scandal to resign.