Haliyal: District In-charge Minister R V Deshpande filed his sets of nomination papers on Congress ticket from Haliyal constituency on Friday.

Deshpande showed his strength during his rally to the RO office. Thousands of his supporters had gathered to welcome their leader to file his sets of paper.  Deshpande was accompanied by his wife Radhabai, Subhash Korvekar, Sayyed Tangal and others.

Speaking after filing nomination papers, Deshpande lashed out at the BJP for dragging politics into developmental programmes.

He stated that he had made sincere effort is getting the Kali river irrigation project. However, Union Minister Anant Kumar Hegde and BJP candidate Sunil Hegde has chided that this is a political gimmick. He dared them to prove their allegation and if they fail to prove, they should tender apology, he said.

During the last five years, Haliyal has witnessed comprehensive development. The Opposition leaders are silence as they have no reason to criticise. Kali river project, taluk status to Dandeli, tourism-friendly projects have been launched, he said.

MLC S L Ghotnekar criticising the NDA government said that due to bad economy policies, Modi government has made the ATMs go dry. People are finding it extremely difficult to withdraw their money from nationalised banks, he alleged.