Bangalore, Oct 27: The Karnataka unit of the BJP today launched the "join BJP movement" by roping in six members of a town Municipal Council near here and said it planned to kick off second phase of its campaign against the "irresponsible and corrupt" Congress government in the state. At a function here, the party's state unit president H N Ananth Kumar admitted the six members of Kengeri TMC - one each belonging to the Congress and JD(S), four independents, three of whom supported by JD(S). Kumar told reporters that with this addition, BJP, which earlier had six members, has gained majority in the 23-member TMC. "This is the first step of the join BJP movement, which would be taken to other parts of the state", he said, adding the idea was to strengthen the party by extending its influence in geographical and social spheres. He also said the party would hold a dharna in front of Mahatma Gandhi statue here tomorrow, launching the second phase of its agitation.
The protest is to demand a status paper on drought-relief work, immediate ban on online lottery, handing over of multi-crore stamp paper racket and Nagappa killing issues to the CBI and distribution of yellow ration cards to all the poor people in the state, he said.

He said he has apprised the Prime Minister A B Vajpayee and Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani on stamp paper racket.

Bureau Report