Archives for May 2019

The FIR was filed against Vishwavani editor-in-chief Vishweshwar Bhat on the basis of a complaint by the JD(S).

The Karnataka police have filed an FIR against the editor-in-chief of a Kannada newspaper, for an article about Nikhil Kumaraswamy that the JD(S) claims is defamatory. Vishweshwar Bhat, the editor-in-chief of Vishwavani, has been accused of publishing ‘derogatory remarks’ against the Karnataka Chief Minister’s son on the front page of the paper on Saturday. A complaint was filed by Pradeep Kumar, an official of the JD(S) legal cell, at the Srirampura police station in the city on Sunday.

“We have received a complaint claiming that a news article that appeared in Vishwavani paper on Saturday about Nikhil Kumaraswamy. We have registered the FIR based on relevant sections,” confirmed a police official at Srirampura police station.

The article in question is titled “Nikhil Kumaraswamy Raatri Rampata” (Nikhil Kumaraswamy’s night fracas) and said that Nikhil had caused a ruckus at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Mysuru on Thursday night, after he lost the Lok Sabha election to Mandya. According to the piece, an angry and drunk Nikhil threw a tantrum at the hotel on Thursday, and yelled, “It is a humiliation that I have lost to a woman. Mandya’s people have not held my hand. My dream of being an MP did not come true.”

He also allegedly said, “You (Deve Gowda) got me tangled in the Mandya labryinth. In spite of having eight MLAs, we were not able to win. Didn’t HD Revanna gain the support of Congress in Hassan? Why weren’t you able to gain the support of Congress rebels Cheluvarayaswamy and Narendra Swamy?”

“In spite of friends and hotel officials trying to console him, he argued against them and caused a commotion,” the article said.

However, while Radisson Blu hotel confirmed that Nikhil Kumaraswamy had stayed with them on Thursday night, they denied any such incident as reported by the paper. “We have not received any complaints and there was no such incident as reported in the papers,” a manager at the hotel told TNM. Though it is tough to know whether the hotel’s denial is true or a forced one, it is surprising that the JD(S) has filed a case under various sections against a source-based story.

Article in Vishwavani paper on 25 May

In their complaint, the JD(S) contended that the article not only defamed Nikhil Kumaraswamy and his grandfather HD Deve Gowda, but was also “fictitious” and that no such incident took place. Police registered an FIR under IPC sections 499, 500, 501 (defamation), 504 (intentional insult), 506 (criminal intimidation), 420 (cheating), 406 (criminal breach of trust), and 468 (forgery). “We are yet to intimate Vishweshwar about the FIR,” added a police official at Srirampura police station.

While other publications have also subsequently reported about the incident, the JD(S) has chosen to file a complaint against Vishwavani alone.

Nikhil Kumarawamy has a history of behaving badly in public. In 2006 – when HD Kumaraswamy was the Chief Minister of Karnataka – he trashed Empire hotel in Bengaluru’s Church Street, when the restaurant refused to serve him and his friends at 3.30am. The then-19-year-old and his friends were drunk, and chucked beer bottles and attacked the staffers. “I am the CM’s son and I’ll get this hotel blown up and closed,” Nikhil was quoted as saying by one of the hotel employees back in 2006.

Vishweshwar Bhat is the editor-in-chief of Vishwavani newspaper. He was previously the editor-in-chief of Vijaya Karnataka, Kannada Prabha, and Suvarna News.

The news of the FIR sparked an uproar on social media, with several BJP supporters and leaders in the state defending Vishweshwar. Shobha Karandlaje, BJP MP from Udupi-Chikkamagaluru took to Twitter to criticise CM HD Kumaraswamy for curtailing freedom of expression in the state.

Several other BJP leaders including BL Santhosh, CT Ravi, and Arvind Limbavali also took to social media to term the police action against Vishweshwar as ‘Emergency in Karnataka’ and said that the state government is going after print media professionals after initially filing cases against social media activists.

