Days after praising Deve Gowda, Modi attacks JD-S
Bengaluru, May 3: Days after praising former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda that set off speculation of a possible coming together of the BJP and the Janata Dal-Secular in Karnataka, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said the JD-S would finish a distant third in the Assembly polls and wondered why people should waste votes on that party.
Addressing a meeting, the Prime Minister also hit out at the Congress, accusing it of spreading rumours of a hung Assembly.
"The JD-S cannot form its own government and it cannot even remove the Congress from power. Why should any sensible voter vote for it?" he asked.
Modi said the JD-S had done a crime by joining hands with extremists and communal forces and by doing so it has tried to play with the future of Karnataka.
At a BJP rally in Udupi on Tuesday, the Prime Minister had showered praise on Deve Gowda, the JD-S patriarch and an influential Vokkaliga leader.
"I heard that the Congress President criticized the respected Deve Gowdaji at an election rally 15-20 days ago. Is that your culture?" Modi said, seemingly directing the question at Rahul Gandhi.
"Such arrogance. You are starting your political life and Deve Gowdaji is one of the greatest leaders of our country," Modi said.
That set off speculation that the BJP and JD-S could come together post-poll in case of a hung verdict, which many poll surveys had predicted.
Attacking the Congress, Modi said: "Be it 2104 Lok Sabha polls or any other elections to the state assemblies, whenever Congress is sure of its defeat, it starts spreading rumours like nobody is going to get majority or there will be a hung Assembly. They start spreading a lie. When the Congress starts spreading such lies, it means the BJP is winning," he said.
He said that all the political pundits or survey agencies were of the clear opinion that the JD-S will finish at a distant number three.
Modi said the enthusiasm of people in Karnataka towards the BJP was a clear indication that they would dethrone the Congress.
"The people of Karnataka have no faith in Congress government, its Chief Minister and other ministers," he said.
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Pakistan reports two more polio cases; Total tally now 52
ISLAMABAD: At least two more cases of poliovirus were reported in Pakistan, taking the number of infections to 52 so far this year, a report said on Friday.
“The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health has confirmed the detection of two more wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases in Pakistan," an official statement said.
The fresh infections — a boy and a girl — were reported from the Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.
“Genetic sequencing of the samples collected from the children is underway," the statement read. Dera Ismail Khan, one of the seven polio-endemic districts of southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has reported five polio cases so far this year.
Of the 52 cases in the country this year, 24 are from Balochistan, 13 from Sindh, 13 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.
There is no cure for polio. Only multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and completion of the routine vaccination schedule for all children under the age of five can keep them protected.
