No tie-up with JD(S), PM Modi will lead Karnataka campaign: Shah

BENGALURU: Union home minister Amit Shah announced Saturday that BJP will go solo without any tie-up or agreement with JD(S) in this year’s Karnataka assembly elections and PM Narendra Modi will lead the party’s campaign.
“I have come to specifically tell you (BJP workers) that we will not join hands with any party. We will fight alone and form the government on our own,” he said. He also requested the people to reject JD(S) founded by former PM HD Deve Gowda, and give two-thirds majority to BJP.
The announcement assumes significance amid speculation that the two parties could form a truck after BJP won a crucial trust vote in July 2019 that ousted the JD(S)-Congress coalition government of 14 months.
Shah said the people of Karnataka are ready to support BJP under Modi’s leadership. “I have been sensing the mood of the people. They are ready to vote for us. All we need to do is reach out to them. No doubt, Modi will lead us. But for voters, our workers are Modi. You have to take Modi’s message to the people who are waiting to welcome you,” he said.
Addressing a rally of the party’s booth presidents and workers in Bengaluru, Shah said the JD(S) leaders have been spreading rumours that BJP will have an alliance with it.
“If you give full majority, the party will once and for all finish parivarvaad (dynasty politics), brashtachar (corruption) and jaativaad (caste politics) and give good governance. Political uncertainty will never bring development. It’s time for people to end this and also settle scores with parties which will win 30-35 seats and then resort to blackmailing,” he said.
According to him, the assembly elections will see a direct fight between BJP and Congress. “Journalists say there is a triangular fight. No. Voting for JD(S) means voting for Congress. Both are two sides of the same coin. People of the state are aware of this,” Shah said.
There are two clear groups, he said, an organisation of patriots led by BJP on one side and a ‘tukde-tukde’ gang regrouped under the leadership of Congress on the other.
“There is a Modi government which banned PFI; on the other side, Siddaramaiah and Kumaraswamy group withdrew 170 cases filed against PFI activists. On one side, there is a government which is building a Ram temple and has renovated the Kashi temple. On the other side there are people who make Tipu Sutlan a hero. People have to choose between the two,” he said.