BJP also issued a statement criticising HD Kumaraswamy over the arrest of Vishweshwar. The FIR against the editor comes weeks after police in the state took action against five BJP sympathisers – journalists Mahesh Vikram Hegde and Hemanth Kumar, and BJP supporters Shruti Belakki, Sharada Diamond, and Ajith Shetty Heranje – for instances of fake news shared by them.

Mahesh was detained and let go by the police, while Hemanth, Shruti, and Sharada were arrested for sharing a fake letter which was supposedly written by Karnataka Home Minister MB Patil to Sonia Gandhi in 2017. The letter discussed a meeting ministers held with representatives of the “Global Christian Council” and “World Islamic Organisation” regarding the strategy to be adopted for the Karnataka Assembly Elections.(The organisations do not exist).

Agencies

India’s slowing economic growth is of serious concern and the country needs to urgently cut tax and interest rates to revive the economy, a top industrial body said on Monday ahead of the inauguration of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s second term.

The economy grew 6.6% in the three months to December – the slowest pace in five quarters – and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) said the bigger worry was that domestic consumption was not growing fast enough to offset a weakening global economic environment.

“The recent signs of slowdown in the economy stem not only from slow growth in investments and subdued exports but also from weakening growth in consumption demand,” FICCI said in a statement suggesting various measures the government could adopt in the next budget expected in a month.

“This is a matter of serious concern and if not addressed urgently, the repercussions would be long term.”

Modi – who won a thumping majority in the general election despite the agricultural sector’s economic woes, a shortage of jobs and the stuttering economy – takes oath of office on Thursday and will need a finance minister who can help navigate through the challenges facing the economy.

Agencies

A list of ministers who can be dropped without repercussions has been made.

Highly placed sources in the Congress say that Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy has called for a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, where the issue of dropping ministers will be raised.

Party insiders say that Women and Child Welfare Minister Jayamala, Social Welfare Minister Priyank Kharge, Sugar from Commerce and Industries Minister RB Thimmapur, Backward Classes and Welfare Minister C Puttaranga Shetty, Labour Minister Venkataramanappa, Urban Development Minister UT Khade, Minor Irrigation Minister CS Puttaraju, Small Scale Industries Minister SR Sreenivas and Transport Minister DC Thammanna are on the list of ministers likely to be dropped during the rejig. These ministries will instead be given to MLAs who are likely to join the BJP, in an attempt to incentivise them.

 “The reshuffle will happen in mid-June. Chief Minister Kumaraswamy has asked Congress leader Siddaramaiah to make a list of potential MLAs, who are likely to defect and hold talks with them. The Congress is also making a list of party loyalists, who can be removed from the cabinet without repercussions and replace them with rebels,” the source added.

Congress sources say that four MLAs in the party have held talks with BJP leaders regarding defection including Chikkaballapura MLA Dr K Sudhakar, Hirekerur MLA BC Patil, Gokak MLA Ramesh Jarkiholi and Shivajinagar MLA Roshan Baig. “If these leaders stay back, the others won’t be persuaded to leave,” the source said.

The Karnataka legislative assembly that has a total strength of 225 MLAs including the Speaker. The BJP is the single largest party with 105 BJP MLAs. Two independent MLAs have offered their support to the BJP has increasing its tally to 107 MLAs. The party needs just 7 MLAs to reach the halfway mark of 113.  

Who is to be blamed for the loss?

Furious with his party men for the rebellion and the massive losses suffered in their strongholds, Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy is planning to sack JD(S) Ministers from Tumakuru and Mandya – SR Sreenivas and CS Puttaraju. While the JD(S) patriarch lost from Tumakuru, Kumaraswamy’s son Nikhil suffered a crushing defeat in Mandya.

“Someone has to be blamed when things go wrong and this time it is the district-in charge ministers. Puttaraju and Sreenivas are two strong leaders in JD(S) and they are likely to be sacked. Congress is also planning to take remedial measures to turn things around. Firstly, there is demand for Priyank Kharge to be removed from his cabinet post. They are thinking about giving the seat to a leader from Hyderabad-Karnataka region. Someone from the Lambani community,” the source said.

