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Congress, JD-S seat pact to ‘outsmart’ BJP in Karnataka (Dangal 2019)

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Bengaluru, March 18,(Nasheman News): Karnataka’s ruling coalition allies Congress and Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) hope to “outsmart” the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) by jointly contesting the 28 Lok Sabha seats across the state in April, a party official said.

“With the JD-S and Congress contesting together, there will be no splitting of secular votes in the state. The seat-sharing pact well positions our parties to outsmart the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections,” JD-S spokesman and a former Member of Legislative Council (MLC) Ramesh Babu told IANS.

The vision of the coalition allies was to combine their forces to keep the BJP out of winning the majority seats, he added.

The ruling parties committed to a pre-poll alliance for the ensuing Lok Sabha elections in the state, to be held in two phases on April 18 and 23, with eight seats for the JD-S and 20 for the Congress.

Admitting that JD-S and Congress, which bitterly fought against each other in the May 2018 Assembly elections, had differences in a few constituencies, Babu said the parties were working to strengthen their unity.

“We fought the Assembly elections as rivals, particularly in the old Mysuru region, where both parties have significant strength. So, it is natural for differences to exist. The parties’ leaders are working to resolve the differences right down to the worker level,” the JD-S spokesman said.

The Congress party also believes that if the coalition partners stay united and end their “bickering”, they can “comfortably” win the Lok Sabha elections.

“If the JD-S and Congress stay united, they can project the failures of BJP at the Centre like the issue of unemployment. We can comfortably win the Lok Sabha elections if the parties avoid bickering,” Congress state unit Vice President B.K. Chandrashekar told media.

The BJP was far less likely to benefit due to the “charm” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the ensuing general elections, the Congress leader said.

“The Modi factor did not work for the BJP in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan Assembly elections in 2018 either, and it just about saved them in Gujarat Assembly elections in 2017. It is far less likely to work for the BJP in Karnataka during the general elections,” Chandrashekar explained.

The JD-S and Congress leaders expect the Rs 48,000-crore farm loan waiver announced by the coalition government of Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy to have a positive impact on the poll outcome.

“Farm loan waiver is a palliative to farmers. If we didn’t waive the loans, the indefinite suffering of farmers will continue,” the Congress leader added.

The BJP, on the other hand, mocked the JD-S and Congress seat-sharing pact as “superficial”.

“The seat-sharing agreement is only on paper and is a superficial one. The two parties fought against each other in the Assembly elections in 2018. Their workers still can’t stand one another and are spewing venom against each other,” BJP state unit spokesman G. Madhusudhan told IANS.

The infighting between the two parties will only help BJP win more votes, he added.

“We are sure to gain more votes due to the positive work that has been done by the Modi government and also from the congenial atmosphere in the country after the recent air strikes against Pakistan in retaliation to the (February 14) Pulwama attack,” the BJP leader asserted.

The “patriotic” atmosphere that prevails after the air strikes would favour the right-wing party across the country, the spokesman assessed.

While the BJP was aiming to win at least 20 of the 28 Lok Sabha constituencies, the coalition parties were together aiming to win in 22 seats.

Sumalatha to contest as Independent from Mandya

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Bengaluru, March 18,Nasheman News :  South Indian multi-lingual actress Sumalatha, widow of late Karnataka Congress leader M.H. Ambareesh, on Monday announced her decision to contest the Lok Sabha election as an Independent from Mandya.

“People of Mandya had a lot of faith in Ambareesh. I want to take forward his vision for Mandya. I will be contesting the elections as an Independent from the constituency,” Sumalatha told the media here.

Ambareesh, who passed away in November 2018, represented Mandya, about 100 km from here, in the Lok Sabha.

Admitting that she was expecting Congress to field her from the Lok Sabha seat, Sumalatha remarked that the party did not fight for Mandya constituency from coalition partner Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S).

As part of the seat-sharing agreement between the ruling allies, JD-S will contest from eight seats, including Mandya, while Congress will contest in the remaining 20 seats.

The JD-S, which currently holds the Mandya seat, announced that Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy’s son Nikhil, 29, as its candidate from the seat.

“As Ambareesh’s widow, it is my job to serve the people of Mandya,” 55-year-old Sumalatha added.

