Senior Janata Dal (Secular) (JDS) leader HD Kumaraswamy on Saturday claimed that at least 15 Congress leaders in Karnataka will join the JDS ahead of next month’s elections in the poll-bound state.

Kumaraswamy said that former Legislative Council member Raghu Achar from Chitradurga and him have already talked and Achar will be joining JDS soon, adding that 15 leaders from the Congress will also be joining the party in coming days.

Kumaraswamy said it was poetic justice as he claimed that earlier, the Congress had tried to sink JDS by taking the party’s MLAs but now they are coming back to JDS from the grand-old party.

He further said that the JDS will release its second list of candidates for Karnataka elections on Monday.

Karnataka goes to polls on May 10 in a single-phase and results for the 224-member Assembly will be announced on May 13.

Recently, the Congress, which seeks to oust BJP from power in Karnataka, claimed that the saffron party is facing a “mass exodus” in the poll-bound state.

Speaking at a presser, senior Congress leader Randeep Surjewala last week claimed having “authentic information” about the BJP being unable to choose its own candidates in the upcoming Karnataka elections due to a “mass exodus” taking place in the party.

Citing “authentic information”, Surjewala claimed that the BJP is not able to select candidates as the right-wing party’s ministers and MLAs are refusing to contest. He claimed that 10 BJP MLAs, MLCs, ex-MLAs and ex-MLCs, their boards and corporation chairmen have resigned in dozens and joined the Congress.

The Congress MP alleged that due to “exodus” in the BJP, federal agencies have been deployed by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP regime at the centre to conduct raids against Congress leaders and candidates listed for the Karnataka Assembly polls.

Senior leader and NCP chief Sharad Pawar’s comments on the Adani issue will not have any impact on opposition unity in Maharashtra which will remain united in their fight against the BJP, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut said on Saturday.

In a statement in response to Pawar’s stand on the Adani issue and Opposition’s demand for a JPC probe into the matter, Raut said they’ve known Nationalist Congress Party supremo’s position on billionaire industrialist Gautam Adani from the very beginning and his disagreement on whether there should be a JPC probe or a Supreme Court inquiry in the matter, is the veteran politician’s own viewpoint.

However, Raut said, Pawar’s comments do not in any way mean there are any differences in the opposition unity, adding that Pawar may have a different view on the issue but “Shiv Sena will stand where the entire opposition is standing.”

Sanjay Raut said Pawar is one of the tallest leaders of the opposition and has earned the right to have his own views on issues in a democracy.

Raut’s comments came in response to Sharad Pawar coming out in support of the embattled Adani Group, saying that the damning report published by US-based short seller Hindenburg Research against the conglomerate “seems targeted.”

In an interview, Pawar said that the Adani issue was blown out of proportion in the Parliament which led to a complete washout of the second leg of the Budget Session as hardly any business was conducted.

The senior leader said that whenever such an issue is given too much importance, the cost is borne by the country’s economy and as such it seems the report against the Adani Group was “targeted”, adding that it seems that a single individual business group of a country was targeted to further an agenda.

In complete contrast to his other Opposition allies, including the Congress, who have been adamantly demanding a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the Adani issue, the veteran politician in an interview with NDTV said that he does not agree with other allies on this matter.

Pawar said the Supreme Court had already ordered a probe into the Hindenburg report by setting up a committee consisting of a retired apex court judge, an economist, an administrator and an expert—who have been directed to conduct an inquiry within a specified time frame.

He added that the JPC probe had no significance anymore since the Supreme Court has ordered an inquiry and cannot be swayed unlike a JPC which would consist majorly of ruling party members, and as the probe is being asked against the ruling party itself, a parliamentary probe has a lesser chance of finding the truth.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday took a veiled dig at Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) saying that “handful of people are encouraging ‘parivaarvaad’ (dynastic politics) in the state.

Addressing a public rally in Hyderabad, PM Modi urged KCR-led BRS government in the state to remove obstacles in development works which are in pipeline for the betterment of Telangana people.

The Prime Minister said he was “pained” at the alleged non-cooperation of the ruling dispensation towards central initiatives aimed at the southern state and without naming anyone, claimed that a handful of people encouraging ‘parivarvaad’ (dynastic politics) and trying to see where they can reap benefits from projects being implemented for the people of Telangana.

PM Modi alleged that the Telangana government was being non-cooperative which hindered the Centre’s development projects in the state and are “crushing the dreams of the people of Telangana.”

He said he was pained at the non-cooperation of the state government in the Centre’s projects which, according to him, is affecting the dreams of the people of Telangana.

PM Modi said that dynastic politics and corruption grow from the same seed and latter flourishes where the former is given precedence, adding that even the ration of the poor people of Telangana was looted by ‘parivaarvaad’.

The Prime Minister stressed that Telangana’s progress was important for overall national growth and said that Indian economy was booming despite the slowdowns witnessed across the globe due to covid-19 pandemic and the recent Russia-Ukraine war.

He said that despite all those factors, India was one of the countries which was investing a record amount in infrastructure modernization while pointing out that Rs 10 lakh crore was allotted for infrastructure modernisation in this year’s budget.

Earlier in the day, PM Modi flagged off the Secunderabad-Tirupati Vande Bharat Express train from Secunderabad Railway station in Hyderabad and also launched and inaugurated several infrastructure projects from the public meeting venue.