Hashtag a conspiracy by those who do not have the people’s confidence: Shobha

Chikkamagaluru: Affirming that she was keen on contesting the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, senior BJP leader and incumbent MP for Udupi-Chikkamagaluru Shobha Karandlaje on Monday said, “But I am not sure of what the party has in mind.”
Shobha said that she was in the district in accordance with the directions of the party’s Karnataka president and former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa and the BJP national chief Amit Shah.

Shobha arrived in the city against the backdrop of the hashtag #GoBackShobha doing the rounds on various social media platforms. The hashtag was reportedly started by a section of people from Udupi and Chikkamagaluru districts, which is Shobha’s constituency, to draw attention to what they alleged was her negligence of the segment. Many social media users tagged Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and accused Shobha of failing to implement several central government programmes in the constituency.

The senior BJP leader, however, dubbed the hashtag and the social media campaign surrounding it a conspiracy, which she attributed to those who had failed to garner the people’s confidence.

Responding to remarks made by president of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) Dinesh Gundurao, who alleged that Shobha had lost her ‘mental balance’, the latter said, “It was the BJP that ensured the Air Show was hosted by Bengaluru despite many hurdles. But the state government failed to make arrangements for a fire tender to deal with emergencies at the venue. Where was Dinesh Gundurao when 300 cars were burning at the Air Force Station in Bengaluru? What were cops doing when the fire started? He is an MLA from Bengaluru too. Since the administration of the coalition government in Karnataka has failed, I think Dinesh has lost his mental balance.”