BJP trying to lure our leaders and legislators: Karnataka Cong chief DK Shivakumar
Bengaluru, Jan 26: Accusing the BJP of trying to lure his party's leaders and legislators, state Congress President and Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Friday indicated that he too was not silent and that many leaders from the saffron party are in touch with him.
His comments came a day after former Karnataka Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar rejoined the BJP quitting Congress. He had joined Congress, ahead of Assembly polls last year, after being denied ticket by the BJP to contest the elections.
"I'm in talks with several (BJP) leaders, many are looking at us, I don't want to reveal names," Shivakumar told reporters here as he accused BJP of making all efforts to lure Congress leaders into the party.
"Whom have they left? They are trying every one, I don't want to take names. But we too know the job, I'm not speaking now that's all, if not (their) houses would have become empty by now, but we are remaining silent that's all," he added.
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On some BJP leaders claiming to be in touch with several Congress leaders and legislators, Shivakumar said, "Don't they know that I'm too in touch with them. Have they left me? Should I read the list...let's not do it now."
Noting that Shettar had joined Congress unconditionally after quitting BJP accusing it of insulting and ill treating him, Shivakumar said, considering his stature being a senior leader, Congress gave him ticket to contest Assembly polls and despite him losing the polls by a margin of about 35,000 votes, the party made him an MLC.
"Denying a loyal party worker the ticket, we gave him a ticket and treated him with respect.....we were aware about BJP leaders contacting him from the last two-three months, and he kept saying he will not go. Day before yesterday I had spoken to him, but all of a sudden, he announced quitting the party," he said.
Shettar may have quit the party, but Congress is like an ocean, the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee chief said hundreds of people may come to the party, and hundreds may quit, but no one can do anything to Congress.
"We have won 136 seats on our strength in assembly polls. Because of our own mistakes we might have lost seven to eight seats, or else our calculation was over 141 seats."
He further said, Shettar quitting the Congress may cause "just one day's embarrassment to the party before the media, but the party workers are happy about him going out, as it will help them in organising Congress much better."
"Congress will give the seat vacated by Shettar to a loyal Congress worker and fight it out.....Congress is like an ocean, we are least bothered (about Shettar joining BJP)," he added.
Shivakumar also said that Congress MLA Laxman Savadi, who too had joined the party quitting BJP ahead of Assembly polls, has assured that he will remain in the Congress and work for the party.
"He (Savadi) is a leader of the party and will be an asset to the party," he added.
Shivakumar, hitting out at JD(S) and its leader H D Kumaraswamy for allying with BJP which had brought down the Congress-JD(S) coalition government led by him with the help of "operation Kamala", said: JD(S) and Kumaraswamy have become spokesperson for BJP.
"They (JDS) are hugging and having a relationship with the party that removed them from power," he added.
Responding to a question on Minister K N Rajanna's alleged comments violating the party discipline that has embarrassed the party, Shivakumar said, he (Rajanna) is cabinet minister and the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will respond to it; also high command and national president of Congress are watching.
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TVK falls short within touching distance; what next to ensure majority
Chennai (PIT): With TVK falling 10 short of a majority, its leader Vijay has the option of forming a minority government in Tamil Nadu without any outside support, analysts said on Tuesday.
Senior political analyst Sumanth Raman told PTI that the TVK is likely to opt to be a minority government with outside support.
"Since it is the single largest party, TVK has the option to go for that. I don't think he (Vijay) will opt for official support from other political party's MLAs", he said.
"If he opts for minority government, the only thing is that, Vijay will have to prove the support once again after six months".
Raman also pointed out that in 2006 when DMK won only 92 seats, the then party president, the late M Karunanidhi formed a minority government with outside support.
In a completely unexpected turn of events in the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, the TVK has emerged victorious, putting an end to the almost six decade-long dominance of the two major Dravidian parties--DMK and AIADMK.
By clinching victory in its debut electoral contest, the party has elevated its status to that of a recognised political entity. However, the Vijay-led TVK did not secure a mandate large enough to form a government with an absolute majority on its own, requiring another 10 to cross the finish line. Experts have varied opinions.
Specifically, to attain a simple majority, a political party must win at least 118 out of the total 234 constituencies. The TVK, however, secured victory in 108 constituencies. Given that the TVK fell short of the majority mark, what might unfold next?
TVK leader Vijay has won in both constituencies he contested--Perambur in Chennai and Tiruchirappalli East. As per the election commission rule, he will have to resign from one of these seats. TVK sources said that the leader is likely to surrender the Tiruchirappalli assembly seat.
If Vijay does so, the party's total tally of seats will decrease by one. Then it will be 107. Adding to the number games, TVK appointed Speaker of the Assembly will be ineligible to cast a vote during a confidence motion and the party's effective voting strength will be reduced by yet another seat, which comes to 106.
Accordingly, the TVK requires the support of an additional 12 members to demonstrate its majority. As of now, within the DMK alliance, the Congress party has secured five seats, the two Communist parties have won two seats each (totaling four), while the DMDK has secured one seat, the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) has won two seats and the VCK has secured two seats.
Within the AIADMK alliance, the PMK has grabbed four seats, the BJP has won one seat, and the AMMK has secured one seat. Going by the calculations, if TVK gets the support of other parties within both alliances, it would gain an additional 21 seats.
TVK could potentially secure a total of 129 seats (108 + 21). However, the TVK does not require the support of all those parties, and the backing of just 12 members would suffice.
As Vijay is expected to visit Lok Bhavan on Wednesday (May 6) to meet the governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar to stake claim to form government, the governor is expected to offer the TVK two options.
First, he may summon the TVK chief and instruct him to demonstrate his majority on the floor of the legislative assembly. Alternatively, he might ask Vijay to gather letters of support from "allied" parties and submit them to him.
If the TVK secures support exceeding 118 seats, the governor would invite the party form the government. If TVK fails to garner support from other political parties, it will be denied the opportunity to form the government.
In such a scenario, the governor has the option to invite the DMK, the party holding the second-highest number of seats to form the government.
If DMK too is unable to form a government, the state of Tamil Nadu will come under governor's rule for the subsequent six months. Following this period, fresh legislative Assembly elections will be once again held across all 234 constituencies.
Another political analyst Durai Karuna ruled out that TVK will go for a minority government.
"If he (Vijay) gives an appeal, many political parties including Congress, VCK and left parties will join TVK", he claimed. "In addition, the AIADMK, which has decided to organise MLAs meeting on Wednesday, might also announce that it would support TVK unconditionally".
He said a clear picture on Vijay's decision will emerge in a couple of days.
Tharasu Shyam, political critic, claimed that Congress was "holding talks with Vijay."
"From now on, the DMK must change its approach and this applies equally to the AIADMK," he said in an apparent reference to some reported difference of opinion between allies DMK and Congress over seat-sharing and power-sharing ahead of the April 23 polls.
Incidentally, AICC in-charge for Tamil Nadu, Girish Chodankar, on Tuesday admitted that the Congress party leadership's decision to stick with the DMK alliance went against strong grassroots sentiment favouring the TVK.
"The local leaders, the grassroots level leaders, were suggesting if Rahul Gandhi, who has a large acceptance in Tamil Nadu, joins the campaign with Vijay, it will create a big impact and we can sweep the Tamil Nadu polls, and get somewhere around 180-190 seats," Chodankar told PTI Videos.
