Stark contradictions and U-turns within BJP
In the last assembly elections,the BJP met a miserable defeat owing to its own party image. Congress wasn’t even responsible for where BJP had found itself. The BJP’s high command in Delhi and leaders at local level had posed massive challenges to Yeddyurappa, who was not allowed to discharge his duties. The government was resting on the money power bolstered by the Reddy brothers who were another league of troublemakers altogether. They resorted to blackmailing Yeddyurappa at every given opportunity. The dissidents often went to Delhi and complained against their CM BSY. And all this finally ended with BSY having to relinquish the CM’s seat. The only priority for the BJP ministers after this was to loot the state. Many ministers were caught carrying out acts of corruption and were even caught in the act. Finally, the BJP government fell after Justice Santosh Hegde submitting a report on unchecked illegal mining in the state. After Yeddyurappa was forced to step down,The BJP government gave the state two chief ministers such as Sadananda Gowda and Jagadish Shettar. Not only that, there were even two deputy chief ministers too. The assembly hall because infamous for the legislators watching porn films when the session was on.
Speaker K G Bopaiah flouted the rules and BJP breathed a temporary end with Yeddyurappa deciding to launch a new party, KJP or Karnataka Janata Paksha.
Today as we get close to elections, BJP is desperate to assume a new avatar.Like the mighty phoenix, It wants to rise from the ashes and come to life. It needs a brand new identity. But then why would people accept a party that they roundly rejected last time? They could have, only if the current Congress government had misruled the state or had not attended to people’s needs and requirements. CM Siddaramaiah has given most significant welfare programmes to people. Hence, the Congress government has gone to people with Siddaramaiah as their leader.
Though it was inevitable, and also desirable for the BJP to go to seek people’s mandate with new faces and fresh manifesto, the party has lost its plot by projecting the same leader the people had rejected last time. The current BJP has disappointed their own workers.
When BSY formed KJP, the same leaders within BJP had criticized him to no end. Today, this job of criticism need not be done by the Congress. BJP itself is being unfair to its own roots. If people remember the past and go over the criticism the leaders had made against each other, this party would definitely bite the dust in the coming days. The infamous Reddy brothers who were responsible for the collapse of the order in the BJP government, are being considered in the top ranks of the party again. Unfortunately, our own Prime Minister Narendra Modi is being seen with the corrupt Reddys pandering around him. Janardhan Reddy had even approached the Supreme Court to seek permission to canvas on behalf of the party he earlier belonged to.
Basically, BJP has gone to people with the same stains that existed earlier. And the party hopes to make a comeback too! That’s some ambition, really. The leaders seem to be thinking Modi’s jibes and sarcasm will win them the votes. But then this is a costly lesson the party would learn at the earliest that this way, people will never buy their version. Even their manifesto does not say anything new. Congress at least had made a solid effort in ensuring their manifesto consisted of deliverable promises and the party completed its own assurances. The BJP which had ridiculed Indira Canteens in the beginning, has now mentioned a canteen on such lines for poor people in its manifesto. So will people have to choose BJP only so that the scheme names can be changed? BJP has been very sternly against loan waiver of farmers. The state government did its part in waiving off the loans. But the government at the centre flatly refused to waive off the farmer loans. Now in its manifesto, BJP has assured farm loan waiver. On one hand, BJP encourages dairy farming and on the other, they have a law to protect the cows. The party is filled with contradictions from top to bottom over such matters. There is a ban on cow slaughter in some states of BJP rule, whereas some other states and leaders of the party have clearly made statements supporting protection of cows and total ban of cow slaughter. As of now, confusion is the only state BJP is in irrespective of whether it wins other states or not. And this could even mark the end of Yeddyurappa era too.
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Texas halts H-1B visas at state universities, agencies; to affect Indians
Houston (US) (PTI): Texas Governor Greg Abbott has ordered state agencies and public universities to immediately halt new H-1B visa petitions, tightening hiring rules at taxpayer-funded institutions, a step likely to impact Indian professionals.
The freeze will remain in effect through May 2027.
The directive issued on Tuesday said that the state agencies and public universities must stop filing new petitions unless they receive written approval from the Texas Workforce Commission.
The governor's order, in a red state that is home to thousands of H-1B visa holders, comes as the Trump administration has initiated steps to reshape the visa programme.
“In light of recent reports of abuse in the federal H-1B visa programme, and amid the federal government’s ongoing review of that programme to ensure American jobs are going to American workers, I am directing all state agencies to immediately freeze new H-1B visa petitions as outlined in this letter,” Abbot said.
Institutions must also report on H-1B usage, including numbers, job roles, countries of origin, and visa expiry dates, the letter said.
US President Donald Trump on September 19 last year signed a proclamation ‘Restriction on entry of certain non-immigrant workers’ that restricted the entry into the US of those workers whose H-1B petitions are not accompanied or supplemented by a payment of USD 1,00,000.
The H1-B visa fee of USD 1,00,000 would be applicable only to new applicants, i.e. all new H-1B visa petitions submitted after September 21, including those for the FY2026 lottery.
Indians make up an estimated 71 per cent of all approved H-1B applications in recent years, according to US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), with China in the second spot. The major fields include technology, engineering, medicine, and research.
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is the second-highest beneficiary with 5,505 approved H-1B visas in 2025, after Amazon (10,044 workers on H-1B visas), according to the USCIS. Other top beneficiaries include Microsoft (5,189), Meta (5,123), Apple (4,202), Google (4,181), Deloitte (2,353), Infosys (2,004), Wipro (1,523) and Tech Mahindra Americas (951).
Texas public universities employ hundreds of foreign faculty and researchers, many from India, across engineering, healthcare, and technology fields.
Date from Open Doors -- a comprehensive information resource on international students and scholars studying or teaching at higher education institutions in the US -- for 2022-2023 showed 2,70,000 students from India embarked on graduate and undergraduate degrees in US universities, accounting for 25 per cent of the international student population in the US and 1.5 per cent of the total student population.
Indian students infuse roughly USD 10 billion annually into universities and related businesses across the country through tuition and other expenses – while also creating around 93,000 jobs, according to the Open Doors data.
Analysts warn the freeze could slow recruitment of highly skilled professionals, affecting academic research and innovation.
Supporters say the directive protects local jobs, while critics caution it could weaken Texas’ competitiveness in higher education and research.
The order comes amid broader debate in the US over skilled immigration and state-level interventions in federal programmes.
H-1B visas allow US companies to hire technically-skilled professionals that are not easily available in America. Initially granted for three years, these can be extended for another three years.
In September 2025, Trump had also signed an executive order ‘The Gold Card’, aimed at setting up a new visa pathway for those committed to supporting the United States; with individuals who can pay USD 1 million to the US Treasury, or USD 2 million if a corporation is sponsoring them, to get access to expedited visa treatment and a path to a Green Card.
