Cong questions secular credentials of JD(S) following its alliance with BJP
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Congress leaders on Friday questioned the secular credentials of the Janata Dal (Secular), which has entered into an alliance with the BJP, and said that the coming together of the two parties will not have any impact on its own prospects in 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Stating that former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda-led JD(S) now stands exposed, Minister Priyank Kharge even mocked the collaboration saying that the BJP was the "B-team" of the JD(S) in the newly formed alliance.
After days of talk about a tie-up between the BJP and the JD(S), the decision was finalised today following a meeting of the leader of the regional party and former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy with Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP National President J P Nadda.
"There is nothing surprising. If you saw, BJP was moving lethargically after losing the election in Karnataka. It was very evident that the BJP's central leadership lost their complete confidence in the state leadership. That is why they did not even name the opposition leader in the upper house nor in the lower house," Kharge said, reacting to the BJP-JD(S) alliance.
Speaking to reporters here, he said that it is now "very evident that JD(S) is the primary partner and BJP has become the B-team" for the regional party.
"More importantly, JD(S) should write to the Election Commission and just drop the word 'Secular' from the party's name, because at one point of time, you claim to be secular and at the same time you are going ahead and joining hands with the most communal party in the history of independent India," he added.
Noting that irrespective of how much bonhomie and brotherhood the BJP and JD(S) project, it will not make any dent in the Congress's fortunes in Karnataka, Kharge said, adding that the Lok Sabha elections in Karnataka are going to be won by the Congress party.
"JD(S) has been exposed today, they had been claiming that they are secular and fooling a lot of people earlier. If you turn the pages of history and see, it was because of the JD(S) that BJP came to power in Karnataka. And again they are making the same mistake," he added.
Home Minister G Parameshwara said the BJP-JD(S) alliance will not affect the Congress in any way, and expressed confidence that his party would win more than 20 seats in the Lok Sabha polls.
"We will retain the vote share (42.88 per cent) that we got during the assembly polls in the Lok Sabha polls too. We don't have any feeling that their alliance will cause any hindrance for us. JD(S) had allied with Congress too, but ultimately what were the results? People of the state know," he said.
Pointing out that the JD(S) played politics all these years with its secular credentials, Parameshwara said today that the party leaders must explain what secularism is.
The BJP had swept the 2019 Lok Sabha polls in Karnataka, winning 25 seats, while an independent (Sumalatha Ambareesh from Mandya) backed by it won one seat. The Congress and JD(S) won one seat each.
In the 2019 LS elections, the BJP had won as many as 25 seats, while an independent (Sumalatha Ambareesh from Mandya) backed by it won one seat. The Congress and JD(S) managed to get just one seat each.
However, in the elections to the 224-member state assembly held in May this year, the Congress bagged 135 seats, while the BJP secured just 66 and the JD(S) 19.
JD(S) had contested the 2019 Lok Sabha polls in alliance with the Congress; at the time, both parties were running a coalition government under the Chief Ministership of Kumaraswamy.
JD(S) has earlier formed governments in coalition with both the BJP and Congress separately -- for 20 months from January 2006, and for 14 months from May 2018, respectively, with Kumaraswamy as chief minister.
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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
