ONOE a ploy to finish off smaller regional parties, says Karnataka Dy CM Shivakumar

Deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar on Friday called the Centre’s move to introduce `one nation, one election’ (ONOE) as a conspiracy by the BJP to finish off smaller regional parties that add strength to the INDI alliance.

The strength of the India bloc has increased after the joining of many regional parties such as TMC, DMK, SP, Communist parties. That was why, the BJP was trying to finish them off through the ONOE, he told the media in Vijayapura. Shivakumar also heads the Karnataka unit of the Congress party.

Shivakumar joins Chief Minister Siddaramaiah who on Thursday slammed the Union Cabinet's decision on introducing the ONOE Bill and described the move as an assault on parliamentary democracy and the federal structure of India.


The Congress party, Shivakumar said, had already expressed its opposition to the Bill. The NDA doesn’t have strength to get the Bill passed in the Parliament as it requires a two-third 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 will have elections in the next 2-3 years. I am not sure how they are going to handle it, he said.

The Dy CM said the NDA regime was pushing it with an agenda. Opposition leader in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi has already articulated his stand on this and they would stand by that, he added.