Karnataka poll capsule

Congress inciting communal hatred: BJP

BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra on Thursday accused the Congress of inciting communal hatred with an intention to polarise voters.

Congress leader in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge has given an open call to Muslims to vote for the party, while Ghulam Nabi Azad has asked the partymen not to speak against Hindus. “The Congress leaders are inciting communal hatred. We will lodge a complaint in this regard with the Election Commission,” Patra told reporters.

“The Congress was till recently receiving information from Cambridge Analytica. AICC president Rahul Gandhi used to mislead people using this information. Now that the company has stopped providing information, Rahul is not tweeting much. Instead, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is doing it,” he said.

Chappal symbol: KJP alleges BSY meddling

KJP chief Prasanna Kumar on Thursday alleged that BJP state president B S Yeddyurappa was behind the Election Commission (EC)’s decision to allot ‘chappal’ symbol to the party.

Prasanna told mediapersons in Mandya that though the KJP had already faced an election, the EC had stayed the party’s symbol ‘coconut’ and had allotted ‘chappal’ symbol to its candidates.

It is purely the handiwork of Yeddyurappa and MP Shobha Karandlaje, he claimed.

“Around 145 candidates were ready to contest from the party. But after the EC issued ‘chappal’ symbol, most of them backed out of the elections. Now only 65 candidates are contesting,” he said.