HD Kumaraswamy may contest LS polls if Modi and Shah want him to, says ex-PM Deve Gowda
Hassan (K'taka), Jan 25: JD(S) patriarch H D Deve Gowda on Thursday indicated that his son and former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy may contest upcoming Lok Sabha polls, if Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah want him to do so.
BJP and JD(S) have ready joined hands and struck an alliance in Karnataka to fight the ruling Congress in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
"Kumaraswamy... leave aside the speculations, don't know what Modi will say. In case he says he (Kumaraswamy) has to contest parliament polls, he may contest from anywhere, he has no issues, whether it is Mandya or even Tumakuru or Chikkaballapura, he is being invited to contest from many seats," Gowda said responding to a question whether Kumaraswamy will contest Lok Sabha polls from Mandya. "It is for Modi and Shah to decide, if Kumaraswamy has to come to Delhi."
"But, according to my knowledge, no such discussions have taken place so far. There are speculations about taking Kumaraswamy to Delhi and making him Minister in the central cabinet, but no such discussions have happened before me," the former Prime Minister added.
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Asked whether his grandson and Kumaraswamy's son Nikhil Kumaraswamy will contest the Lok Sabha polls, the JD(S) supremo said, Kumaraswamy is against fielding him, and he will have to decide on it.
"About Nikhil Kumaraswamy, Kumaraswamy feels that he should not contest, but in Mandya party leaders have made an unanimous resolution demanding either Nikhil Kumaraswamy or Kumaraswamy has to contest from there, but Kumaraswamy has to give his approval to it, if he approves he (Nikil) will contest, if not no," he said.
"He (Kumaraswamy) feels that both him and his son should not be contesting, as they will have to lead the party and its campaign."
Nikhil Kumaraswamy had unsuccessfully contested the 2019 Lok Sabha from Mandy seat against actress-turned-politician Sumalatha Ambareesh, an independent candidate supported by the BJP. He had also lost the 2023 Assembly polls from the party bastion of Ramanagara to Congress candidate H A Iqbal Hussain.
Noting that JD(S) has a sitting Member of Parliament from his home turf of Hassan, Gowda indicated that his other grandson Prajwal Revanna will seek re-election from the constituency in the Lok Sabha polls.
"There were speculations that I will contest from Hassan, many tried to create this impression that Gowda has to contest his last election from Hassan, but I said, I will not contest. I'm now 91 years, in three months, on May 18, I will complete 91. So in this constituency I will try to ensure that people support sitting MP Prajwal Revanna," he said.
Gowda said Kumaraswamy recently had a first round of meeting with state leaders of BJP like B S Yediyurappa, Basavaraj Bommai and B Y Vijayendra regarding seat sharing for the Lok Sabha polls.
"Regarding the seat sharing I will not interfere, it is left to him (Kumaraswamy). I have not discussed how many seats will be given to us (JDS) and which are those seats. There are speculations about Mandya, Kolar, Tumakuru among others (from where JDS will field candidates), but it is yet to be decided," he added.
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Sambhal violence orchestrated by BJP, govt to divert attention from poll rigging: Akhilesh Yadav
Lucknow (PTI): Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday alleged the violence in Uttar Pradesh's Sambhal district over the survey of a mosque was "orchestrated" by the BJP, the government and the administration "to divert attention from electoral malpractice".
Police used tear gas and "minor force" in the face of stone pelting by locals in Sambhal on Sunday as tension escalated during a second survey of the Mughal-era mosque, claimed to be originally the site of an ancient Hindu temple.
Ten people have been detained and a probe was launched into the violence, an official said.
Tension has been brewing in Sambhal over the past few days after the Jama Masjid was surveyed last Tuesday on the orders of a local court following a petition that claimed that a Harihar temple stood at the site.
A day after the Uttar Pradesh bypoll results were declared and the Samajwadi Party managed to win just two seats while the BJP and its ally RLD bagged the other seven, Yadav levelled serious allegations against the police and administration.
"A serious incident occurred in Sambhal. A survey team was deliberately sent in the morning to disrupt discussions about the elections. The intention was to create chaos so that no debate on election issues could happen," the Samajwadi Party chief claimed.
Citing reports, he said several people were injured in the violence in Sambhal and asked when a survey of the mosque was already done, why was a new survey conducted again and "that too in the morning and without preparation?"
"I don't want to go into the legal or procedural aspects, but the other side was not even heard. This was intentionally done to provoke emotions and avoid discussions on election rigging," Yadav said.
"What happened in Sambhal was orchestrated by the BJP, the government and the administration to divert attention from electoral malpractices," the former UP chief minister alleged.
Asserting that in democracy, true victory comes from the people, not the system, he said, "The new democracy created by the BJP ensures that people cannot vote while the system dominates."
He added that whenever an impartial investigation takes place, and the truth comes out through booth recordings and CCTV footage, it will be evident that "voters did not cast their votes and someone else became the voter inside the booth".
Yadav claimed that on the polling day, the police and the administration removed the Samajwadi Party's almost all booth agents and many supporters who wanted to vote.
"If voters were prevented from voting, then who cast the votes? If Samajwadi Party votes didn't reach those booths and our candidate didn't get support, then who voted there? This is a serious issue," he said.
"Additionally, there were two types of slips, -- one with a red mark and another regular slip. We raised this issue on the voting day itself, stating that the administration had created such arrangements, leading to discrimination," Yadav alleged.
The Samajwadi Party's candidate for the Kundarki assembly bypoll Haji Rizwan too has alleged that his supporters were prevented from voting.
The BJP's Ramveer Singh won the bypoll in the Kundarki seat by a margin of over 1.45 lakh votes.
