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His statement comes a day after two Congress leaders – Ramesh Jarkiholi and Sudhakar met BJP’s SM Krishna at his residence, fuelling the speculation over the longevity of the ruling Congress-JD(S) coalition.

None of our K’taka MLAs will switch to BJP: Congress   |  Photo Credit: ANI

Bengaluru: Karnataka minister and Congress leader MB Patil on Monday ruled out any tension in the Congress-JD(S) coalition government and said that none of his party’s MLAs will switch to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

“None of our MLAs will switch to BJP. They (BJP) have tried it (to topple government) in the past, they will also try it in the future but this government will complete its full term,” Patil said.

His statement comes a day after two Congress leaders- Ramesh Jarkiholi and Sudhakar met BJP’s SM Krishna at his residence, fuelling the speculation over the longevity of the ruling Congress-JD(S) coalition in Karnataka.

However, Jarkiholi, who is Congress MLA from Gokak had said that it was not a political meeting and that he had come to meet Krishna to wish him for BJP’s victory in Lok Sabha elections.

In the recently-held Lok Sabha elections, the BJP bagged 25 out of 28 seats in Karnataka while the Congress-JD(S) combine won two seats.

Following this humiliating defeat, some of the rebel Congress MLAs are reportedly in touch with the BJP and are also planning to poach Congress and JD(S) MLAs to topple the state government.

The BJP, which is the single largest party in the Karnataka Assembly with 105 seats, needs only eight MLAs to reach the majority mark of 113 in a 224-member Assembly.

Earlier, Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy brushed aside the reported trouble in the coalition government and said that the alliance was intact and would stay for long.

Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara also asserted that they have the support of all MLAs and that there is no threat to the state government.

“We have all decided to support and continue the coalition government. All our MLAs are with us. There is no threat to the government. Siddaramaiah has also spoken to senior leaders,” he had said.

Former Karnataka chief minister and senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah had also said that there was no threat to the coalition government in the state.

Agencies

Bengaluru, May 27(UNI) Worried over imminent threat to the one-year-old JD(S)-Congress coalition government in Karnataka, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy and his Deputy Dr G Parameshwara holding parleys to hammer out strategies to save the government.
According to reliable sources, the coalition partners, who are yet to come out from the shock of the setback in the recently concluded Lok Sabha election, are now busy in finding ways to save the coalition government at any cost.
Kumaraswamy, in his bid to save the government, reportedly suggested an idea of taking resignation of the many of the senior Ministers from his cabinet and induct those who were likely to be wean away from the Opposition Bharatiya
Janata Party(BJP).
The Ministers, who are likely to be asked to make way to the dissident MLAs included K J George, Priyank Kharge, Krishna Byre Gowda, R B Thimmapur, Jayamala, C T Khader, P T Parameshwara Naik, Tukaram, Puttaranga Setty (all from the Congress), Srinivas, S R Ramesh, D C Thammanna, (a from the JD(S) , the sources said.
Former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who is also chairman of the JD(S)-Congress Coalition government, also had a one-on-one meeting with Kumaraswamy and discussed about thwarting the BJP’s game plan to lure the disgruntled Congress and the JD(S) MLAs and save the government.
Both the leaders, had also contacted several Congress rebel MLAs, including B C Patil, B K Sangamesh, J N Ganesh, and supporters of Ramesh Jarakiholi and appealed them not to rock the boat and also offered cabinet berths to them, in a bid to stave off the threat to the stability of the coalition government.
Siddaramaiah, who is also CLP leader, has convened a meeting on May 29 and likely to issue Whip to all the Congress
MLAs to attend it. During the meeting the Congress MLAs, would be advised to shun any offers from the Opposition BJP and remain loyal to the party.
“If needed there is also possibility of shifting all the party MLAs to a safe places including at Resorts”, a Congress leader said.

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