Congress-JDS decide to oust BJP from South India: Deve Gowda
Ballari, October 30: Disclosing that the Congress and JDS have joined hands together to oust the BJP from South India, former prime minister and JDS supremo HD Deve Gowda said that the by-election to three Lok Sabha and two Assembly constituencies in the state would become a referendum to the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections in the country.
Speaking to reporters here on Tuesday, Deve Gowda said that all the Congress-JDS candidates would send a strong message to the country by winning the by-elections. “For BJP, Karnataka was the gateway for South India. Now, we have planned to close this gate. BJP is not in a position to tolerate the unity of Congress and JDS. So, the BJP people have made my absence in the Vidhana Soudha to receive Valmiki Award a big issue. Since I have pre planned programme in London, I was unable to participate in the award presentation programme. But the BJP people have been making it an issue”, he said.
“We have decided to keep Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP away from the power in the next Lok Sabha election. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu had played a pivotal role in bringing together all parties in 1996. This time also, Naidu would join hands with for alliance against the BJP”, he opined.
“Both Congress and JDS have formed the coalition government in the state. In this by-election, both the parties have fielded unanimous candidates. We have been working to ensure the victory of coalition candidates in all constituencies. This by-election is being conducted as a prelude to the Assembly elections in five states. The victory in this by-election is not for showing our strength. But it will become a beginning for the new political development in the country”, Gowda said.
He was campaigning to win Mandya, Shivamogga, Ballari Lok Sabha seats. He had been to Ramanagar. If Siddaramaiah asked to go to Jamkhandi, he would go there and campaign. They do not have any differences. Ugrappa was a good person and he should win. “I have directed all my party workers to work for the election of Congress candidate. There should not be any lapses in our efforts. Ugrappa played a major role in installing the bust of Valmiki in front of the Vidhana Soudha. I have the confidence that the Ballary people would definitely elect Ugrappa”, Deve Gowda said.
‘Rahul Gandhi has capacity to become PM’
“Rahul Gandhi who takes charge of the 130-year-old Congress party has the ability to become the prime minister of the country. I am not ready to speak about him lightly. I don’t have any objection to make him as the PM. He has been observing the national and international politics very carefully”.
- H.D. Deve Gowda, Former PM
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NATO, others turn down US call for help in Hormuz: Trump
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.
