Bengaluru, Aug 2 (PTI): Karnataka BJP President B Y Vijayendra on Saturday announced that the party will protest against the Congress party's "anti-constitutional attitude" in Bengaluru on August 5, on the same day when Rahul Gandhi will be leading a protest against the alleged incidents of "votes theft".
He said his party members will be protesting near the Gandhi Statue in Vidhana Soudha premises here.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will participate in a protest at the Freedom Park here on August 5 against the alleged incidents of "votes theft". The BJP had also sought permission from the Bengaluru police to organise their protest at the same venue. However, they were denied permission, citing law and order and lack of space owing to Congress's already planned protest there.
Amid the raging row over the revision of electoral rolls in Bihar, Gandhi, who is the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, has alleged that elections are being "stolen" in the country and claimed that his party has figured out the modus operandi of the "votes theft" by studying a parliamentary constituency in Karnataka.
Terming the attitude of the Congress party "totally unconstitutional", Vijayendra said that the Bharatiya Janata Party has taken this matter very seriously.
"They have lost faith in democracy. They have lost faith in constitutional bodies. They are alleging Election Commission. Siddaramaiah and D K Shivakumar have also joined their voices. So my direct question is if at all... if there are any allegations, how did the Congress party come to power here in Karnataka? How did they win all three by-elections?" he asked while talking to reporters.
Vijayendra alleged that Congress and Rahul Gandhi are not able to digest Narendra Modi's leadership at the Centre and that his dream of becoming Prime Minister remains unfulfilled. He alleged that Gandhi was misguiding the people of this country and also the state with his repeated allegations against the Election Commission. It's an insult to the voters and people of this country.
The BJP leader said if the Election Commission can be "manipulated" as being claimed, then how did Congress win elections in Himachal Pradesh, Telangana, and Karnataka? "Since we have taken this matter seriously, BJP, all our MPs, MLAs, MLCs, former MPs, MLAs will be protesting against the Congress party's anti-constitutional attitude. We will be protesting near the Gandhi Statue in Vidhana Soudha," he added.
Responding to Gandhi's claim that his party has an "atom bomb" of evidence against the Election Commission on poll irregularities, Vijayendra said, "If they have an atom bomb, they can't keep it in their pockets. If the Congress party and Rahul Gandhi have any proof, they should give it to the Election Commission of this country, or they can challenge it in the Supreme Court".
"Rather than doing that, creating drama here in Bengaluru, Karnataka, is not going to help them. They should challenge it before the Supreme Court," he added.
Further he said that if Gandhi was coming to Bengaluru on August 5, he should apologise to the people of Karnataka for the June 4 stampede outside the Chinnaswamy Stadium which resulted in loss of 11 innocent lives, alleging that the incident happened due to the "irresponsibility" of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar.
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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.
