Congress will get the post of speaker and a deputy chief minister in Karnataka, the first names that party president Rahul Gandhi will decide in the coming hours ahead of HD Kumaraswamy’s swearing-in as chief minister + of the Congress-JD(S) coalition government on Wednesday.
The chief minister-designate met Rahul and his mother, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, at the Congress chief’s residence here on Monday evening.
The visit was a courtesy call to invite the Congress leaders for the swearing-in. It was preceded by a half-hour meeting with pre-poll ally and BSP chief Mayawati, JD (S) secretary general Danish Ali said. Rahul and Kumaraswamy alluded to the history of acrimony between Congress and JD(S) to say they should forget the past and look to the future.
Congress sources said the party’s entire focus was on Kumaraswamy’s oath, election of the speaker and the confidence motion, and that no formal negotiations were held on the specifics of power-sharing.
The reason, sources said, was that any formal discussion would spill over in public and create a controversy which the Congress-JD(S) combine can ill-afford given the backdrop of the hastily cobbled alliance and drama over government formation.
Archives for May 2018
Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati have been invited for Kumaraswamy’s Swearing-in Ceremony
What the by-elections or the Rajya Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh couldn’t, the result of the Karnataka polls may do – bring Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav to the same stage at the same time.
The heads of the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Samajwadi Party respectively have been invited by JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy for his swearing-in ceremony as Karnataka chief minister on Wednesday, and the offices of the two have said that they would attend.
The two parties had forged an understanding during the bypolls in Gorakhpur and Phulpur in March and fought the Rajya Sabha polls together. They have also confirmed that the alliance would continue till 2019 polls, but the two leaders haven’t shared the stage even once since then.
An invite was also sent to Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal, whose party had fought the Karnataka election but lost its deposits on all 29 seats.
Kumaraswamy, who is in Delhi to meet Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi in Delhi on Monday to finalize the distribution of portfolios, will first call on Mayawati. The JD(S) and the BSP had fought the Karnataka Elections as a pre-poll alliance and the latter had bagged one seat.
The lone BSP MLA in Karnataka, N Mahesh, is all set to get a berth in the Kumaraswamy Cabinet. Mahesh who also heads the BSP state unit won the Kollegal seat by defeating his rival AR Krishna from Congress by a margin of 19,454 votes.
When the other JDS and Congress MLAs were holed up at a resort in Bengaluru, Mahesh was staying with senior BSP leader Ashok Siddharth at a guest house in Bengaluru and had allegedly rejected the offer to support the BJP.
Apart from Mayawati, Akhilesh and Kejriwal, others who are invited for the swearing-in ceremony include Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, Chandrababu Naidu and Mamata Banerjee.
The rise of Janata Dal (Secular) in Karnataka may act as a platform to unite opposition parties, especially the regional parties to play a bigger role in the national arena during parliamentary elections in 2019.
Heavy rains lash Sri Lanka 5 People Killed
At least five people have been killed and seven are missing as heavy rains and strong winds caused havoc in Sri Lanka, the Disaster Management Centre (DMC) said on Monday.
The deaths were reported from the eastern district of Trincomalee and in the lower central hills of Badulla, Xinhua news agency reported.
Three people were killed by lightning, one perished in a landslide, while the fifth death was the result of a fallen tree, said DMC officials.
Over 9,000 people were affected by the adverse weather while hundreds of families were evacuated from their homes as the Meteorology Department warned of more rains in the coming days.
DMC spokesperson Pradeep Kodippili said five major rivers were at spill level and those living in low areas were evacuated to safer levels.
He said floods were also reported from the Ratnapura district in the Sabaragamuwa province and a landslide warning had been issued for Kalutara, Kegalle, Ratnapura, Badulla, Nuwara Eliya, Galle and Kurunegala.
“The police and tri forces are all on standby and assisting in relief efforts. We request the people in low areas to move to safer locations,” he said.
Meanwhile, Sri Lankan Education Ministry said schools in the rain affected areas in Sabaragamuwa province will remain shut on Monday and Tuesday.
Sri Lanka is facing its annual southwest monsoon, with the Meteorological Department warning of more rains in several districts across the country in the coming days.
“Very heavy falls, about 150 mm, can be expected at some places in Sabaragamuwa, Western provinces and in Galle and Matara districts,” the Meteorological Department said.
Over 200 people were killed and 78 people missing when the southwest monsoon caused severe floods and landslides across Sri Lanka in 2017.
