LS polls: JD(S) to get 3 seats including Mandya, says BJP leader Radha Mohan Das Agarwal
Bengaluru, Mar 23: BJP national general secretary and Karnataka in-charge Radha Mohan Das Agarwal on Saturday said the party's ally JD(S) will contest the Lok Sabha elections from Mandya, Hassan and Kolar.
He also said the BJP and JD(S) workers will cooperate and work for each other's victory.
"We are not fighting alone...We are fighting it with JD(S). We have given Mandya, Hassan and Kolar seats to the JD(S). When we have given these seats to the JD(S), we too are at loss. You will see us (BJP and JD(S)) fighting this battle shoulder to shoulder," Agarwal said at a party event here.
The BJP has released the list of candidates for 20 of the 28 Lok Sabha constituencies in Karnataka. It is yet to release the list of other seats it would be contesting.
ALSO READ: LS polls: Cong appoints five working presidents and forms 3-member campaign committee in K'taka
Leader of the Opposition in the Karnataka Assembly R Ashoka said the ball is now in the BJP central parliamentary board's court and its decision will be final with regard to Mandya.
Mandya constituency was the bone of contention between the two parties and the announcement over the list of seats was delayed due to the alleged adamant stance of the sitting MP Sumalatha Ambareesh, an independent.
Sumalatha, multilingual film actress and wife of eminent Kannada actor-turned-politician late Ambareesh, contested the 2019 Lok Sabha election as an independent candidate and defeated Nikhil Kumaraswamy, grandson of former Prime Minister and JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda and son of former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy.
Sumalatha is yet to reveal her plans. However, she has been insisting on contesting from Mandya, which she terms as her base.
Sources in the JD(S) said the party had decided to field H D Kumaraswamy from Mandya. The party was also insistent about fielding a candidate from the constituency as it has a strong base in the district given the fact that there is a substantial Vokkaliga population, which the JD(S)' first family belongs to.
The JD(S) had won all seven seats in Mandya district in the 2018 Assembly elections. However, its lost ground in 2023 Assembly polls when it won only one seat while the Congress emerged victorious in six segments.
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UP Police use tear gas to disperse crowd throwing stones during Sambhal mosque survey
Sambhal (UP) (PTI): Police used tear gas and "minor force" in the face of stone pelting by locals here 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.
Tension has been seething 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.
According to the local administration, a second survey by an "Advocate Commissioner" as part of a court-ordered examination into the disputed site began around 7 am and a crowd began gathering at the spot.
"Some miscreants came out of the crowd gathered near the site and pelted stones at the police team. The police used minor force and tear gas to bring the situation under control," Superintendent of Police Krishna Kumar Vishnoi said.
He said those who engaged in stone pelting and those who incited them will be identified and action taken against them.
District Magistrate Rajendra Pesia said, "Some miscreants resorted to stone pelting but the situation is peaceful now and the survey is underway."
Videos of youths throwing stones at police, purportedly near the site of the survey in Sambhal have surfaced on the Internet.
Supreme Court lawyer Vishnu Shankar Jain, who is also the petitioner in the case, had said the Court of Civil Judge (Senior Division) ordered the constitution of an "Advocate Commission" to survey the mosque.
The court has said that a report should be filed after conducting a videography and photography survey through the commission, he had said.
The Central and Uttar Pradesh governments, the mosque committee and the district magistrate of Sambhal have been made parties in the petition concerning the mosque, Jain said last Tuesday.
Vishnu Shankar Jain and his father Hari Shankar Jain have represented the Hindu side in many cases related to places of worship, including the Gyanvapi Mosque-Kashi Vishwanath temple dispute.
Gopal Sharma, a local lawyer for the Hindu side, told PTI on Friday that in his petition filed in the court, he mentioned that "Baburnama" and the "Ain-e-Akbari" has confirmed that a Harihar temple was at the site where the Jama Masjid now stands.
He also claimed that the temple was demolished by Mughal Emperor Babur in 1529.
Samajwadi Party (SP) MP Zia Ur Rehman Barq had objected to the developments.
"The Jama Masjid of Sambhal is historical and very old. The Supreme Court had given the order in 1991 that whatever religious places are there in whatever condition since 1947, they will remain at their places," he had said.
The next date for hearing in this case is January 29.
VIDEO | Uttar Pradesh: Stones and slippers pelted in Sambhal when a survey team reached Shahi Jama Masjid to conduct a survey of the mosque.
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) November 24, 2024
(Full video available on PTI Videos - https://t.co/n147TvrpG7)#SambhalJamaMasjid pic.twitter.com/K4QGGpzlMK
