Modi trying to make India a ‘Hindu Rashtra’: Deve Gowda

Agencies

April 2, 2019

Bengaluru, Apr 2: JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda Tuesday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of wanting to make India a "Hindu Rashtra".

The former prime minister also sought to know as to why article 370 of the Constitution that gives special status to Jammu and Kashmir should be abolished.

"Why it should be abolished? The question is- why it should be abolished? I did not give article 370 there. When Kashmir joined India after an agreement with the then Maharaja there, article 370 (was agreed upon)," Gowda said.

He said, "There are Buddhists there (in J&K), Muslims, Hindus, Brahmins, Pandits, and there are many communities there. After looking into the atmosphere that existed there, a decision was arrived at."

Gowda was speaking to reporters in Hassan from where his grandson Prajwal Revanna is JD(S) candidate for Lok Sabha polls. "Modi has the idea, to make this entire country a Hindu Rashtra. Am I not a Hindu? Am I a Muslim or Christian or Buddhist? We take all religions into confidence," he said.

Advocating a system where all communities coexist together, Gowda reminding about Mahatma Gandhi's efforts to bring in peace in communal violence-hit Noakhali in Bengal said, "...Gandhi got us freedom... Did these people (BJP) get us freedom? Ambedkar gave us the constitution." "... you (BJP) may have your ideas, if 130 crore people of Hindustan agree with the idea, let that test also happen during this election," he added.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had recently advocated repeal of Jammu and Kashmir's special status and said Article 35A, which restricts non-permanent residents to buy property in Jammu and Kashmir, was "constitutionally vulnerable" and also hampering economic development of the state.

Following this, several leaders from Jammu and Kashmir, including PDP President and former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti had said that the relationship between the Union and the state would be over if Article 370 of the Constitution is revoked.

Another former Chief Minister and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah had hit out at Jaitley, saying any such talk will raise questions on the accession of the state to India as well.

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BJP fields Kishore Kumar Puttur from DK-Udupi Local Authorities’ Constituency

News Network

October 1,2024

The BJP has selected Kishore Kumar Puttur as its candidate for the bypoll to Karnataka Legislative Council from Dakshina Kannada and Udupi Local Authorities’ Constituency. The by-election will be held on October 21.

Kishore Kumar is presently serving as the General Secretary of Dakshina Kannada BJP unit. He had served as vice president of State BJP Yuva Morcha from 2014 to 2016.

The by-election will be held to the seat vacated by Kota Srinivas Poojary of the BJP who has been elected as the Lok Sabha member from Udupi-Chikmagaluru Lok Sabha constituency. The vacancy was created on June 15, 2024 following Poojary’s resignation to the Council. His term in the council was till January, 2028.

In the last Council election held for the dual member constituency in December 2021, Poojary had secured 3,672 votes while the Congress candidate Manjunath Bhandary had secured 2079 votes. Poojary and Bhandary had secured required votes from the first preferential votes and had won the election.

There were several aspirants for the BJP ticket including former MP Nalin Kumar Kateel, DK BJP president Satish Kumpala, Mangaluru divisional in-charge Uday Kumar Shetty, former minister Pramod Madhwaraj and former Udupi district BJP president Kuilady Suresh Nayak.

The Congress is yet to announce its candidate for the election. KPCC working president Manjunath Bhandary in a recent press meet in Mangaluru had said that an opportunity will be given to congress leaders from Udupi district to contest by-election.

The Dakshina Kannada and Udupi Local Authorities’ Constituency has 6037 voters including 3551 from Dakshina Kannada comprising eight MLAs, one MP. The last date for filing nomination is October 3 and the last date for withdrawal of nomination is October 7. The counting will be held on October 24.

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