Pakistan’s Punjab Govt releases Rs 20 million to renovate, expand Krishna temple in Rawalpindi
Pakistan’s Punjab province government has released Rs 20 million to renovate a Krishna temple in Rawalpindi city and expand it to accommodate more Hindu worshippers on festivals and religious occasions, a media report said on Sunday.
Krishna temple is the only functioning Hindu temple in the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad. There are two prayers held at the temple every day one in the morning and one in the evening which are attended by six or seven people.
Mohammad Asif, the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) Deputy Administrator, said the government has released Rs 20 million to reconstruct the temple at the request of a Member of Provincial Assembly, Dawn reported.
He said reconstruction work would begin soon. A team has visited the site and pointed out a plan to start work. The main room where idols are kept will be sealed until reconstruction ends, the paper said. “Once reconstructed, the temple will be able to accommodate more people,” Asif was quoted as saying by the paper.
The official said the temple could accommodate the local Hindu community from the twin cities and nearby areas. The small temple was built by Kanji Mal and Ujagar Mal Ram Rachpal in 1897 to serve people in nearby areas. However, after Partition the street temple in Saddar became the only place of worship for Rawalpindi’s Hindus.
The temple was reopened after partition in 1949; it was operated by local Hindus before being handed over to the ETPB in 1970. Until the 1980s, even diplomats living in Islamabad visited the temple to pray. Local Hindus have said the temple’s area should be expanded.
Jag Mohan Arora said the temple courtyard, which can only accommodate 100 or so people, should be expanded, and shops next to the temple that the ETPB has leased to local traders should be retrieved to expand the front of the building. “At present the front of the temple is very small. The ETPB should vacate nearby shops that have been rented,” Arora said.
FIFPro seeks Guerrero World Cup reprieve
World football players union FIFPro has asked FIFA to allow Peru captain Paolo Guerrero to play in the World Cup despite a doping ban.
Guerrero, who tested positive for cocaine metabolite benzoylecgonine last October, had his six-month ban extended to 14 months last week following an appeal by the World Anti-Doping Agency, reports Xinhua news agency.
In a social media post, FIFPro said it hoped “for a breakthrough in the next 24-48 hours.”
Last Monday’s decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) rules the 34-year-old Flamengo striker out of the World Cup in Russia, which starts on June 14.
Peru qualified for the tournament for the first time in 36 years by beating New Zealand in an inter-continental playoff last November.
Guerrero, who says he unwittingly consumed the substance in contaminated tea, has said his lawyers are “considering all options” to contest the CAS decision and clear his name.
FIFPro last week described the ruling as disproportionate and inconsistent with the facts presented during the case.
Ranbir Kapoor to host prelude to IPL finale
Bollywood star Ranbir Kapoor will host a two-hour prelude to the Indian Premier League (IPL) finale. Others joining the celebrations will include Salman Khan, Jacqueline Fernandez, Kareena Kapoor Khan and Sonam Kapoor Ahuja.
“Cricket Finals…Party Toh Banti hai” will be telecast on Star Plus. It will see a melange of performances and fun-filled interactions with celebrities. Additionally, actors Ravi Dubey, Gaurav Sareen, Aakriti Sharma and Deshna Dugad will amplify the entertainment quotient of the finale.
It will be followed by the VIVO IPL 2018 grand finale on Star India Network on May 27, a statement issued by the channel said.
Fans have so far been enjoying commentary in six languages – Hindi, English, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali and Kannada.
In an attempt to reach out to more cricket enthusiasts across India, Star Pravah and Asianet Movies will respectively carry a Marathi and Malayalam broadcast for the first time in IPL history.
The Marathi language broadcast will have Madhuri Dixit-Nene and Swwapnil Joshi joining the celebrations.
Star Gold will also join in with the Hindi broadcast for the grand finale.
“The Dugout” on Star Sports Select will continue to cater to core cricket fans. Giving a predictive and prescriptive analysis will be Dean Jones, Scott Styris, Anil Kumble, Kumar Sangakkara, Darren Sammy, Brett Lee and Mike Hesson.
Pakistani man fights to return to his Indian family
Twenty-four years after he left his home in Pakistan, Siraj Khan, 34, was forcibly returned to Mansehra – in the country’s Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa region – on March 10.
Khan was detained on December 5, 2017, by Indian authorities because he didn’t have proper immigration documents.
His childhood home had changed. The 2005 earthquake had wiped out the aging structures, making room for new unrecognizable ones.
Khan’s father died after years of waiting to embrace his son after he vanished. His mother, meanwhile, suffered a psychological breakdown. But the family reunion, which should have been joyous, was incomplete. Khan was compelled to leave his wife and children behind in India’s commercial capital, Mumbai.
