BENGALURU: Predicting the downfall of the Congress government in Karnataka, JDS core committee member Bandeppa Kashempur said that the state will soon have a new government. “We do not have to do anything. It will collapse on its own,” he said.
Kashempur, a former minister, said, “There are 75 lakh farmers in Karnataka and they are in distress. If the government really wants to help them, it can... they just have to recover and dispose of 10% of encroached government land around Bengaluru.
Through this, the government can earn Rs 25,000 crore and distribute it to farmers.” He also expressed confidence that JDS will win the seats it will contest in the next Lok Sabha elections. “We are in an alliance with BJP. Our party leadership knows which seats we will fight from. JDS top brass will hold talks with BJP and decide the seats.”
On JDS's failure to transfer votes to Congress in the 2019 LS polls when the two parties were in an alliance, he said, “In most constituencies, our direct rival was Congress and we could not transfer our votes to our direct rival. The Congress high command wanted the coalition... but the ‘low command’ (referring to Congress state leaders), did not want the tie-up,” he added. “In 2018, JDS had a chance to go with BJP. If we had, then Congress would not be in power now,” he said.
On JDS leader CM Ibrahim’s statement against the alliance, he said, “His attitude changed after the elections. Ibrahim was present in the meeting when everything (on the alliance) was decided.”