'Congress govt failed to instil confidence among minorities'

The Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) State president Abdul Majeed on Saturday alleged that the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government, like the previous BJP government, has failed to instil confidence among the minorities to lead a peaceful life.

The SDPI has a seat-sharing understanding with the JD(S) in Dakshina Kannada. Mohammed Haneef Khan, a realtor, is the SDPI candidate, who is fighting against the BJP and the Congress there. This is the only seat contested by the SDPI in the LS polls.

Majeed, a native of Kodagu, said the Congress government, instead of coming out with Shaadi Bhagya scheme, should have focused on providing education and employment to the minorities.

The Congress is no better than the BJP when it comes to allowing communal incidents to flare up, he alleged.

He said the JD(S) is focussing on certain select constituencies such as Mandya, Mysore, Hassan, Chikkaballapur, Chitradurga and Bangalore Rural.

“The SDPI would be campaigning in these places extensively for the JD (S) candidates. We are confident of winning the Mysore seat. I had given tough fight to Congress’ Tanvir Sait in the last Assembly polls. We are sure that the Third Front would be forming the government at the Centre,” he said.

In the 2013 Assembly elections, the SDPI had contested 24 seats and its vote share was 1.59 pc.