The ruling BJP in Karnataka responded to the Opposition Congress partys storming of its bastion in Bellary with a counter rally in Mysore,considered the stronghold of Congress leader Siddaramaiah. Siddaramaiah had recently lead a 320 km march by Congress leaders from Bangalore to Bellary to protest the governments failure to curb illegal mining allegedly involving BJP leaders in the region. The BJPs counter rally in Mysore on Saturday was attended by senior leaders L K Advani and Ananth Kumar,as also Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa and the Bellary triumvirate of ministers G Karunakar Reddy,G Janardhan Reddy and B Sreeramulu. Senior BJP leader L K Advani said that the office of the Prime Minister had been progressively devalued since the exit of the Vajpayee lead BJP government. He asked the UPA government to ban all iron ore exports from the country to curb illegal mining as the Karnataka government had already done. The BJP government in Karnataka has taken a decision to check illegal mining. Let the Centre,the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister also impose restrictions on illegal mining, Advani said. Advani was referring to decisions taken on July 26 and 28 by Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa to curb exports and to stop issuance of transport permits for iron ore. The decisions came after Yeddyurappa admitted the existence of rampant illegal mining in the state. Ensure that iron ore is not exported. Let it be used within the country, he said. The fevered,almost election-like pitch in the BJP and the Congress camps in Karnataka is widely believed to be the drawing of battle lines for forthcoming polls to panchayat polls in the state to be held later this year. Karnataka Chief Minister Yeddyurappa claimed that the state would see him in a new avatar in the next few days. He said he would spend 15 days every month in rural Karnataka to strengthen the party. Leader of the BJP in Karnataka K S Eshwarappa accused state Governor H R Bharadwaj of being a Congress agent. He says he is proud to be a Congress man. A chair should be provided to the Governor in the Congress office in Karnataka, Eshwarappa said. The BJP leader accused the Governor of obstructing a Bill formulated by the government to ban cow slaughter and of causing problems to the BJP government.
