Laxman Savadi joins Congress, promised ticket from Athani constituency
Bengaluru: Lakshmana Savadi, former Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka, has joined the Congress party after being upset over the loss of the BJP ticket from the Athani constituency. Savadi was welcomed to the Congress by the Leader of Opposition of Karnataka Assembly, Siddaramaiah, KPCC president DK Shivakumar, and state Congress in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala at the KPCC office on Queen's Road in the city.
Several other prominent Congress leaders, including KPCC working president B Chandrappa, KPCC campaign committee president MB Patil, former ministers Vinay Kulkarni, Basavaraja Rayareddy, AB Patil, and MLC Channaraja Hattiholi were also present on the occasion. Savadi has also been promised of Congress ticket from Athani constituency for the upcoming Karnataka elections.
Savadi, who arrived in Bangalore from Belgaum on a special flight, went to Siddaramaiah's residence with Randeep Singh Surjewala and D.K. Shiva Kumar in the same car. He later resigned from the primary membership of the BJP party and the council seat.
The move by Savadi is expected to boost the Congress party's chances in the upcoming assembly elections in Karnataka.
The development has come as a major blow to the BJP, which has been facing dissent within the party in Karnataka in recent months. With the assembly elections drawing near, the BJP will now have to work harder to retain its hold on the state.
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Sharad Pawar praised RSS after seeing how it burst fake narrative balloon of LS polls: Fadnavis
Nagpur, Jan 10: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday said NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar praised the RSS after realising how the outfit managed to overcome the fake narrative spread by the opposition in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
The opposition had claimed BJP wanted to win 400 seats to change the Constitution and end reservations, a narrative which BJP leaders later claimed hit the party hard.
On Pawar praising the RSS recently, the CM said the MVA was successful in creating a fake narrative during the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
"When assembly polls were approaching, many people from diverse fields who are inspired by the RSS played their role and burst the balloon of this fake narrative. Sharad Pawar saheb is very intelligent. He would have certainly studied this aspect. He realised that this (RSS) is not a regular political power but a nationalist power. In any competition it is good to praise others," he added.
That is why Pawar may have praised the RSS, Fadnavis said.
Speaking at an interaction with senior editor Vivek Ghalsasi at Late Vilasji Fadnis Jivhala programme here, Fadnavis also said he had asked for organisational work when Eknath Shinde was made chief minister in June 2022, but senior leaders asked him to join the government.
He also said Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked him not to behave like an extra-constitutional authority in the government.
He said the decision to become deputy chief minister on the command of the party leadership earned him a lot of praise from the cadre.
After the massive mandate the ruling alliance received in the 2024 assembly polls, Fadnavis said people and party workers would not have been happy if the CM was not from the BJP.
Shinde himself agreed within minutes that the CM must be from the BJP, which itself got 132 seats and was close to a majority of its own in the 288-member assembly, he added.
On Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray meeting him during the winter sessions of the legislature in Nagpur, Fadnavis said he had announced he would not indulge in politics of revenge after becoming CM and all leaders responded positively to it.
On chances of the NCP (SP) and NCP coming closer or reuniting, Fadnavis said, "If you see the developments that took place from 2019 to 2024, I realised never say never and anything can happen. Uddhav Thackeray goes to some other party and Ajit Pawar comes to us. In politics anything can happen though I am not saying this should happen."
He praised BJP leader Arun Gujarati from whom he learnt patience, which he claimed was an important quality in politics along with the ability to take criticism.
In a lighter vein, he said, "I only get angry when I am hungry. If you see me angry then give me something to eat and my anger will go away."
