Tag: Congress in Karnataka

After landslide victory in Karnataka, Congress aims to stop BJP from repeating 2019

Bengaluru (IANS) | After the Congress won a landslide victory in Karnataka, the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah-led government is now eyeing the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and the party aims to prevent a repeat of 2019 by the BJP.

The Congress had won only one out of 28 seats in the state in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and is now aiming to win at least 20 seats. By defeating the BJP in the assembly elections, the Congress has closed the doors of South India for the saffron party.

Cabinet minister Dr Sharanprakash Patil, considered close to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, said the party would make every effort to win all the seats in the state. People’s sentiments have changed. Congress will win at least 25 seats this time.

According to Congress sources, 9 cabinet ministers have been made from the Dalit community, 7 Lingayats and 5 Vokkaligas. Apart from this, 7 ministers from OBC and ST community have taken oath. The party has allocated 2 cabinet posts to Muslims and 1 each to Christian, Jain and Brahmin communities.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has said that a full-fledged government has been formed in the state within 15 days of the election results. People have voted us to provide stable and clean governance and we will live up to the expectations of the people.

Taking a jibe at the BJP, CM Siddaramaiah said that the public was disenchanted with the struggles of the ‘one man government’ and people had seen the helplessness of a Chief Minister who was going round Delhi for cabinet expansion. They had seen futile meetings with the high command with no results, and today they see a fearless, complete and stable government.

Congress leader says Siddaramaiah has strayed from the path of controlling ministerial aspirants by keeping 2-3 ministerial posts vacant till the end of his term and has filled all 34 ministerial posts, which shows his confidence and determination . Representation has been given to most of the districts except a few.

However, former chief minister Basavaraj Bommai has claimed that the arrogance of the Congress government is already showing. The politics of hatred being adopted by the Congress will end by the time of the Lok Sabha elections. Cabinet ministers are talking about hatred and political rivalry. They have chosen hatred instead of development.

While former CM HD Kumaraswamy has predicted that this government will not last long. The former CM has called upon his party workers to be ready for new political developments in a few months.

Having struck a chord with the people of the state after its pre-poll proposal to ban Bajrang Dal for its involvement in anti-social activities, the Congress is upbeat and talking about banning the RSS. CM Siddaramaiah took a U-turn after Priyank Kharge made repeated statements banning RSS and Bajrang Dal.

While the grand old party Congress is ready with a strong leadership in Karnataka, the BJP has to find a leader who can take on Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM DK Shivakumar in the state.

Congress President Kharge belongs to the state and his appeal of being Karnataka’s son of the soil has impressed the public. With former Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa retiring from electoral politics, the BJP does not have a mass leader who can stand up to the stature of Siddaramaiah, Shivakumar and Kharge. The Bharatiya Janata Party is yet to elect the Leader of the Opposition.

The BJP’s hope of depending on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Amit Shah and Hindutva has done it a lot of damage. Making its presence felt in the Lok Sabha elections is a challenging task for it as the Congress is marching ahead with confidence.

–IANS

May 28, 2023
Karnataka has rejected the politics of money, caste and religion: Pawar

Mumbai (IANS) | Hailing Congress’ landslide victory in Karnataka, Nationalist Congress Party President Sharad Pawar said the people of the neighboring state have rejected the Bharatiya Janata Party’s politics of money, caste and religion. Talking to the media, Sharad Pawar said that the people of Karnataka have taught a lesson to the divisive politics of the BJP and handed over power to the Congress. Pawar predicted that the same result would be seen in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections as well!

He said that people are fed up with the politics of ‘Khokha’ (bid of crores of rupees) being followed by the saffron party. Pawar said, though the BJP was in power there, all the top leaders of the government and senior leaders of the party had gone there to campaign. We suspected that the money used by him would go against him and it did.

He regretted the trend of BJP usurping power in a state where it is not elected by breaking the MLAs of other parties. Which has been rejected by the public. Pawar said that he did this in Karnataka, he toppled the previous government by breaking the MLAs of the previous government to grab power.

The same happened earlier in Maharashtra and Goa, where the BJP assumed power in a similar manner. He further said that this new trend started by the BJP using the government machinery and its resources is a matter of great concern. However, people do not support such politics of money and muscle power. This has become clear from the results of Karnataka.

On the performance of the Congress, Pawar said that the Congress has managed to get more than double the number of seats than the BJP. This is an indication that the people of Karnataka had made up their mind to defeat the BJP completely.

He expressed hope that now people will teach a lesson to those who misrule the country and similar trend will be seen all over India. With Karnataka out of BJP control, Pawar said that the saffron party has now been wiped out from the whole of South India.

Pawar said, apart from Delhi, Jharkhand, Punjab, West Bengal, Bihar, Rajasthan, there is no BJP government in Karnataka, Kerala, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu. This is a precursor to the Lok Sabha elections to be held in 2024.

He said that raising issues like Bajrangbali was a big mistake on the part of BJP, which seems to have backfired as now people have given a befitting reply.

On the NCP contesting against the Congress in Karnataka, Pawar clarified that it had fielded seven candidates only to enter that state. We are not a powerful party in Karnataka, only one of our candidates has won. We needed to enter the state and for that we had to contest elections.

–IANS

May 13, 2023
Congress in Karnataka asked its candidates to come to Bangalore

Bengaluru (IANS) | Taking no chances with BJP’s Operation Lotus in Karnataka, Congress has directed its candidates to reach Bengaluru and stay at a particular place till the government is formed. This precautionary step is being taken ahead of the counting day (May 13).

Exit polls have predicted a hung assembly but both the BJP and the Congress are claiming that they will get a majority. According to sources, both the parties can buy and sell MLAs to grab power.

BJP is considered expert in horse-trading of MLAs. To counter the BJP’s strategy, the Congress is preparing to play its part. Congress leaders, while not ruling out the possibility of a close contest, have taken precautionary measures for the security of party candidates.

Karnataka Congress President D.K. Shivakumar, state in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala and Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah held a virtual meeting with all the candidates on Thursday night and talked to them in detail about how they should not become victims of Operation Lotus.

The leaders have told the candidates that this time Congress is going to get a chance to form the government and they should not fall prey to greed. The candidates have been asked to reach Bengaluru as soon as they get a head start and are sure of their victory. Sources said that the candidates have also been asked to stay at a particular place till the government is formed.

–IANS

May 12, 2023