Vijayapura, Dec 13: Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar today said that the One Nation One Election (ONOE) was a conspiracy hatched by the BJP to finish off small regional parties which add strength to the India bloc.
“The strength of the India bloc has increased due to many regional parties such as TMC, DMK, SP, Communist parties. Hence, the BJP is trying to finish them off through the One Nation One Election,” he said while speaking to media.
Asked about Union Cabinet approving ONOE, he said, “The Congress party has already expressed its opposition to it. The NDA doesn’t have strength to get the bill passed in the Parliament as it requires 2/3rd majority. I don’t know how they are going to do it. There are elections in many states in the next few months, some states are up for election in the next 2-3 years, not sure how they are going to handle it. They are doing it with a clear agenda. Rahul Gandhi has already articulated his stand on this and we stand by that.”
Alamatti height increase after Centre’s notification
Asked about increasing height of Alamatti dam, he said, “We are committed to increasing Alamatti dam height to 524 feet, but the Centre has to issue a notification for this. We are currently discussing if we can start the work before the notification is issued. There are some issues with the land acquisition as some people have brought an order from the Court seeking higher land valuation than Bengaluru. We have no objection to the price fixed by Bommai government. The CM has called for a meeting of elected representatives on Monday.”
Asked about a long list of demands from the protestors, he said, “They may have 100 demands, but we will do whatever it takes to execute it within the legal framework. We will make all preparations and wait for a notification from the Centre. The Centre is also supposed to release Rs 6000 crore grants for the project.”
