Politics
‘Status Symbol’: As Splinter Faction Claims to Be ‘Real JD(S)’, Is Party Headed Shiv Sena, AIADMK, NCP Way?
HD Deve Gowda (left) with CM Ibrahim. (File pic/News18)
CM Ibrahim from the rebel JD(S) camp told News18 that his group will approach the Election Commission for the party name and poll symbol and that they are in talks with Nitish Kumar and the JD(U) to fight the parliamentary elections
After the Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in Maharashtra as well as the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) in Tamil Nadu, now the former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda-led Janata Dal (Secular) is facing a ‘symbol’ crisis. The new splinter faction of the party led by its now-suspended state president CM Ibrahim has asked the Election Commission to recognise it as the “real JD(S)” and will also lay claim to the election symbol, of “a woman farmer carrying paddy”, insiders say.
Ibrahim was unceremoniously thrown out of the party for opposing the BJP-JD(S) alliance for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. A day after the announcement was made by JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy of aligning with the saffron party, Ibrahim, who had assumed charge just six months ago as Karnataka unit president, vehemently opposed the move.
“We are the real JD(S). In a core committee meeting held by like-minded JD(S) leaders, we have removed Deve Gowda as the national president,” said Ibrahim in an exclusive interview with News18.
Former Karnataka chief minister Kumaraswamy hit out at Ibrahim for raising a banner of revolt within the JD(S) for the decision made by the Gowda family to align with the BJP.
“If Ibrahim thinks his party is original then let him put up a board that he is the original one. Who is there to stop him from doing so? He can do whatever he wants. He is free to do it. It is left completely to him how he wants to proceed,” Kumaraswamy told the media.
Ibrahim also added that the Gowda family tried to convince him to go along with the BJP, but he flatly refused.
“I am very happy that I understood their (Gowdas’) real colour. They wanted to take me along with them to the BJP; when I refused, they got angry. They do not have anybody with them. They rather threaten the MLAs to keep them with them,” said Ibrahim, who was the union minister for civil aviation when Deve Gowda was the prime minister.
Asked whether they will lay claim to the JD(S) symbol just like the Shiv Sena and AIADMK did when both the regional parties saw splinter groups, Ibrahim replied in the affirmative.
“We are approaching the Election Commission to give our group the authority to sign B forms under the new president CK Nanu,” he added, saying that the splinter JD(S) plans to contest the Lok Sabha polls. “We are in talks with Nitish Kumar and the JD(U) to fight the parliamentary elections. As of now, we have five MLAs from the Karnataka JD(S) supporting us and expect 12 more to join us soon…We will definitely seek that (symbol), or else we will request another party symbol to contest the elections.”
Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu have seen similar situations with influential regional parties Shiv Sena, NCP, and AIADMK seeing themselves split right down the centre.
The Eknath Shinde-led rebel faction claimed to be the “original Shiv Sena” and asked the Election Commission to allot it the party’s “bow and arrow” symbol.
A year later, in February 2023, the EC issued an order stating that the Shinde faction would be able to retain the symbol, while the Uddhav Thackeray camp was allowed to have the party name Shiv Sena (UBT) and a “flaming torch” as its poll symbol.
Also, the Ajit Pawar faction of the NCP has staked a claim to the party’s name and election symbol, and hearing over the dispute is on before the poll body.
A similar power tussle for the election symbol of the AIADMK was seen in 2017 after the death of former Tamil Nadu chief minister and AIADMK matriarch J Jayalalithaa. Two factions, one led by Jayalalithaa’s close associate VK Sasikala and another by then trusted lieutenant O Paneerselvam, staked claim to the AIADMK’s “Irattai Ilai” (two leaves) symbol. As the battle reached the courts, the Election Commission froze the two-leaves symbol.
The election to Jayalalitha’s RK Nagar assembly constituency, which fell vacant after her passing, was fought by both factions under two new party names and symbols. The faction led by Panneerselvam was granted an “electric pole” as its election symbol and named AIADMK Puratchi Thalavi Amma. Team Sasikala, which decided to go with the name AIADMK Amma, got a “hat” for its symbol.
