Bengaluru, DHNS: As part of its ambition to win 150 seats in the 2018 Assembly elections in Karnataka, the BJP has decided to intensify its efforts against the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government.

The party’s spokesperson, S Suresh Kumar, was all guns blazing at the end of a meeting of the executive committee here on Saturday. He blasted the government and said the BJP would not rest until the Congress was ousted from power. The meeting was the first-of-its-kind after former chief minister B S?Yeddyurappa took over as president of the BJP’s state unit.

“Every leader in the party will work to oust the Congress from power as this government has failed on all the fronts. Constitutional bodies like the Lokayukta, the KPSC and the human rights commission have been reduced to nothing,” he said, criticising the government’s move to appoint IAS officer Sham Bhatt as KPSC?chairman. Kumar said the NDA government at the Centre had released Rs 2,635 crore for the welfare of drought-affected farmers in Karnataka but the state government spent only 68% of the money. Siddaramaiah “failed” to avert farmer suicides, he suggested. According to him, the state government borrowed Rs 91,000 crore in just three years, while the law and order had worsened. He said Siddaramaiah had “no control over the administration”.

Kumar criticised the chief minister’s media advisor Dinesh Amin Mattu for behaving like a “politician”. Amin Mattu not only brought “disrepute” to the position he holds, but has “misused” the CM’s office, he said.

BSY seeks White Paper

Yeddyurappa described Siddaramaiah as a “self-styled” leader of backward, minority and dalit communities. “The BJP demands White Paper on measures taken by him for the welfare of these communities. Let the people decide whether the BJP initiated more welfare measures for these communities or the Congress,” he said, addressing BJP workers at the meeting.

“The Congress party has failed to appoint the Lokayukta, and Siddaramaiah created the Anti-Corruption Bureau only to protect himself,” he said. Union Law Minister and former chief minister Sadananda Gowda warned BJP leaders against repeating the mistakes of the past that led to the party’s downfall in the last Assembly elections. He asked them to check the background of leaders from other parties before welcoming them to the BJP. “The BJP has a strong base in the state. The background and conduct of any leader entering the party should not affect its image,” he said.