Deputy Chief Minister Dr G Parameshwara said that the party would initiate changes required to further political growth. “There will be organisation-level changes. There are no disgruntled MLAs and everyone is staying with the party,” he added.

Sources in the BJP say that the party is confident of toppling the government and will bring in President’s rule soon and later go for snap polls in November this year.

“Yeddyurappa kept making noises about the government falling but so far nothing happened. Everyone knew that the MLAs would not be persuaded to leave until Lok Sabha polls were over. The high command has instructed leaders to be patient. We are sure of bringing at least 15 of them into our Cong-JD(S) mulls cabinet reshuffle, rebel MLAs to be made ministeBlurb:  A list of ministers who can be dropped without repercussions has been made.

Highly placed sources in the Congress say that Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy has called for a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, where the issue of dropping ministers will be aised.

Party insiders say that Women and Child Welfare Minister Jayamala, Social Welfare Minister Priyank Kharge, Sugar from Commerce and Industries Minister RB Thimmapur, Backward Classes and Welfare Minister C Puttaranga Shetty, Labour Minister Venkataramanappa, Urban Development Minister UT Khade, Minor Irrigation Minister CS Puttaraju, Small Scale Industries Minister SR Sreenivas and Transport Minister DC Thammanna are on the list of ministers likely to be dropped during the rejig. These ministries will instead be given to MLAs who are likely to join the BJP, in an attempt to incentivise them.

 “The reshuffle will happen in mid-June. Chief Minister Kumaraswamy has asked Congress leader Siddaramaiah to make a list of potential MLAs, who are likely to defect and hold talks with them. The Congress is also making a list of party loyalists, who can be removed from the cabinet without repercussions and replace them with rebels,” the source added.

Congress sources say that four MLAs in the party have held talks with BJP leaders regarding defection including Chikkaballapura MLA Dr K Sudhakar, Hirekerur MLA BC Patil, Gokak MLA Ramesh Jarkiholi and Shivajinagar MLA Roshan Baig. “If these leaders stay back, the others won’t be persuaded to leave,” the source said.

The Karnataka legislative assembly that has a total strength of 225 MLAs including the Speaker. The BJP is the single largest party with 105 BJP MLAs. Two independent MLAs have offered their support to the BJP has increasing its tally to 107 MLAs. The party needs just 7 MLAs to reach the halfway mark of 113.  

Who is to be blamed for the loss?

Furious with his party men for the rebellion and the massive losses suffered in their strongholds, Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy is planning to sack JD(S) Ministers from Tumakuru and Mandya – SR Sreenivas and CS Puttaraju. While the JD(S) patriarch lost from Tumakuru, Kumaraswamy’s son Nikhil suffered a crushing defeat in Mandya.

“Someone has to be blamed when things go wrong and this time it is the district-in charge ministers. Puttaraju and Sreenivas are two strong leaders in JD(S) and they are likely to be sacked. Congress is also planning to take remedial measures to turn things around. Firstly, there is demand for Priyank Kharge to be removed from his cabinet post. They are thinking about giving the seat to a leader from Hyderabad-Karnataka region. Someone from the Lambani community,” the source said.

Deputy Chief Minister Dr G Parameshwara said that the party would initiate changes required to further political growth. “There will be organisation-level changes. There are no disgruntled MLAs and everyone is staying with the party,” he added.

Sources in the BJP say that the party is confident of toppling the government and will bring in President’s rule soon and later go for snap polls in November this year.

“Yeddyurappa kept making noises about the government falling but so far nothing happened. Everyone knew that the MLAs would not be persuaded to leave until Lok Sabha polls were over. The high command has instructed leaders to be patient. We are sure of bringing at least 15 of them into our party,” the BJP source added.

Agencies