As Shah eyes 10% vote jump per booth in Karnataka, CM says ready to debate on schemes

BJP state president B Y Vijayendra told media persons that strategies were discussed to convert Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity into votes and increase it by 10 per cent in every booth. “Our leaders have assured our Home Minister that BJP and JD(S) will fight all 28 Lok Sabha constituencies unitedly,” Vijayendra said.

The meeting was attended by the state BJP core committee members and leaders of the party’s Mysuru cluster. Vijayendra, however, said there was no discussion regarding candidates, and the seat-sharing terms with JD(S) will be decided by the leadership of both parties at “Delhi level.”

The party’s Mysuru cluster comprises Mysuru, Mandya, Hassan and Chamarajanagar Lok Sabha segments. The constituencies come under the Old Mysuru region, where the BJP is looking to make gains with help from its LS coalition partner JD(S). The regional party under former PM H D Deve Gowda is looking to contest at least two of the cluster’s four seats.

BJP’s vote share in the 2014 LS elections in Karnataka was 43.4 per cent while it was 51.38 per cent in the 2019 polls.

BJP’s former national general secretary C T Ravi said the party’s core committee meeting had also decided to effectively counter CM Siddaramaiah-led Congress government’s allegations of Centre’s “injustice” to the state.

Asked why JD(S) was not part of the meeting, JD(S) youth wing president Nikhil Kumaraswamy said JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy could not meet Shah due to health reasons and it was communicated to Shah.

Meanwhile, countering Shah’s alleged claims that the state government’s treasury is empty because of the guarantee schemes, Siddaramaiah said, “If this is Amit Shah’s firm opinion, he should participate in a public debate with me. I can prove that our treasury is not empty because of the guarantee schemes, and instead, there is an unfair distribution of taxes from the Centre to the state.”

Accusing BJP leaders of trying to “destabilise” the guarantee schemes, he said, “Do they harbour hatred for the people of Karnataka.”

Siddaramaiah told media persons in Bengaluru, “Amit Shah has come to the state empty-handed”, criticising the delay in announcing relief for drought-hit Karnataka.

Karnataka Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda said they are awaiting drought relief under NDRF following Siddaramaiah’s meetings with PM Narendra Modi and other ministers. “Since Shah is touring the state at present, it would benefit the farmers if he announced the drought relief now,” he said.

After the state government declared 223 of the 236 taluks drought-hit, Karnataka urged the Centre to release a compensation of Rs 18,172 crore. Byre Gowda said the meetings of the high-level committee, chaired by Shah to release the NDRF fund, were postponed twice.

Congress workers also staged a protest in Mysuru during Shah’s visit over alleged disparity in fund allocation to Karnataka and were later detained by the police.

– With PTI inputs