Madikeri, November 12: Sri Rama Sene chief Pramod Mutalik warned of giving a call to vote against the BJP in the forthcoming Lok Sabha election if failed to start the construction of Ram Mandir at Ayodhya before the election.

Speaking to reporters at Gonikoppal near here on Monday, Mutalik said that last time, the voters have voted the BJP on the grounds of development and Hindutva. The BJP should start constructing the Ram Mandir, the emotional symbol of all Hindus of the country. While giving verdicts on religious issues, the concerned courts have to consider the opinions of the elders of respective religions, he said on Sabarimala temple issue.

Thanking the Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister for absenting from the Tipu Jayanti programme, he said that Muslims have opposed the Tipu Jayanti. Year on year, the Jayanti has been losing its importance and next year, Tipu Jayanti would not be held. The absence of the Congress leaders from Tipu Jayanti which is being held for vote bank, was showing their consciences. Those who term Tipu as the freedom fighter should go through the history, he said.

Though the government has announced the Kittur Chennamma and Valmiki Jayanti, the ministers and elected representatives were missing the programmes which is an insult to the personalities, he said.

Sri Rama Sene activists Ganesh and Ashok Rai were present at the press conference.

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Washington (PTI): President Donald Trump on Tuesday said NATO and most of US' other allies have rejected his calls to help secure the Strait of Hormuz as the war with Iran entered the third week.

In a social media post, Trump asserted that Iran’s military has been “decimated” and he no longer felt the need for assistance from NATO countries or anyone else.

Last week, Trump had sought help from European nations and others who depend on oil supplies transiting from the Hormuz Strait to safeguard the critical waterway.

“The United States has been informed by most of our NATO “Allies” that they don’t want to get involved with our Military Operation against the Terrorist Regime of Iran, in the Middle East, this, despite the fact that almost every Country strongly agreed with what we are doing, and that Iran cannot, in any way, shape, or form, be allowed to have a Nuclear Weapon,” the US President said in a post on Truth Social.

Iran's attacks on Gulf nations and its grip on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil is transported, have sparked increasing concerns of a global energy crisis and are unnerving the world economy.

“I am not surprised by their action, however, because I always considered NATO, where we spend Hundreds of Billions of Dollars per year protecting these same Countries, to be a one-way street — We will protect them, but they will do nothing for us, in particular, in a time of need,” Trump said.

He said Australia, Japan and South Korea too have turned down his call for help.

“Fortunately, we have decimated Iran’s Military – Their Navy is gone, their Air Force is gone, their Anti-Aircraft and Radar is gone and perhaps, most importantly, their Leaders, at virtually every level, are gone, never to threaten us, our Middle Eastern Allies, or the World, again,” Trump said.

He said that given the scale of recent military successes, the US no longer "need" or desires assistance from NATO countries, adding that it never relied on such support in the first place.

Speaking as President of the United States, the "most powerful" country in the world, "we do not need" help from anyone, Trump said.

The West Asia conflict began on February 28 when the US-Israeli combine conducted airstrikes on Iran.

The Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that connects the Persian Gulf to the open ocean, has effectively been shut following the US and Israel attack on Iran and Tehran's sweeping retaliation.

However, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had said that from Tehran's "perspective", the strait is "open". "It is only closed to Iran's enemies, to those who carried out unjust aggression against our country and to their allies.”

Earlier in the day, a second Indian-flagged LPG tanker, Nanda Devi, reached the country after safely sailing from the war-hit Strait of Hormuz. On Monday, the first ship, Shivalik, reached Mundra port in Gujarat.

As of now, 22 Indian vessels remain on the west side and two on the east side of the strait.

Indian authorities are in constant touch with all the relevant stakeholders in the region to secure the safe passage of the remaining ships, officials said.