Discussions on BJP-JD(S) LS poll understanding has not yet reached finality: Yediyurappa
Bengaluru (PTI): Days after stating that BJP will have an understanding with former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda-led JD(S) for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, veteran leader and former Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Sunday said discussions in this regard have not reached finality yet.
He said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amith Shah, who are busy with other responsibilities, may discuss and decide on the issue in a couple of days.
"As Modiji is busy with other issues, most probably there may be discussion after a couple of days. Till now no discussions have taken place. We will have to wait and see," Yediyurappa said.
Speaking to reporters here, he said, "When I spoke earlier, things had not come to any finality. Even now there is no finality. Prime Minister, Amit Shah and other leaders will discuss and decide, until then we will have to wait. I feel as Modiji and others are busy today and tomorrow, discussions may happen in two to three days."
Yediyurappa on Friday said the BJP will have an understanding with JD(S) for the Lok Sabha elections, an announcement that shot up the political temperature in the State.
The veteran leader, who is also a BJP parliamentary board member, had said that as part of the poll understanding, the JD(S) will contest in four LS seats in Karnataka, which has a total of 28 constituencies.
However, on Saturday, JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy said discussions regarding BJP and his party contesting the Lok Sabha polls together are still in the initial phase.
The BJP had swept the 2019 LS polls in Karnataka by winning 25 seats, while an independent (Sumalatha Ambareesh from Mandya) backed by it won in one seat. The Congress and JD(S) won 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.