BJP making all out efforts in three constituencies of Kerala but victory continues to remain elusive

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Kerala may be a small coastal state spread across the Western coast but the political situation here is unparalleled in comparison to any other region of the country.The state being number one in literacy is an too old thing to cherish as by and large it has no significance to the typical on goings throughout the year.

In a way the accomplishment of boasting cent percent literates,more than adding quality to the lifestyle has only contributed in a negative manner if you happen to glance over incidents of political killings and never ending list of controversies.

Even many decades back Swami Vivekananda wondered as to how the visionary and religious personality Lord Shankaracharya took birth in the ‘insane’ land.Such utterances of great people may not augur well with Malayali speaking people also popularly referred as Mallus.But the recent catastrophes in the form of landslips,landslides,tremors,marooning of large tracts of land as a result of excessive rainfall and releasing huge proportion of water in order to save the dams doesn’t give any indication that the Keralites are far better than the rest of population of the country.

And when it comes to politics they continue to remain the worst possible human beings and are in close competition with their comrades of West Bengal and Tripura.

The only difference perhaps is that while the Communist parties have become redundant in the Eastern and North Eastern state they continue to remain a formidable force here.

A lot of hue and cry is generated during different intervals of the year here as both right wing and left wing activists are continuously butchered like flies and pests!Kannur,the home district of the present Chief Minister holds the dubious distinction of being a ‘killing field’!

In fact the neighboring Kasargod district bordering South Canara(Mangaluru) district of Karnataka is no better as it’s also equally volatile with enough sporadic violent incidents throughout the year.

Apart from the Mallus migrating across the globe in search of green pastures,these days many of them have also become notorious enough by indulging in anti national activities.Many of them have joined terrorist outfits like the ISIS and some of them are also reportedly slained.Although the Bharatiya Janata Party has been struggling since long to have its own public representatives in the state Assembly and Parliament it hasn’t been successful the way it’s aiming for.

The Bharatiya Janata Party may have been successful in wresting Tripura from the clutches of comrades just like Didi could do so in West Bengal.But its plight is paradoxically diverse in Kerala.

But for the initial few decades after the state came into existence Congress by and large has remained restricted as the major partner of a group of parties just like the Communist Party of India(Marxist) continuing to lead the other smaller left outfits.

If the Bharatiya Janata Party has managed to surge ahead by taking Trinmool Congress(TMC) head on in West Bengal and enjoys the distinction of coming second in many constituencies it’s altogether an opposite situation in Kerala.

In spite of both United Democratic Front(UDF) led by the Congress and Left Democratic Front(LDF) under the captaincy of Comrades walk and remain together in the Parliament,back home in Kerala they continue to remain sworn enemies.

All the elections here are bitterly fought among the two main contenders while it hasn’t been possible for the BJP to elevate itself from the third position so far although its vote share has been increasing gradually over a period of time.

For instance the May 2014 Parliamentary polls in Kasargod, also having the dominance of Kannada speaking people in some pockets, the straight fight was between CPI(M) and Indian National Congress and turned out to be a neck to neck fight.

P Karunakaran of the CPI(M) polled 3,84,964 votes and defeated T Siddique of the Congress by a slender margin of 6,921 votes whereas K Surendran of the BJP remained far behind by being pushed to the third position.

Though the BJP’s vote share increased by 2.93 percent in comparison to the previous Lok Sabha polls the 1,72,826 votes polled by the party candidate remained abysmal to the votes polled by the main rival contestants.

So it goes without saying that the path to victory for the saffron party is nothing else but a Herculean task and it only needs to be seen if it has grown in leaps and bounds in the last five years to register a maiden win?

In comparison to Kasargod BJP appears to be far behind in the adjoining Kannur Lok Sabha constituency if you were to take into cognizance the votes polled by individual candidates last time.

PK Sreemathi Teacher won the constituency to the CPI(M) by bagging 4,27,622 and defeated K Sudhakaran of the congress by a slender margin of 6,566 votes while PC Mohanan Master of the Bharatiya Janata Party although came third by electoral parameters could get only 51,636 votes.

And if you expect the BJP candidate to romp to victory here you may also have to ponder about the uphill task all along the route.

Perhaps Thiruvananthapuram is one constituency in the whole state where the prospects of BJP look too bright and it may not be a big surprise if the party manages to wrest it from Shashi Tharoor,MP from the constituency twice.

