Jarkiholi is my colleague, don’t see us as enemies: DK Shivakumar
Bengaluru: Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar has stated that Satish Jarkiholi and he are colleagues and not enemies.
Speaking to presspersons here, Shivakumar questioned the media for portraying tension between the two leaders. “It is true that Satish Jarkiholi and I met at a wedding last night. We discussed the state and the party. Satish Jarkiholi and I are colleagues. Why do you see us as enemies?” he asked.
Shivakumar was responding to queries near the new Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) office on Thursday.
When asked about Jarkiholi’s visit, he said, “We attend cabinet meetings in the afternoon, we meet for dinner, we meet for breakfast in the morning; these interactions are normal. In politics, friendship, relationships, and closeness always exist.”
He added, “Now, M.B. Patil and I spoke for about an hour about how to attract investors to the state, how Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu are competing with us. A global conference will be held in Telangana soon, and we discussed how Karnataka should compete at the global level. It is natural to discuss the state’s progress this way.”
Speaking about the inauguration of the new KKRDB office, he said, “Businessmen in Karnataka should be respected. Their work should be facilitated, officers’ visits should be convenient, and files should be cleared quickly. The state government has built a new KKRDB office under the leadership of M.B. Patil. They had been in a rented building for so long; now they have their own office. It is close to Vidhana Soudha, bus and railway stations.”
When mediapersons asked about, leader of opposition, R. Ashoka’s comments regarding the Upalokayukta report that allegedly shows 63% corruption in the state, Shivakumar retorted, stating that, “It’s a pity that R. Ashoka doesn’t know the time period the report covers. Let him first read the report. Let him raise the issue in the session, and we will answer there.”
On whether a date has been fixed for the all-party delegation’s visit to Delhi, he said, “We still need to discuss it. The Union Minister said he is busy with the Parliament session, so we postponed the meeting scheduled for December 8. He had written a letter about this. The Prime Minister has a meeting with Prahlad Joshi. Nirmala Sitharaman has to introduce a bill that day. Somanna also said he will not be able to attend. A date will be fixed that is convenient for all of us.”
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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.
