BJP can’t dismantle JD(S), it has strong presence in south Karnataka: Shivakumar

Karnataka deputy chief minister D.K. Shivakumar on Thursday, 1 August, said that the BJP cannot dismantle the JD(S) as they have a strong presence in the south of the state.

“Given JD(S)’ stronghold in south Karnataka, the BJP cannot dismantle them,” the deputy chief minister told media person at the Vidhana Soudha while responding to BJP’s foot march (padyatra) against chief minister Siddaramaiah in the alleged MUDA case.

“Whether it is Kumaraswamy, myself, or any BJP member, everyone is engaged in politics. I believe Kumaraswamy will safeguard his party and keep up his party’s presence,” said the deputy chief minister, who is also the Karnataka Congress chief.

He said that the BJP won about 10 constituencies with the support of JD(S) in the Lok Sabha elections including Mysuru, Mandya, and Bengaluru Rural.

“If the BJP disregards JD(S) and tries to undermine their leadership, how will JD-S tolerate it? JD-S can only be dismantled if both the parties merge with each other,” the Congress state chief said.

In response to a question about Kumaraswamy accusing him regarding the pen drive issue and also accusing BJP state general secretary Preetham Gowda, Shivakumar said that people right now need to keep the focus on the padyatra and not other issues.

“We are preparing to respond to their (BJP) padyatra. Once the final details of their padyatra are available, we will finalise our plan of action. There were 30 scandals during the BJP government’s tenure. We will expose one scandal at a time,” the deputy chief minister said.

On allegations that the Union government is attempting to undermine the state government through Raj Bhavan, the deputy chief minister said, “I will provide clarification after the Cabinet meeting. The Constitution and democratic system are still in place.”

On his meeting with the prime minister, the deputy chief minister says Bengaluru is an important city which provides substantial tax revenue to the central government while global leaders and investors always remain interested in Bengaluru that is why he had met the prime minister.

“With the increase in population, we need military land for the ring road. We requested the prime minister for its allocation. We also met with the defence and urban development ministers as well to seek funding for various projects, including the tunnel road,” the deputy chief minister said.

He added that he has also requested the allocation of funds announced in the previous budget.

“The prime minister has assured us that our request will be reviewed,” the deputy chief minister said.