| Loksatta celebrates completion of first year in Karnataka Posted: 31 Jul 2010 09:45 AM PDT
Loksatta Party today celebrated its first birthday in the state with an informal meeting of members and supporters, to discuss the progress made during the last year and to make plans for the future. Party members expressed satisfaction at the milestones for growth achieved during the year, and were optimistic about the next steps.
In one year since the founding of Loksatta Karnataka, the party put up a few candidates in the BBMP election, and in the process established itself as the dominant voice for good governance and anti-corruption politics in the city. Voters throughout the city were appreciative of the sensible and honest positions taken by Loksatta candidates. The media was also clearly much more appreciative of the party candidates, who (despite being only a few in number) were showcased as the leaders of the future in forum after forum. And all of this was achieved well within the legal election spending limits, proving that honest candidates can seek public office.
Party members were not unduly worried about the limited support Loksatta candidates received in the elections. For a party that had existed only a few months in the state, even to be able to garner 7 per cent of the vote in the wards it contested was a significant achievement, they agreed. Moreover, the momentum from the election continued afterward too, with the party emerging as the clear voice of the "empower Lokayukta" campaign to support Justice Santosh Hegde's stand against corruption in government. A lot of citizens realised at the time of the fracas over the Justice's threatened resignation that Loksatta is the only party that has consistently supported empowering the Lokayukta.
Looking ahead, party members expressed confidence that during the coming elections to municipal corporations and councils elsewhere in Karnataka (during 2011-12), the party would put up candidates with similar stellar records to those it fielded in the BBMP elections. The groundwork for this is already underway, said a party spokesman, expressing confidence that in election after election, henceforth, the number and proportion of Loksatta candidates would grow.
During the BBMP elections, he recalled, many voters called us to ask, "why is there not a Loksatta candidate in my ward?", said senior party leader N S Ramakanth. Our answer, then and now, is the same - "Loksatta will bring good governance to your ward soon. With your support, this can happen even quicker than it would otherwise. The tide is turning, and we will one day get cleaner, smarter politics. That day will arrive sooner if more people join to seek it."
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| Don’t glorify suicides, Appeals Lok Satta (Telugu) Posted: 31 Jul 2010 05:49 AM PDT |
| Don’t glorify suicides, Appeals Lok Satta Posted: 31 Jul 2010 05:48 AM PDT
Offers condolences to Eshaan Reddy family
The Lok Satta Party today appealed to political parties and civil society organizations not to glorify suicides committed in a weak moment in the name of one cause or the other as instances of martyrdom, and instigate others to emulate them.
Expressing profound grief over the suicide of Osmania University student P. Eshaan Reddy in reported fulfillment of a vow over the Telangana by-election results, Lok Satta Party leaders Katari Srinivasa Rao, V. Laxman Balaji and Eeda Chennaiah regretted that superstition had claimed a precious life, causing agony to the family and loss to the nation.
The Lok Satta leaders cautioned students and youth to beware of forces, which have been glorifying suicides as cases of martyrdom. Far from enlisting people's support with a constructive and imaginative agenda, the forces are whipping up their emotions and driving them to end their lives in desperation. Their conduct borders on crime against society.
Referring to suicides in the wake of Chief Minister Dr. Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy's death in an air crash, and the arrest of TDP President N. Chandrababu Naidu by the Maharashtra police, the Lok Satta leaders underlined that the sons and daughters of leaders who instigated them are doing well while innocent students and youth paid the price.
The Lok Satta suggested that counseling centers be opened in colleges and universities to prevent suicides.
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