RS polls: Fielded candidate after consent from Sonia Gandhi for Cong support, says JD(S)
Bengaluru(PTI): Fielding former MP D Kupendra Reddy as its candidate for the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls from Karnataka, JD(S) on Tuesday claimed that Congress national President Sonia Gandhi and other party leaders had consented to support him.
Expressing surprise over Congress fielding a second candidate "all of a sudden", senior JD(S) leader and former Minister H D Revanna requested the national party for support to keep the "communal forces" out of the race.
"Sonia Gandhi on Friday spoke to Deve Gowda (JDS patriarch), following her consent we have fielded our party candidate today. In the same way H D Kumaraswamy (JDS leader) has spoken to K C Venugopal (Congress General Secretary) stating that JD(S) may fall short of a few votes and requested for support, after they agreed we have fielded the candidate," Revanna said.
Speaking to reporters here, Gowda's elder son said Kupendra Reddy himself had met state Congress President D K Shivakumar, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha M Mallikarjun Kharge, and other Congress leaders like R V Deshpande, B K Hariprasad and Ramalinga Reddy seeking support.
"He (Kupendra Reddy) also wanted to meet Siddaramaiah and had sought his appointment....but don't know what happened, in a sudden development they (Congress) have fielded second candidate, despite not having numbers to win the seat," he said, adding that Congres leaders had not expressed any intention to field second candidate.
A candidate needs 45 votes to win, and based on their strength in the Legislative Assembly, the BJP can win two seats and the Congress one, in the June 10 Rajya Sabha polls for four seats.
Despite not having adequate number of votes to win the fourth Rajya Sabha seat from the State Assembly, all the three political parties in the state -- BJP, Congress and JD(S) -- have fielded candidates for the seat, forcing an election.
In an unexpected move, the Congress on Monday fielded its state general secretary Mansoor Ali Khan as a second candidate; following this, the ruling BJP on Monday night announced the candidature of outgoing MLC Lehar Singh Siroya as its third candidate for the polls.
The Congress has to cooperate with the JD(S) if it really wants to keep the "communal forces" away from the race, Revanna said, as he requested Sonia Gandhi, Venugopal, Kharge, Siddaramaiah, Shivakumar and other party leaders for support.
"We all should together try to keep communal forces away. The decision is left for them (Congress). There is a couple of days' time (for withdrawal of candidature), let's wait and see," he said.
Revanna made it clear that Congress did not seek JD(S)' support for its second candidate.
He also claimed that some Congress leaders had threatened not to vote in support of JD(S) if it fielded a candidate from a minority community. "...will reveal it when time comes."
JD(S) state President C M Ibrahim too said, Gowda had spoken to Sonia Gandhi before deciding to field candidates.
"Before fielding candidate Deve Gowda spoke to Sonia Gandhi. Kupendra Reddy spoke to Kharge, after their consent, candidate was fielded. They (Congress) told us to field candidate and they will support....but now by fielding second candidate, their plan may be to help BJP," he alleged.
After electing two Rajya Sabha candidates (Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and actor-politician Jaggesh) based on its own strength in the Assembly, the BJP will be left with an additional 29 votes.
The Congress will be left with 24 extra votes after electing Jairam Ramesh, while the JD(S) has only 32 votes, which is not sufficient to win a seat.
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Instagram removes BJP’s post claiming Cong ‘will snatch wealth of non-muslims’ following backlash
New Delhi: An animated video post shared on BJP’s official Instagram handle, asserting that the Congress party would snatch wealth from non-Muslims to ‘distribute it to its favorite community of invaders,’ has sparked significant backlash. Following the uproar, the photo sharing platform has taken down the post, reports Newslaundry.com.
Meanwhile, it is uncertain whether the post was removed by the BJP or by Instagram following mass reporting by several users as “misinformation” and “hate speech”. The video depicted Rahul Gandhi holding the Congress manifesto which transforms into the logo of the Muslim league. Furthermore, it sought support for PM Modi from every ‘Bharatiya,’ who is also shown wearing a saffron turban.
According to the report, it also contained a clip of PM Modi alleging that the former PM Manmohan Singh had said, “Muslims have the first claim on our resources,” insinuating that if the Congress were to assume power, it would confiscate the money and assets of non-Muslims, redistributing them to Muslims, whom it favored. Labeling Muslims as ‘infiltrators’, the video depicted historical invaders as looters who plundered India's resources and suggested that the Congress party continues to empower individuals from the same community.
The video then communicated that the Congress party’s manifesto is “nothing but Muslim league’s ideology in disguise. If you are a non-Muslim, Congress will snatch your wealth and distribute it to Muslims.” It also slinged the BJP’s official slogan ‘abki baar, 400 paar,’ and called that it was the need of the hour, since Modi only has the “strength to stop the Congress party’s evil plans.”
Similar claims have also been made by several BJP leaders. Recently, Union Minister Anurag Thakur stated that the Congress intends to “Give your children's property to Muslims.”
