Congress kick-starts Praja Dhwani Yatra covering north south Karnataka

Mangaluru: The Puttur town police have detained nine Hindutva activists and are on the lookout for another accused in connection with the case of an alleged derogatory banner. 

Those detained Hindu activists have been identified as Abhi alias Avinash, Shivaram, Chaithresh, Eshwar, Nishanth, Deekshith, Guruprasad, Madhav and Vishwanath.

A black condolence banner with the pictures of former chief minister D V Sadananda Gowda and BJP state president Nalin Kumar Kateel had sprung up near the KSRTC bus stand in Puttur after the May 13 assembly poll results. 

The black banner, decked with a garland of footwear, offered “condolences” to Gowda and Kateel for ensuring a humiliating defeat to the BJP candidate in the Puttur Assembly segment. Due to a triangular contest, BJP candidate Asha Thimmappa Gowda, who polled 37,558 votes, was pushed to third position.

MLA Ashok Kumar Rai Kodambady had polled 66,607 votes and defeated BJP rebel independent candidate Arun Kumar Puthila by a margin of 4,149 votes. The BJP supporters, who have been trolling Kateel on social media, installed the banner taking potshots at the caste miscalculations of both Kateel and Gowda. Later, the Puttur police intervened and had the banner removed.

Bengaluru, May 18: Senior Congress leader G Parameshwara on Thursday cautioned the party's central leadership that if a Deputy Chief Minister (DCM) post is not given to a Dalit, there would be adverse reaction and it would spell trouble for the party.

The 71-year-old Parameshwara, a Dalit, was deputy chief minister during Congress-JD(S) coalition government led by H D Kumaraswamy. He was also the longest-serving Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee chief (eight years).

His veiled warning came hours after the Congress announced that Siddaramaiah would be chief minister and D K Shivakumar would be his only deputy.

To a question about Shivakumar having allegedly put a condition to the leadership that he should be the only DCM, Parameshwara said, "What he has said might be right in Shivakumar's point of view, but high command's viewpoint should be different. High Command has to decide, we expect them (high command) to..."

On whether injustice has been done to Dalits by not giving a DCM post to the community, he said the people, especially the Dalit community, have huge expectations.

"Understanding these expectations, our leadership will have to make a decision. If it doesn't happen, naturally there will be reactions for it. There is no need for me to say it. Instead of realising it later, if they rectify it now it will be better. Or else it may cause trouble for the party. I would like to tell them to understand it," Parameshwara said.

He said he was an aspirant for both the posts of CM and DCM.

"I was both chief minister and deputy chief minister aspirant but now we have to abide by the decision of the high command, so let's see what they will do in the days to come. For now they have made announcements about the two, we will have to wait and see how they will do justice during the cabinet expansion," he said.

Speaking to reporters here, he said, "The high command has announced CM and DCM. Siddaramaiah is becoming CM for the second time from our party, we expect him to provide good administration. Expectations of people are huge on us because of the promise of good administration in our manifesto. I welcome the decision and expect them to take all of us into confidence in giving good administration."

Parameshwara, who represents Koratagere in Tumakuru district, had lost the 2013 assembly polls, when he was KPCC president. He was a contender for the chief minister's post then, but as he was defeated, he was made an MLC and a minister in the Siddaramaiah government (2013-2018).

Responding to a question about "none of them" (Dalits) having asked for the DCM post with a strong voice, Parameshwara said a strong voice doesn't mean shouting with a demand.

"We have asked (for posts)...I hope the high command will pay attention to it, as people have voted for us and have contributed to Congress coming to power. We have to keep this in mind and move ahead," he said.

Earlier in the day, before Congress's official announcement naming Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar as CM and DCM, respectively, Parameshwara in response to a question on whether he would ask for a DCM post, said, "What is there to ask? They should give. As I was DCM earlier, I expect them to give. Let's see..."

Objecting to Shivakumar's alleged demand that he alone should be DCM, he said, "One person alone should be in power (and) others should not be is not a right stand. Everyone has contributed towards the party coming to power. All communities have contributed, and naturally, justice should be done to them."

Pointing out that Dalits, Lingayats, and minorities have strongly stood by the Congress party in the polls, he said the Congress has won in 35 out of 51 Dalit seats.

"Along with that, in two general seats the community candidates have won, so it is totally 37. The Dalit votes have made an impact in several other segments," he said.

In the May 10 elections to the 224-member Assembly, the Congress scored an emphatic victory by bagging 135 seats, while the ruling BJP and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda-led Janata Dal (Secular) secured 66 and 19 seats respectively.

Bengaluru, May 14: After meeting at Bengaluru's Shangri La Hotel to decide the chief minister of Karnataka, the Congress Legislature Party has unanimously decided to leave the selection of Congress Legislature Party leader to the decision of the AICC President, Mallikarjun Kharge. 

The new Karnataka Chief Minister and the cabinet will take oath on Thursday, May 18, sources have said.

Former chief minister Siddaramaiah and KPCC president D K Shivakumar are both front runners for the chief minister's post. 

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge had initially appointed former chief minister Sushilkumar Shinde and party leaders Jitendra Singh and Deepak Babaria as observers for the election of the CLP leader in Karnataka.

The supporters of both the Congress leaders slogans outside the Bengaluru hotel where the meeting took place.

Congress General Secretaries Sushil Kumar Shinde, Deepak Babaria and Jitendra Singh Alwar were the observers at the Karnataka Congress Legislature Party meeting.

The Gandhis and Mr Kharge will attend the oath-taking event on Thursday. The Congress has sent invitations to all "like-minded" parties to attend it. The final contours of the Karnataka cabinet will take shape in a day or two, people with direct knowledge of the matter said.

Siddaramaiah's supporters have put up a poster outside his home in Bengaluru, referring to him as "the next Chief Minister of Karnataka".

Posters also came up outside Mr Shivakumar's house, wishing "birthday greetings" to "the new Chief Minister of Karnataka". His birthday is tomorrow.

The BJP has been voted out of power in Karnataka, its only bastion in the south until yesterday, when the Congress took 135 seats in the 224-member house.

The BJP won only 66 seats, down from 104 in the 2018 state election. It did not win a single seat reserved for Scheduled Tribes (ST) category. Karnataka has 51 reserved constituencies, out of which 36 are for Scheduled Castes (SC) candidates and 15 for ST candidates.

The scale of the Congress win is a record in terms of both seats and vote share in over 30 years. The party won 135 seats - 55 more than in 2018 - with a vote share of 42.88 per cent. The closest the Congress came to this score was in 1999 when it won 132 seats and had a vote share of 40.84 per cent. In 1989, it won 178 seats with a vote share of 43.76 per cent.