As Karnataka waits for the announcement of Assembly election results today (May 13), both the BJP and Congress are hoping for the magic number to be theirs since the self-proclaimed “kingmaker” JD (S) has come out with a list of preconditions for a possible alliance with either party. The admission by veteran Karnataka Congress leader Siddaramaiah that JD (S) voters might have voted for the BJP in the Varuna constituency from where he contested has created a strong feeling in the state that the JD (S) and BJP could have a game set up in the background. JD (S) leader HD Kumaraswamy has said his party would settle for no less than the CM’s post, a condition the Congress is unlikely to accept.
NITISH SEEKS NEW FRIENDS
There is uncertainty among senior leaders of the Janata Dal (U) as Bihar Chief Minister and party head Nitish Kumar continues his overdrive to make new friends among non-BJP leaders. Many of his associates recall that first it was Prashant Kishore, an erstwhile advisor and vice president of JD (U), who turned a strong critic, and now it is the former party president RCP Singh who has joined the BJP and launched a blistering attack on Nitish Kumar and his functioning. Since Nitish Kumar is accompanied by his deputy CM Tejaswi Yadav on his trips to states, JD (U) leaders also feel they have lost Kumar’s confidence when it comes to an all-India vision since Bihar is all but handed over to the RJD.
CM YOGI CRACKDOWNS LIKE HIMANTA
After attending the special screening of the film ‘The Kerala Story’ in Lucknow on Friday, UP CM Yogi has become the second CM of a BJP-ruled state to make the movie tax-free, the first being Assam CM HimantaBiswaSarma. Sarma went to watch the movie on Thursday, May 11, in an upmarket Guwahati cinema hall along with his cabinet and party colleagues, and the screening for Yogi was organised in an auditorium within the CM’s office complex named Lok Bhawan in Lucknow on Friday. His Cabinet colleagues and nearly 500 others attended the screening, which came two days after the cast, actors, and makers of the film met Yogi in his office. Action against illegal madarsas, a tough approach to conversions and ‘love jihad,” and a crackdown on big crime are among the similarities between the two CMs.