Bengaluru: The reason for the Janata Dal Secular (JDS) to join National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the Centre was out of fear of losing its MLAs as most of the JDS MLAs were on the verge of quitting the party, said Chief Minister Siddaramaiah at a function in Malavalli town of Mandya on Sunday.
He said most of the JDS MLAs were on the verge of quitting the party and fearing that its strength in the incumbent Assembly would come down to "zero" from 19 MLAs, he said that national president of JDS and former Prime Minister H.D. Devegowda and State JDS president H.D. Kumarasamy hatched a “drama” to join the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
At a public function held in Malavalli town of Mandya, Chief Minister pointed that JDS had 39 MLAs in the previous Assembly (2018-2023) and their numbers came down to 19 in the incumbent Assembly (2023-2028) and prior to his address at the public function, Siddaramaiah told reporters that JDS has lost its identity after it aligned with the BJP. Now, JDS is acting as though it has already merged with the BJP while expressing confidence that Congress nominees would win in about 28 Lok Sabha seats out of 28.
At the stage function, the Chief Minister said JDS calls itself a secular party but now it has joined hands with “casteist” forces and questioned JDS leaders-H.D. Devegowda and H.D. Kumaraswamy “What is your contribution for Malavalli” and also asked the BJP “What have you done for Malavalli?”
He asked the voters of Mandya “Let anybody contest from as a consensus nominee of BJP-JDS in Mandya, do not vote for alliance nominee. Not a single vote should go for a consensus nominee.”
Referring to tax devolution, the Chief Minister said “It is a betrayal for Kannadigas” by the Central Government and continuing, he said, for every Rs 100 tax going to the Central Government, Karnataka gets back a mere Rs 13 while we have demanded Rs 50 in return as tax devolution. He asked the voters to teach a lesson to the BJP and the best way to answer for the “injustice” to defeat BJP-JDS consensus nominees in the ensuing Lok Sabha polls.
In his speech he highlighted the 5-guarantees implemented in the State such as free power supply upto 200 units for a family and stated that 1.60 crore families have been benefited from the scheme while 1.17 lakh female head of a family have been benefited from Rs 2,000 cash benefit scheme ‘Gruha Lakshmi’ and three others schemes.
Siddaramaiah told the gathering that he has made budgetary allocation of Rs 52, 000 crore towards implementation of the 5-guarantee schemes during his budget presentation on Friday and asked BJP leaders –R. Ashoka and Basavaraj Bommai to read the budget book thoroughly before commenting. He asked the BJP leaders “Not to mislead the people.”
