Vokkaliga Sangha says it will fight if injustice happens to Shivakumar
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Rajya Vokkaligara Sangha on Thursday warned the Congress high command that it will fight vehemently if injustice happens to Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, who is aspiring to become CM.
Shivakumar, who is also the Congress state president, belongs to the dominant agrarian community of Vokkaliga.
"During the assembly election, Shivakumar had toiled hard, toured across the state, strengthened the organisation and due to his efforts the Congress got 140 seats and won the polls," Sangha president L Srinivas said at a press conference here.
He said people have been saying that the Congress high command had earlier promised Shivakumar that he will be made the chief minister after Siddaramaiah completes two-and-half years term.
Siddaramaiah had been the CM for five years during his previous stint and now this time, he completed two-and-half years, Srinivas, the former Bengaluru Deputy Mayor, said.
There are doubts whether Siddaramaiah will transfer powers to Shivakumar, he said, adding that ministers and MLAs are touring Delhi in this regard.
"We from Vokkaliga Sangha request the Congress high command to at least give him 'Coolie' (a token of reward) to Shivakumar for the efforts he has put in," the Sangha president said.
Requesting the Congress high command to fulfill the promise made to Shivakumar, Srinivas said the Deputy CM had also spent time in jail for the party.
"No injustice should happen to the disciplined soldier of the Congress party. We from Vokkaliga Sangha on behalf of the Vokkaliga pontiffs assert that we will vehemently fight if injustice happens to Shivakumar," he said.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
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.
