Congress seeks fresh polls in Karnataka

New Delhi: Congress on Saturday hit out at BJP for its decision to replace the Karnataka chief minister, saying there is "governance paralysis" in the state which can be resolved only through fresh polls and not by change of guard.

"New Chief Minister is no solution for Karnataka. The only solution for the state is to dissolve the assembly and go for fresh elections, as there is a continuous governance paralysis in the BJP-ruled state," said AICC general secretary BK Hariprasad.

The senior Congress leader, who hails from Karnataka, said nothing has moved in the state since the Gowda government took over.

The BJP on Saturday decided to replace Sadananda Gowda with Jagdish Shettar as Chief Minister of Karnataka.

He said 129 talukas are suffering from severe drought and the state government has not taken any action to ameliorate the lot of the common people.

Prasad said the government has also failed on the law and order front as many law and order problems were there even in the state capital Bangalore.

The AICC leader said Gowda did not work during his 11-month tenure as Chief Minister and is now trying to show that he is working by clearing a large number of pending files at a time when he has to go.

Buckling under BS Yeddyurappa's pressure, BJP on Saturday decided to replace Sadananda Gowda with Jagdish Shettar as Chief Minister of Karnataka marking the second change in the state in 11 months.

The decision was taken at the BJP core group meeting on Saturday, sources said. Shettar, a Lingayat leader, who is the Rural Development Minister, is the choice for the top post of Yeddyurappa, who is calling the shots in Karnataka BJP even after his unceremonious exit as Chief Minister last year. He will be the third BJP Chief Minister in the state in four years since the party came to power there in 2008.

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