Ahead of the May 10 Karnataka elections, two leaders of the Janata Dal (Secular) Narayana Gowda and Prabhakar Reddy joined Congress party today in Bengaluru in presence of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee chief DK Shivakumar. This comes just a week after BJP MLC H Vishwanath announced his resignation from the party to join Congress.
Leaders like former deputy chief minister Laxman Savadi, minister S Angara, MLA M P Kumaraswamy, MLC R Shankar, Jagadish Shettar, and MLC Ayanur Manjunath have quit the BJP in recent days.
Earlier in the day, Congress filed a police complaint against Union Home Minister Amit Shah who recently claimed in a rally that if the Congress comes to power in Karnataka, the state would be “afflicted by riots”.
The complaint was lodged by Congress leaders Randeep Singh Surjewala, Parmeshwar and DK Shivakumar at Bengaluru's High Grounds police station for Shah's alleged "provocative statements, promoting enmity and hatred and maligning opposition
"Union Home Minister has said that if Congress comes to power then there will be communal rights. How can he say this? We have filed a complaint with the Election Commission of India on this," Karnataka Congress President DK Shivakumar said.
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During a public meeting at Terdal in Belagavi district, the former BJP chief attacked the grand old party and said the development of the state will be on the "reverse gear" if the Congress forms the government. Seeking the people's mandate for "political stability" in Karnataka that would vote on May 10, Shah said that only BJP can lead the state towards 'New Karnataka'.
"If the Congress comes to power, dynastic politics will be at an all-time high and Karnataka will be afflicted with riots,” added Shah, one of the party's key poll strategists and campaigners.