JD(S) supported BJP to clear land Bill, says Kumaraswamy
Bengaluru, Dec 9: Amid accusations of a secret deal between the BJP and the JD(S) after the clearance of the "controversial" Karnataka Land Reforms (Amendment) Act-2020, JD(S) leader and former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy said his party has supported the government after it agreed to withdraw some of the "dangerous" provisions in the law.
The Congress and the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha charged Kumaraswamy with striking a deal with the BJP.
The JD(S), opposed to the said amendment in the monsoon session, supported the Bill in the winter session in the Karnataka Legislative Council where it was held up after being cleared in the Assembly.
The amendment gives anyone the right to buy farmland previously restricted only to those with agricultural background.
"JD(S) has supported the government after it agreed to withdraw some of the provisions we were opposed to," Kumaraswamy told reporters in Kolar.
He explained that he and his father and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda had opposed the Bill initially but after the changes were introduced in the amendment, the party supported it.
"We are the one responsible for the changes in the law.
During the previous Assembly session, the government decided to drop some of the dangerous provisions in the proposed amendment after I drew their attention to it," Kumaraswamy claimed.
The JD(S) leader said his main contention was that the government previously wanted to increase the purchasing of land in terms of unit allowing a family to purchase upto 248 acres.
On his suggestion, the government decided in the previous session to continue with the earlier provision of allowing a family to hold 10 units of land.
The way section 79-A and 79-B of the KLD (Amendment)-2020 has been misused due to which lakhs of farmers are in distress.
"I had clearly said in the Karnataka Vidhana Soudha to give up 79-A and 79-B from the KLD-2020," Kumaraswamy said.
Hitting back at those who criticised him for the "secret deal" he sought to know why they never came in his support when he waived off farm loans of Rs 25,000 of the farmers as Chief Minister of the coalition government of the Congress and the JD(S) in 2018-19.
The Congress spokesperson V S Ugrappa said Kumaraswamy has adopted double standards.
"On the one hand, Kumaraswamy says his party is with the farmers and on the contrary the JD(S) sided with the BJP on the Karnataka Land Reforms (Amendment) Act. It clearly indicates a deal between Kumaraswamy and the BJP," Ugrappa said.
He alleged that there was no ideology or consistency in the stand when such a crucial Bill was tabled.
The Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha president Kodihalli Chandrashekhar sought to know how the two parties came together.
"What is your objective and your behaviour? Tell the people of the state what it is. Is it a deal, sharing of power or handing over power? Kumaraswamy is a very big deal master," Chandrashekhar said on Wednesday at the protest site as he was leading the march to lay siege to Vidhana Soudha against the two controversial farm laws passed by the Karnataka Assembly.
He said the farmers of the state know how to save the land.
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Have only resigned as Delhi Congress chief, not joining any political party: Arvinder Singh Lovely
New Delhi, Apr 28: Arvinder Singh Lovely on Sunday said he has only resigned as chief of the Congress' Delhi unit and is not joining any other political party.
His clarification came after Congress ex-MLA Asif Mohammad Khan claimed that the BJP would field Lovely from the East Delhi constituency, replacing Harsh Malhotra.
"I have only resigned as Delhi Congress chief and I am not joining any political party," he said at a press conference at his residence.
Lovely said his resignation reflected the pain of Congress workers saddened by the fact that the "ideals they had been fighting for during the last seven to eight years" were being compromised.
"We are fighting the elections together but never did the Congress workers say that we are giving a clean chit to them or giving them credit for building schools and hospitals, which is far from the reality," Lovely said, referring to the party's tie-up with the AAP in Delhi for the Lok Sabha polls.
"Those who are saying that I have resigned out of anger over ticket (distribution), it is not like that. You all know that I introduced the candidates by holding a press conference three days ago," Lovely said.
Earlier in the day, AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj asked in a post in Hindi on X, without naming anyone, if the BJP was changing its candidate for East Delhi.
Questioned about Bharadwaj's post and whether it hinted at him joining the BJP, Lovely said he only resigned as the Delhi Congress chief.
"Thanks for Bharadwaj's wishes. I think he takes decisions on behalf of all other parties. I have just cleared to you that I resigned from the post of Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president," Lovely said.
In a setback to the Congress ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, Lovely resigned as the party's Delhi unit chief, citing the alliance with the AAP as one of the reasons.
He said the Congress' Delhi unit was against the alliance but the party high command went ahead with it.
"The Delhi Congress unit was against an alliance with a party which was formed on the sole basis of levelling false, fabricated and mala fide corruption charges against the Congress party ... half of the cabinet ministers (of the party) are presently in jail on corruption charges," Lovely said in his resignation letter sent to Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday.
"Despite that, the party (Congress) made a decision to ally with the AAP in Delhi. We respected the party's final decision ... I even went to the extent of visiting Mr (Arvind) Kejriwal's residence on the night of his arrest along with Mr Subash Chopra and Mr Sandeep Dikshit, despite the same being against my position on the matter," he said.
The Congress is contesting the Lok Sabha elections in an alliance with AAP in Delhi. As part of its seat-share arrangement, the Congress is contesting from three seats while AAP has fielded candidates from four constituencies in the national capital.
Lovely had resigned as chief of the Congress' Delhi unit in 2015, taking moral responsibility for the party's worst-ever performance in the assembly elections.
The Congress had failed to win a single seat in the 70-member House as AAP swept to victory in 67 constituencies and the BJP won three.
Lovely contested the Lok Sabha elections in 2019 from East Delhi against the BJP's Gautam Gambhir and AAP candidate Atishi, securing 24 per cent votes.
Gambhir won the seat by 3.93 lakh votes ahead of Lovely in second.
Delhi's seven Lok Sabha seats will go to the polls in the sixth phase on May 25.
