BJP will lose LS polls, Karnataka election results have raised hopes: Siddaramaiah
Bengaluru, Aug 14: Asserting that the BJP will lose the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday said the Karnataka Assembly election results have raised hopes of people in the country and created a movement among Congress workers at the national level.
He also claimed that the Congress will win at least 20 of the 28 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka.
The CM was speaking after inaugurating the general body meeting of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee.
''I am speaking from my experience. I say it without any exaggeration. BJP will lose at the Centre in 2024. Prime Minister Modi does not attend Parliament sessions properly, he does not pay attention to the problems of the people. He just does Mann Ki Baat,'' Siddaramaiah said.
ALSO READ: Deputy CM DK Shivakumar hints at changes in cabinet in coming days, also state Congress revamp
He said, the people of the country have rejected BJP's disastrous ideology and politics of under-development, price rise, unemployment, mismanagement and dividing the people on the basis of hatred.
''Our workers should not relax after the Assembly elections. You (workers) have assured the high command that you will win at least 20 seats in the Lok Sabha elections...you will win more seats than this,'' he said.
Further noting that the Congress got 42.8 per cent of the votes in the Assembly polls and it is ''historical,'' Siddaramaiah said the people of Karnataka have taken a very big step towards saving the country.
''BJP's peace will be spoiled if the people of the country are calm and happy, and their jealousy also increases,'' he claimed and said the Congress government in Karnataka has started investigating all the scams and corruption of the BJP era. ''BJP's truth will come out soon.'' Targeting BJP over its policies, which takes money from the pocket of common people and gives it to the rich, the CM said, Congress has designed guarantee schemes in such a way that there is money in people's pockets.
''We have presented a budget that will increase the purchasing power of the people. All the states of the country have come forward to study and adopt this Karnataka model of development,'' he said.
Also targeting JD(S) and its leader - former CM H D Kumaraswamy-, Siddaramaiah said he has forgotten his party. ''He is acting like he is the BJP spokesperson. His is a hit and run case. He just flashes the empty pen drive (claiming it contains evidence of Congress government's corruption) out of the pocket and keeps it back.'' In his address, Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar alleged that the BJP, unable to digest Congress government's successful implementation of guarantee schemes, is accusing it of corruption.
''If their allegations are proved, I will retire from politics. I can't be scared like others. I don't fear such things. I will never do any work that will embarrass the party and the government or harm the self-respect of the workers. In the coming days, I will expose the corruption of the BJP government,'' he asserted.
Some contractors, also BJP leaders, have accused Shivakumar, who is also the Bengaluru City Development Minister, of demanding a 10-15 per cent cut to release pending work bills. The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) contractors are up in arms, alleging that the government has kept bills pending for the last 26 months and now it is further being delayed in the name of probe. The opposition BJP is using it as a ammunition to attack the government.
However, Shivakumar has maintained that the government has constituted a SIT to look into the authenticity of the bills raised for works taken up in the city, and funds will be released after a probe.
He said, immediately after starting this investigation, the commission allegation has been made against him.
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US VP JD Vance says Lebanon not part of ceasefire, calls it ‘misunderstanding’
Budapest/Washington: US Vice President J D Vance has said that Lebanon was never included in the ceasefire understanding with Iran, describing the confusion as a “legitimate misunderstanding”.
Speaking to reporters before departing from Hungary, Vance said, “I think the Iranians thought that the ceasefire included Lebanon and it just didn’t. We never made that promise.”
He stressed that the United States had not included Lebanon in the scope of the ceasefire at any stage.
His remarks come amid continued Israeli strikes in Lebanon, where more than 200 people were reported killed, even as ceasefire talks between Iran and the US move forward.
Vance said Israel had “offered … to check themselves a little bit in Lebanon because they want to make sure that our negotiation is successful”.
He warned that if Iran allows the situation in Lebanon to affect the negotiations, it could derail the talks.
“If Iran wants to let this negotiation fall apart in a conflict where they were getting hammered over Lebanon, which has nothing to do with them and which the United States never once said was part of the ceasefire, that’s ultimately their choice,” he said.
