Union Home Minister Amit Shah has given state leaders a “winning formula” to ensure that the party’s alliance with the JD(S) wins all 28 seats in the Lok Sabha polls, by converting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity into votes, Karnataka BJP unit President B Y Vijayendra said on Sunday.

Speaking to reporters after Mr Shah’s meetings with state BJP core committee members and leaders of the party’s Mysuru cluster, he said no discussion on candidate selection had taken place today, and that the seat-sharing terms with JD(S) will be decided by the leadership of both parties at “Delhi level.” The party’s Mysuru cluster consists of Mysuru, Mandya, Hassan and Chamarajanagar Lok Sabha segments.

“Amit Shah’s Mysuru visit was successful… He said that in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls the situation is favourable for the NDA to win all 28 seats in Karnataka. He gave suggestions regarding our plan of action in converting Narendra Modi’s popularity into votes, and said efforts should be made to increase votes by 10 per cent in every booth,” Mr Vijayendra said.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, he said all the leaders who attended today’s meetings are confident that if Mr Shah’s plan of action is implemented effectively at booth level, the BJP and JD(S) can win all the Lok Sabha seats in the state.

“We too have assured him (Shah) that we will work together unitedly as per his guidance,” he said, adding that the senior party leader’s visit has instilled enthusiasm among party workers and leaders.

In the 2019 polls, the BJP had won 26 of the total 28 Lok Sabha seats from Karnataka, including that of Sumalatha Ambareesh, an independent supported by the party from Mandya. The Congress and the JD(S) had secured just one seat each.

The JD(S), which is now in alliance with BJP, had then contested the Lok Sabha polls together with the Congress.

Responding to a question on seat sharing between the BJP and the JD(S), Mr Vijayendra said, “It will be discussed by state leaders of the party and leadership of both parties at Delhi level. No discussions have happened today about it. However, Shah has given a message that everyone has to work together, irrespective of who the candidate is.”

Stating that Mr Shah has given suggestions about formulating an action plan, he said it cannot be shared with the media. “By implementing his suggestions, we will show the results,” he said.

Senior BJP leader and party’s former national general secretary C T Ravi said the party’s core committee meeting had also decided to effectively counter Chief Minister Siddaramaiah-led Congress government’s allegations of Centre’s “injustice” to the state, with facts, and take the right message to the people.

The Congress government has alleged “injustice” to the state by the central government in tax devolution and grants-in-aid, and also delay in giving clearances to several development projects.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal all but announced his party’s intention of cutting the Congress out and contesting all seven seats of Delhi today, saying it is the decision of the “people of Delhi”. The Aam Aadmi Party has already unilaterally announced that it would contest all 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab and named candidates for three seats in Assam.

“People of Delhi have decided to give 7 out of 7 seats to AAP. Strengthen the hands of Bhagwant Mann ji by giving him 13 out of 13 Loksabha seats in Punjab. Then the Central Government and the Governor will not have the courage to stop Punjab’s money,” read a rough translation of his post on X, formerly Twitter.

On Saturday, Mr Kejriwal had expressed confidence that he would win all the seats of Punjab and Chandigarh.

दिल्ली के लोगों ने AAP को 7 की 7 Seats देने की ठान ली है

Punjab की भी 13 की 13 Loksabha seats देकर Bhagwant Mann जी के हाथ मज़बूत कर दो

फिर केंद्र सरकार और Governor की हिम्मत नहीं होगी कि वो Punjab का पैसा और कोई काम रोकें

-Delhi CM @ArvindKejriwal pic.twitter.com/AONzDvvvey

— AAP (@AamAadmiParty) February 11, 2024

AAP’s decision would come as yet another blow to the Opposition front INDIA, enhancing the perception that the parties do not stand united on seat sharing. It also adds to the loss of face for the Congress, which was hoping to contest at least a few of Delhi’s seven seats.

The Grand Old Party has already been rebuffed in Punjab and Bengal, where the state powers AAP and Trinamool Congress have declared that they would go solo.

Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee said INDIA’s initial strategy, more than seat sharing, was pitching a single candidate against the BJP on each seat and allowing whichever party was dominant to contest. Trinamool, she had added, was the only party competent to beat the BJP in Bengal.

She had has even predicted that the Congress score will slip further to 40 seats, bringing much joy to the BJP camp.

Eight Indian Navy veterans jailed in Qatar over alleged spying charges have been released, the government said early this morning. Seven of them are already back in India after an 18-month jail stay in the Middle-East country.

“The Government of India welcomes the release of eight Indian nationals working for the Dahra Global company who were detained in Qatar. Seven out of the eight of them have returned to India. We appreciate the decision by the Amir of the State of Qatar to enable the release and home-coming of these nationals,” the Foreign Ministry said.

Captain Navtej Singh Gill, Captain Saurabh Vasisht, Commander Purnendu Tiwari, Captain Birendra Kumar Verma, Commander Sugunakar Pakala, Commander Sanjeev Gupta, Commander Amit Nagpal, and Sailor Ragesh were arrested in August and had been in jail since.

They were employed by a private firm, Dahra Global, and were in Qatar to assist with the introduction of Italian U212 stealth submarines into the Qatari Emiri Naval Force in their personal roles.

A Qatari court sentenced them to death on October 26, 2023. India had said it was “deeply shocked” by the verdict and that it was exploring all legal options.

The capital punishment was commuted in December following India’s diplomatic intervention.

The Navy veterans, now back in the country, thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the government for securing their release.

“We are very happy that we are back in India, safely. Definitely, we would like to thank PM Modi as this was only possible because of his personal intervention,” said one of them.

“We waited almost for 18 months to be back in India. We are extremely grateful to the PM. It wouldn’t have been possible without his personal intervention and his equation with Qatar. We are grateful to the Government of India from the bottom of our hearts for every effort that has been made and this day won’t have been possible without those efforts,” said another.