Evening Pulse: Karnataka's government heads to Delhi while the BJP plans its fight at home

Karnataka's ruling party will spend Monday in Delhi. Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said on Sunday that he and the Congress legislators would join the opposition protest against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. "Tomorrow, our legislators will be in Delhi," he said in Bengaluru, adding that he would go too.

Shivakumar criticised the police action against protesters in the capital on Saturday, when around 1,000 people were detained at a protest led by the Cockroach Janta Party. He said everyone in a democracy has a right to protest and that the Congress wants every voter protected. According to UNI, the state Congress will press for the CEC's resignation over the alleged deletion of eligible voters' names.

The numbers behind that charge remain contested. At a Bengaluru protest in late September, KPCC president B.K. Hariprasad alleged that more than one crore voters had been removed from Karnataka's rolls. That claim has not been independently verified, and the Election Commission maintains the revision follows the law and is meant to keep voter lists accurate.

The BJP is answering on two fronts. State president BY Vijayendra told ANI that the Congress was trying to create anarchy because it could not accept Prime Minister Narendra Modi's popularity. He defended the SIR as backed by court rulings, and accused the state government of using police against BJP workers who file Form-7 objections to names on the roll.

The second front is closer to home. The BJP core committee met in Bengaluru on Sunday to plan a stronger agitation against the government on three issues, UNI reported: the SIR, alleged failures in drought management, and FIRs against party workers. Earlier in the week Vijayendra called the Rs 2,500 drought compensation for farmers inadequate and said the party was building its booth network ahead of zilla and taluk panchayat polls.

Drought is the thread that ties Karnataka to its neighbours this week. Telangana's Chief Minister has warned of a power and water crisis under El Niño and postponed a cabinet meeting on it to attend the same Delhi protest. Maharashtra has declared drought in 265 talukas and is preparing a memorandum for central help. For farmers in all three states, the coming rabi season matters more than any march.

There is also an inter-state wrinkle. A member of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams board, G Bhanu Prakash Reddy, has asked Karnataka's Chief Minister to cancel a cabinet decision giving the state tourism corporation a 30-year lease to run the Karnataka State Choultry at Tirumala, arguing it breaks the lease terms. Karnataka's response was not available.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Sunday directed Delhi authorities to keep metro, rail and internet running and not to detain peaceful protesters outside the law, which should give Monday's marchers some room.