Mysuru: Claiming that the Congress Government always stood for decentralisation of power in local bodies, former Legislative Council Chairman V.R. Sudarshan has alleged that the previous BJP Government in the State had made attempts to strangle them. He was speaking at the Gram Swaraj awareness workshop organised by the District Congress Committee (DCC) and Rajiv Gandhi Panchayat Raj Sanghatane (RGPRS) at a private hotel here yesterday.
Pointing out that when Rajiv Gandhi was Prime Minister in 1989, he had brought amendments to the Constitution aimed at strengthening the Panchayat Raj system, Sudarshan regretted that however, the Bill was defeated in the Rajya Sabha by one vote. But Rajiv Gandhi’s concept of the Panchayat Raj system got approved when P.V. Narasimha Rao became the Prime Minister, a couple of years later, he said.