For the first time in 2009 Shashi Tharoor,former diplomat turned politician won in the constituency on a Congress ticket by a whopping margin of 99,998 votes defeating P Ramachandran Nair,his nearest CPI rival.

However PK Krishna Das of the BJP remained far behind by occupying the fourth place and garnering only 84,094 votes.It was quite an opposite turn of developments in the subsequent elections.In 2014 Shashi Tharoor just managed to sail by a margin of 15,470 votes defeating O Rajagopal of the Bharatiya Janata Party in a triangular contest.

The position of the BJP looks very optimistic in Thiruvananthapuram provided triangular elections are held.But there is also a catch in this so called three cornered fight for the ensuing elections.If the local sources are to be believed,by and large the talk of triangular contest is only meant to be for public consumption.These sources confide that there’s already been a ‘match fixing’ by now.

According to them although the ruling LDF has announced its nominees for all the 20 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state long back it’s merely formal in most of them.In that situation even the rosy picture for the BJP may turn out to be bitter later.

Manohar Yadavatti

Karnataka CM personal car booked for traffic violations twice. Fine of Rs 600 Not yet paid.

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Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy’s personal high-end car, a Range Rover, has been booked for violating traffic rules in February. The offences were recorded by the automated enforcement cameras and notices were sent to Kasturi Media Pvt Ltd, which was mentioned at the time of registration of the vehicle.

A senior police official said the offences include the driver using mobile phone while driving on February 10 in Sadashivanagar police station limits and another violation for overspeeding with a fine of `300 booked near Basaveshwara Circle on February 22.  Two notices were sent to the given address. However the fine amount of Rs 600 is yet to be paid by the company. 

Kumaraswamy has been using his personal car as he chose not to avail an official car from the government.

The automated challans for the violations were generated two weeks ago. The fines had to be paid within seven days of the date from which the challans were generated. The police said in case the fines are not paid within the due date, the car is stopped on sighting and the fines collected.
The officer said since the Range Rover belongs to the CM, it will not be easily missed. The fines will be collected soon if they are  not voluntarily paid, he added.

“The car is seen in front of Vidhana Soudha almost daily. So we will ensure that the fines are collected the next time we spot it,” he said. However, no explanation was offered as to why the fines had not yet been collected if the vehicle was spotted near Vidhana Soudha almost every day.

Agencies.

No bail for teen sharing Christchurch attack video

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Christchurch, March 18 Nasheman News :A court here on Monday refused to grant bail to an 18-year-old teenager accused of sharing a video of the March 15 Christchurch mosques shootings in which the gunman livestreamed his massacre of 50 people.

The teen faces two charges: one of sharing the video and a second for posting a photograph of one of the mosque’s attacked with the message “target acquired” along with other chat messages “inciting extreme violence”, The New Zealand Herald reported.

The teenager appeared at the Christchurch District Court today and was granted name suppression. However his request for bail was refused by Judge Stephen O’Driscoll.

The police has said that the teen was not involved in the shootings at the Al Noor Mosque and the Linwood Avenue Masjid that also left 40 others injured.

He is due back in court next month.

The teen was initially charged with publishing insulting material with intent to excite hostility or ill will against a group of persons on the basis of race, ethnicity, or national origins. 

That charge was withdrawn on Monday and replaced by the two new charges.

The maximum sentence for each of the charges is 14 years in prison.

Gun law reform within 10 days: New Zealand PM

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Wellington, Nasheman News : New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Monday vowed to unveil reforms to the country’s existing gun laws in the wake of the March 15 Christchurch mosques shootings that claimed the lives of 50 people.

At a news conference here, Ardern said her cabinet has agreed “in principle” on proposals to change the country’s gun laws in response to the terror attack, but she stopped short of revealing what those changes might be, CNN reported.

Ardern said more details will be released once her cabinet “has worked through the in-principle decision” taken on Monday.

“As a Cabinet we were absolutely clear, the terror attack on Friday (March 15) was the worst act of terrorism on our shores,” she said.

Echoing the Prime Minister’s remark, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters, who also appeared beside Ardern, said: “This was a cabinet decision… The reality is after March 15, our world changed forever, and so will our laws,” Peters said.

