BJP challenges Cong in polls

VADODARA, Nov 24: State BJP general secretary Vijay Rupani on Wednesday challenged the Congress to fight the forthcoming elections to 54 ...

VADODARA, Nov 24: State BJP general secretary Vijay Rupani on Wednesday challenged the Congress to fight the forthcoming elections to 54 municipalities on its party symbol.

Talking to reporters, he termed as baseless the allegations levelled by opposition leader Amarsinh Chaudhary that the BJP has failed to perform well at the grassroot level. People would certainly compare the governance of the BJP and the Congress, he said.

A three-member team comprising Rupani himself, Bhupendrasinh Solanki and Dilip Pandya of Mehsana was in Vadodara and South Gujarat on Wednesday to exchange views with party functionaries on the municipality elections.

Rupani said that after the debacle in the Lok Sabha elections, the Congress was in bad shape and the party workers are dejected a lot. There is also groupism, he added.

Rupani announced that the development of the towns through the Vajpayee Nagar schemes and amending the acts so as to prevent corruption at the municipality level would be the main election issues for the party.

The party, he said, would also strengthen the anti-defection law to check defections. 8220;We want to project that from the village level to New Delhi there is one party,8221; he said, adding that a mandate would be sought for parivartan change.

The party general secretary said that the BJP would fight in all the 54 municipalities on the party symbol and on party lines. He announced that the selection committee would submit the report by the first week of December and that the parliamentary board would finalise the list in the second week.

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He emphasised that the party would give more opportunities to newcomers and added that dedicated workers with a clean image would be given tickets. Rupani also said that tickets would not be allocated to those party members against whom there have been complaints.

The BJP leader further said that the Government was committed to abolishing octroi. 8220;It is only that the modalities for entry tax and turnover tax are being finalised,8221; he said, adding that necessary letters have been sent to the Central Government to seek clearance for entry tax. According to him, the Chamber of Commerce and Industries Associations had different kinds of demands for entry tax. Rupani said the Government wanted the municipalities to be self-sufficient and plans are on to give advance grants.

Without mentioning the word Mayor-In-Council, he also claimed that before the forthcoming civic elections, the State Government would bring more powers for the mayors and control the powers vested with the municipal commissioners.