Politics
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Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. (File photo/PTI)
Gandhi reiterated the promises made by the Congress and appealed to vote for the party’s candidate
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday said that the BJP is winning only one seat in Uttar Pradesh. ”Have you heard (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi is winning only one BJP seat of Kyoto (Varanasi) in Uttar Pradesh,” said Gandhi while addressing a joint poll meeting with Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav in Prayagraj in support of INDIA bloc candidate Ujjawal Raman Singh.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had earlier said that he will turn Varanasi into Kyoto, a picturesque town in Japan. “The fight is to save the Constitution. The BJP and the RSS are attacking it, and I want to tell them that no power can tear and throw the Constitution away,” Gandhi said while waiving a copy of the Indian Constitution.
Gandhi reiterated the promises made by the Congress and appealed to vote for the party’s candidate. ”We are going to make a law for an MSP of farm produce and we will also provide support to the unemployed youth,” he added.
”We will throw the Agniveer scheme into the garbage and provide recruitment in the armed forces as it used to be done before,” Gandhi said. Speaking before Gandhi, Yadav alleged that the BJP is after people’s lives and the Constitution. ”The BJP put our lives in danger with the Covid vaccine and now wants to destroy the Constitution,” Yadav said.
Yadav promised that jobs will be be provided to the youth after the INDIA bloc government is formed. ”We will take back the Agniveer scheme of recruitment in the armed force and will provide permanent jobs,” Yadav said.
Ujjawal Raman Singh is contesting from the Allahabad Lok Sabha seat on a Congress ticket. He is pitted against BJP’s Neeraj Tripathi. Polling in Allahabad is to be held on May 25 in the sixth phase of the Lok Sabha polls.
Explore in-depth coverage of Lok Sabha Election 2024 Schedule, Voter Turnout, Upcoming Phase And Much More At News18 Website
Politics
Mallikarjun Kharge’s Posters Defaced In Front of Bengal Congress HQ After His Snub At Adhir
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Defaced poster of Mallikarjun Kharge in front of Bengal Congress HQ. (Image: News18)
Unidentified persons also wrote ‘agent of Trinamool Congress’ on Kharge’s posters and hoardings
A day after he snubbed West Bengal Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury for questioning TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee’s loyalty to the INDIA bloc, several posters and hoardings of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge were defaced with ink in front of the party’s state headquarters here on Sunday. Unidentified persons also wrote ‘agent of Trinamool Congress’ on Kharge’s posters and hoardings.
Sources in the Congress said that Chowdhury, who is in his hometown Baharampur, expressed displeasure over the incident and asked party workers to lodge a police complaint, which was registered, and the defaced posters were also removed.
“The incident might have happened on Saturday night. This is the handiwork of the TMC which wants to create differences between senior Congress leaders and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury,” a party leader alleged.
Kharge had on Saturday snubbed Chowdhury while responding to a query on Mamata Banerjee’s comment that if the INDIA bloc forms the government, she would support it from outside, and Chowdhury’s remark that she cannot be trusted and that she might go with the BJP. “Mamata Banerjee is with the alliance. She has recently said that she will join the government. Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury will not take the decision. The decision will be taken by me and the high command and those who don’t agree will go out,” Kharge had said.
He had also asserted that Chowdhury is no one to decide on whether Banerjee would be part of the INDIA bloc in the event of the anti-BJP alliance coming to power after the Lok Sabha polls. Chowdhury, while reacting to Kharge’s comments, had said, referring to the TMC supremo, “I cannot speak in favour of someone who wants to finish me and our party in Bengal politically. This is a battle for every Congress worker. I have spoken on their behalf. I don’t want the state Congress to be used for her (Banerjee’s) personal agenda and then finish the organisation.”
“If Kharge ji speaks against my views, I will continue to speak for Congressmen at the grassroots in the state,” he added.
The TMC is contesting the Lok Sabha elections alone in the state, while the Congress and the Left are jointly fighting the polls.
Explore in-depth coverage of Lok Sabha Election 2024 Schedule, Voter Turnout, Upcoming Phase And Much More At News18 Website
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‘Status Symbol’: As Splinter Faction Claims to Be ‘Real JD(S)’, Is Party Headed Shiv Sena, AIADMK, NCP Way?
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