BJP and JD(S) reach understanding, Deve Gowda's party to contest in 4 seats, says Yediyurappa
Lok Sabha polls
Bengaluru (PTI): BJP will have an understanding with former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda led JD(S) for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, former Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa said on Friday, an announcement that shot up political temperature in the State.
The veteran leader, who is also the BJP parliamentary board member, said that, as part of the poll understanding, the JD(S) will contest in four Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka, which has a total of 28 constituencies.
"BJP and JD(S) will have an understanding. Amit Shah (Union Home Minister) has agreed to give four Lok Sabha seats," to the JD(S))," the four-time Chief Minister said.
Speaking to reporters here, he said, "this has given us great strength and this will help us in winning 25 or 26 Lok Sabha seats together."
Recently JD(S) supremo Deve Gowda had indicated that the party will contest Lok Sabha polls alone.
The BJP swept the 2019 Lok Sabha polls in Karnataka by winning 25 seats, while an independent backed by it won in one seat. The Congress and JD(S) emerged victorious in one seat each.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