New Zealand First is part of the ruling coalition along with Ardern’s Labour Party. It’s the third-largest political party in the country and leans to the right on many issues, including immigration.

Ardern also confirmed there would be a review of security agencies’ actions following the shootings at the Al Noor Mosque and the Linwood Masjid that also left over 40 others injured, The New Zealand Herald reported.

The review will look at what the agencies knew, or should have known, and whether there were any blocks to information-sharing.

It will also probe accused gunman, the 28-year-old Australian Brenton Tarrant’s travel and use of social media.

Regarding the injured persons, health authorities said on Monday that nine people were still in a critical condition.

David Meates, chief executive of Canterbury District Health Board, said in a statement that two others would be released from hospital on Monday.

“There is still a four-year-old girl in a critical condition in Starship Hospital in Auckland,” Meates said. “Her father has been transferred to Auckland and remains in a serious but stable condition.”

Meanwhile, TradeMe, one of New Zealand’s biggest internet auction websites, said in a statement that it will pull all semi-automatic weapons from its platform, following their use in the attacks.

The site said that it would halt the sale of semi-automatic weapons while it waited “for more clarity from the government”.

AirAsia CEO quits Facebook over Christchurch videos

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Kuala Lumpur, Nasheman News : AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes has deleted his Facebook account over the circulation of a video of the Christchurch mosques carnage that claimed the lives of 50 people, saying the social media giant needed to “clean up and not just think of financials”.

Fernandes, who had 670,000 followers, announced his decision in a series of tweets on Sunday, reports CNN.

“The amount of hate that goes on in social media sometimes outweighs the good,” he said in a tweet. 

“Facebook could have done more to stop some of this.”

For at least 17 minutes on March 15, the suspected gunman livestreamed his massacre at one of the two mosques.

New Zealand police alerted Facebook about the livestream, and Facebook said it quickly removed the shooter’s account and the video. 

But that was not enough for Fernandes. Although the CEO said he was a “social media fan”, the livestream caused him to leave Facebook.

“It is a great platform to communicate,” he tweeted. “Strong engagement and very useful but New Zealand was too much for me to take along with all the other issues.”

On Saturday, Facebook said that it removed 1.5 million videos of the attack.


Karnataka CM condoles Manohar Parrikar’s death

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Bengaluru,Nasheman News :Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy on Sunday condoled the death of his Goan counterpart, Manohar Parrikar, who passed away in Panaji following over a year-long battle with pancreatic cancer.

“Extremely saddened to hear the passing away of the Chief Minister of Goa Manohar Parrikar. He was respected by all across political lines. My heartfelt condolences to his family, friends and loved ones,” tweeted Kumaraswamy.

Parrikar, 63, passed away on Sunday evening at his residence in Panaji after a prolonged battle with pancreatic cancer.

Karnataka Congress chief Dinesh Gundu Rao, state BJP President B.S. Yeddyurappa and other political leaders also mourned Parrikar’s death.

Nitin Gadkari pays last respects to Parrikar

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Panaji, Nasheman News : Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on Monday offered his last respects to the mortal remains of late Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar at the state’s BJP headquarters here.

Gadkari arrived in the coastal state late Sunday night to negotiate with regional parties and independent MLAs for the formation of a new coalition government following Parrikar’s death earlier on Sunday due to advance pancreatic cancer.

But party sources said that no breakthrough was in sight yet, despite the meeting continuing until 4.30 a.m.

After a brief stop at the Bharatiya Janata Party headquarters, Parrikar’s body will be moved to a state-run arts and culture complex to allow members of the public to pay their last respects.

It will be later moved to Panaji’s Miramar beach for the final rites. 

BJP state President Vinay Tendulkar said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to arrive in Goa later on Monday, to offer his last respects to the former Defence Minister who served in Modi’s cabinet from 2014-17.

Kamal Haasan’s MNM to announce candidates on March 20

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Nasheman News : Actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan’s Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) on Monday said it will announce its candidates for the Lok Sabha elections and Tamil Nadu Assembly by-elections on March 20.

In a statement issued here, the party said: “The list of candidates who will contest in the 2019 parliamentary and by-elections on behalf of Makkal Needhi Maiam will be revealed by the party president Kamal Haasan on 20/03/2019.”

The candidates will contest the polls under the ‘battery torch’ symbol.

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