BJP has concrete action plan to defeat Congress in Karnataka, says Prakash Javadekar

Bengaluru: The BJP has a concrete action plan to meet the wishes of party workers and people who want to “throw out the anti-people and anti-democratic government” led by the Congress in Karnataka, Union HRD minister Prakash Javadekar said. Javadekar, who is in-charge of BJP affairs in Karnataka, said, “Our workers and people are enthused. We have a concrete plan of action. People are with the BJP. They want to throw out this anti-democracy, anti-people, anti-farmer government led by Siddaramaiah lock, stock and barrel.” [caption id=“attachment_3898319” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Prakash Javadekar. Reuters[/caption] The minister said the people were eagerly waiting to utilise the opportunity to exercise their franchise next April to execute a change of guard in Karnataka. On the brewing discontent among North Karnataka MPs over not getting an entry into the Union Cabinet, Javadekar, who has been holding talks with state BJP leaders, said, “We will give Karnataka good governance and best days again… On the very first day, we have had an intensive interaction for nearly six hours.” Discontentment has been brewing among MPs for not being given representation in the Union Cabinet in yesterday’s reshuffle. Earlier in the day, Belagavi MP Suresh Angadi told PTI that the dominant Lingayat community from North Karnataka has not been represented in the Cabinet and that he would air this grievance before Javadekar if he was invited for parleys. Angadi’s name as a probable candidate was doing the rounds in the state BJP circles, while Ananth Kumar Dattatreya Hegde, appointed Minister of State for Skill Development, is considered a surprise pick. At present, there is no Lingayat representation in Union Cabinet from Karnataka. It has two Brahmins, a Vokkaliga and a Scheduled Caste member. Javadekar declined to comment when asked for his comment on anti-NEET protests over a Dalit medical aspirant’s death in Tamil Nadu, saying it was an issue which has been decided by the Supreme Court. “National Entrance-cum-Eligibility Test (NEET) is an issue which has been decided by the Supreme Court and therefore, I will not make any comments,” he said. Protests erupted soon after 17-year-old Anitha, daughter of a daily wage earner, allegedly hanged herself at her house in Ariyalur district. She was reportedly upset after it became known that Tamil Nadu will not be exempted from the ambit of National Entrance-cum-Eligibility Test (NEET) for admission to medical courses. The Supreme Court had last month asked the Tamil Nadu government to start counselling for admissions to MBBS and BDS seats in the state based on the NEET merit list. It had given the directive after the Centre told the court that it was not in favour of a recent ordinance passed by the state to exempt it from NEET this year.