Mangaluru: As the assembly elections in Karnataka is approaching fast, the BJP leaders have found a new weapon against the Congress party.
Two days ago, during a press conference, SDPI national general secretary Elyas Mohammed Thumbe had stated that during the 2018 assembly election, the Congress leaders had requested the SDPI to restrict its candidates to only three constituencies.
Now, the BJP has decided to take up this issue during the election and has already posted it on the social media handles. The BJP has condemned the Congress for joining hands with the SDPI and accused them of having an understanding.
"Since the beginning, we have been saying that Congress and SDPI have an understanding. They were into 'combined booking.' Now, the SDPI has made it clear. People now know that we were right," Uday Kumar Shetty, the BJP Mangaluru Vibhag Prabhari and Mysore Electrical Industries chairman told Deccan Chronicle.
"SDPI has links with PFI. The PFI has now been banned for its activities. We had always said that SDPI and PFI grew during the Congress rule. The SDPI leader's statement proves us right. With an aim to keep BJP away, Congress had joined hands with the SDPI. The Congress leaders should now clarify," Shetty demanded.
However, the Deputy leader of the opposition in the Karnataka assembly, UT Khader, has demanded the SDPI to be more specific in its statements.
"The SDPI leaders should make it clear as to which Congress leader held talks with them. None of us here had met any SDPI leaders. Instead of making such vague statements, let them tell the names of the leaders whom they had discussion with and make their statement clear," Khader said.
Khader also criticized both the SDPI and the BJP for relying on such statements during the election.
"BJP is on its deathbed and SDPI is providing it with oxygen. SDPI's presence will only help BJP," Khader alleged.
SDPI is strong in Coastal Karnataka and also has its base in the North Karnataka region. The BJP leaders are likely to go to the people saying that voting to the Congress would help SDPI grow in the region.
The Congress leaders are planning strategy in their defence to ensure the fence sitters and the Hindu votes do not move away from the party in this election because of such issues.
