Muniyappa faces uphill task of transferring JD(S) votes to himself to win Kolar: BJP's Muniswamy
Kolar, Apr 16: BJP's greenhorn S Muniswamy said Tuesday he will be able to defeat veteran Congress parliamentarian K H Muniyappa from Kolar Lok Sabha constituency as they are locked in a direct contest and it would be difficult for JD(S) to transfer its core votes to its alliance partner.
Muniswamy, a BBMP corporator from Bengaluru, is banking on a possible discontent among voters with the seven-time Congress parliamentarian, Muniyappa, and on the performance of the Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre.
The issue of the closed Bharat Gold Mines Limited is also a factor in the election.
The BJP leader claimed people in the constituency, an SC seat, are unhappy with Muniyappa because he has failed to fulfil the promises he made to them during the past 28 years, including to sort out the PSU's long-pending issues.
Also, he added, Muniyappa "faces an uphill task" of transferring the votes that were cornered by JD(S) and other smaller parties in a three-way contest in 2014 polls to himself.
There were nearly 15 lakh voters registered in Kolar during the last general election and Muniyappa beat the JD(S) candidate by receiving 37.20 per cent of the total votes cast then. The constituency had seen a 75.51 per cent voter turnout in 2014.
"Though Muniyappa won Kolar in last election, he lost six lakh votes in a three-way contest between Congress, BJP and JD(S). Due to JD(S)-Congress coalition seat-sharing formula, there is a straight fight between Congress and BJP.
Generally, BJP wins two-way or straight fights, Muniswamy told PTI in an exclusive interview during his campaign in Chintamani on the last day of campaigning for the seat.
Kolar will vote on April 18.
"In every election, Muniyappa promises to reopen the closed Bharat Gold Mines Ltd (BGML), but he does not fulfil it. Also, he has not done enough to solve the water problem (in the area). Yettinahole project is still incomplete. People are angry and have decided to vote Muniyappa out," he asserted.
BGML was closed in March 2001 and a few years later the Union Cabinet decided to dispose of assets and liabilities of the company. But the matter is stuck because of litigations.
And Yettinahole Integrated Drinking Water Project proposes to supply 24.01 tmcft of water from Yettinahole, a stream, to drought-prone Kolar district and others in the region.
Sudhakar Reddy, a former Congress MLA and popular leader in Kolar, said Muniyappa has not done anything for the district, but promoted his daughter during the last assembly election.
Muniswamy said the response for BJP's rallies and roadshows have been tremendous because of Modi government's performance, which has worked for the betterment of all sections of society with "Sab Ka Saath, Sabka Vikas" slogan.
"You must have seen the kind of response we are getting in rallies. There is an unabated 'Modi Modi' chant. There is Modi wave. Nobody can deny it. Nobody chants for a failed leader. He has done enough for all communities. People have made up their mind to vote Modi back to power," he said.
Muniyappa, the Congress candidate, is facing rebels from Kothur Manjunath and H Nagesh. Even Reddy shared a stage with the rebel leaders at the public rally recently.
Muniyappa however clarified that all the MLAs except Manjunath are supporting him.
"Congress is a large party and there will be differences, but everything has been resolved," he said.
The Congress candidate is banking on UPA's policies and his party president Rahul Gandhi.
The Congress has lost Kolar seat only once since 1977, when the general election was held for the first time when it became a part of Karnataka state.
Jayaprasad MG of the Bahujan Samaj Party and Ashok Chakravarthi MB of the Ambedkar Samaj Party are prominent names who are also in the fray from Kolar.
The constituency has a significant number of SC community voters. Vokkaligas, Kuruba, minority communities and Tamil-Telugu speaking sections, can tilt the balance.
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Cong takes swipe at PM over India not being part of US-led 'Pax Silica' grouping
New Delh (PTI) The Congress on Saturday said it is perhaps not very surprising that India is not part of a US-led strategic initiative to build a secure silicon supply chain, given the "sharp downturn" in the Trump-Modi ties, and asserted that it would have been to "our advantage if we had been part of this group".
Congress general secretary in charge of communications Jairam Ramesh took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the news of India not being part of the group comes after the PM had enthusiastically posted on social media about a telephone call with his "once-upon-a-time good friend and a recipient of many hugs in Ahmedabad, Houston, and Washington DC".
In a lengthy post on X, Ramesh said, "According to some news reports, the US has excluded India from a nine-nation initiative it has launched to reduce Chinese control on high-tech supply chains. The agreement is called Pax Silica, clearly as a counter to Pax Sinica. The nations included (for the moment at least) are the US, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Australia."
"Given the sharp downturn in the Trump-Modi ties since May 10th, 2025, it is perhaps not very surprising that India has not been included. Undoubtedly, it would have been to our advantage if we had been part of this group."
"This news comes a day after the PM had enthusiastically posted on his telephone call with his once-upon-a-time good friend and a recipient of many hugs in Ahmedabad, Houston, and Washington DC," the Congress leader asserted.
The new US-led strategic initiative, rooted in deep cooperation with trusted allies, has been launched to build a secure and innovation-driven silicon supply chain.
According to the US State Department, the initiative called 'Pax Silica' aims to reduce coercive dependencies, protect the materials and capabilities foundational to artificial intelligence (AI), and ensure aligned nations can develop and deploy transformative technologies at scale.
The initiative includes Japan, South Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Australia. With the exception of India, all other QUAD countries -- Japan, Australia and the US -- are part of the new initiative.
New Delhi will host the India-AI Impact Summit 2026 on February 19-20, focusing on the principles of 'People, Planet, and Progress'. The summit, announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the France AI Action Summit, will be the first-ever global AI summit hosted in the Global South.
Prime Minister Modi and US President Trump on Thursday discussed ways to sustain momentum in the bilateral economic partnership in a phone conversation amid signs of the two sides inching closer to firming up a much-awaited trade deal.
The phone call between the two leaders came on a day Indian and American negotiators concluded two-day talks on the proposed bilateral trade agreement that is expected to provide relief to India from the Trump administration's whopping 50 per cent tariffs on Indian goods.
In a social media post, Modi had described the conversation as "warm and engaging".
"We reviewed the progress in our bilateral relations and discussed regional and international developments. India and the US will continue to work together for global peace, stability and prosperity," Modi had said without making any reference to trade ties.
