DK Shivakumar asks BJP leaders to put pressure on PM Modi to approve Mekedatu project
Bengaluru: Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Thursday asked the BJP leaders of the state to put pressure on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to get the clearances and permission for the Mekedatu balancing reservoir across Cauvery river in Ramanagara district.
He said he had heard that the BJP leaders were visiting the Krishnaraja Sagar Dam in Mysuru.
“I am happy that the BJP friends are going to the KRS. Let them go. They should go to Delhi to implement the Mekedatu balancing reservoir project. They should put pressure on the Prime Minister saying that they had earmarked Rs 1,000 crore (during BJP government in Karnataka). 'Give all the clearances and permissions.’ Then only BJP’s fight for Cauvery water will get some value,” Shivakumar told reporters.
Wondering why Rs 1,000 crore was earmarked by the previous BJP government in the budget and why the clearances were not taken, the DCM said the BJP should first get those approvals.
Regarding taking an all-party delegation to the Centre, Shivakumar said he has written letters to the opposition parties and requested them to follow the matter.
“Once the Prime Minister gives his approval (for meeting), we will immediately take the delegation there (Delhi),” Shivakumar said.
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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.