“After spending three months in illegal detention at a Mumbai police station, the cops packed me off to Pakistan without a notice,” he told Al Jazeera.
“They made me board a train and 16 hours later, when we reached Delhi, I was told I was being deported. In an instant, I went to pieces.”
With Khan’s deportation, his 39-year-old Indian wife Sajida was left alone in Mumbai to fend for her three children. Educated only until class nine, she has taken to bracelet-making and earns $1.50 a day. Most of the money, she said, is spent on food.
‘Bundled off’
Since bus fare is unaffordable, her children – Zara, 12, and twin sons Inayat and Ejaz, 7 – walk 3km to school every day.
“Even as our plea for my husband’s Indian citizenship and for a stay against his deportation is pending, he was bundled off to Pakistan. He has lived in India for 24 years, built a life here as a lawful citizen. Doesn’t that count for anything?” asked Sajida.
Sajida and her two sons
“And what about us?” she continued, seated on the only piece of furniture in her small home as her sons placed their tiny hands on her shoulders to comfort her.
“Abbu [father] has promised he’ll return soon,” Inayat insisted.
Khan, who worked as a waiter with a Mumbai-based caterer before his arrest, accidentally entered India when he was 10. Afraid of a beating from his father over a failed exam, he fled home and boarded the Samjhauta Express – unaware the train would bring him to India’s capital, New Delhi.
A family noticed him sobbing at the railway platform and took him home. After three months of trying to identify his kin, they gave him some money and he went off on his own.
“He lived off Delhi streets thereafter, doing odd jobs for a living – sweeping, washing utensils. Around three years later, he was picked up as a runaway child and lodged in a children’s shelter in the western Indian state of Gujarat.
“He spent two years there till a wall of the shelter collapsed, and he was among 40 teenagers to flee. Thereafter, he came to Mumbai,” Sajida explained.
Starting a family
Doing low-paying work in Mumbai, Khan rented a room in the city’s eastern suburbs – where the family still lives. Through a neighbour, he met Sajida and married her in 2005.
With his monthly earnings of $161, the couple had a “difficult, but peaceful” life until 2009, when Khan tried to take his family to Pakistan for Eid al-Fitr.
After immigration authorities learned he was not an Indian citizen, Khan was charged under The Foreigners Act, 1946 for staying illegally in India.
“He was kept in police custody for two months. At the time, I was six months pregnant with my daughter. When I’d visit my husband at the police station, cops would tell me to let go of him or else I’d be jailed as well, and my child would be born behind bars,” said Sajida.
In 2014, Khan was convicted of illegally staying in India and imprisoned for six months pending deportation.
Sajida then filed a plea with Mumbai’s high court calling for a stay of his removal. The court accepted her appeal, noting Khan’s application seeking Indian citizenship was still before the Indian Ministry of External Affairs. Despite the ruling, Khan was deported last month.
Legal right
According to his supporters, he is legally entitled to remain in the country.
“As per The Citizenship Act, 1955, any foreigner who has married an Indian and lived in India for seven years can avail citizenship. We sent an application under this rule to the central government in 2014. But there has been no response despite follow-ups,” said activist Imran Khan, 36, who has been helping the family.
Sajida filed a new petition with the high court seeking her husband’s return. It stated in Khan’s absence his family in India will be “forced to starve”.
Indian authorities, however, said they’re only following the rules.
“Khan may deserve Indian citizenship on humanitarian grounds, but we’re only following the law,” said Bhagwat Bansod, senior Mumbai police inspector, who oversaw Khan’s return to Pakistan.
“His deportation was facilitated following orders from the central government.”
Khan, meanwhile, said he only wants to be with his family.
“Had I been an influential man, politicians would be at my home, finalizing my Indian citizenship over a cup of tea. But I’m not that privileged. All I want is to live with my family – in India or Pakistan,” he said.
Aljazeera
BJP set to go to Lok Sabha polr the leadership of BS Yeddyurappa
The Bharatiya Janata Party is again learnt to have resolved to go to the Lok Sabha polls under the leadership of BS Yeddyurappa,state president.Although the Lingayat strong man failed to win the vote of confidence in the state Assembly to prove his majority however the party leadership is said to be inclined to retain him in the president’s post till the polls to Lok Sabha are over.
The reasons for such thinking in the higher ups’ are multiple:In spite of Siddaramaiah’s decisive politics of dividing the Lingayat community on according religious minority tag status the outcome of the recently concluded general elections prove beyond doubt that the community has solidly stood behind the BJP.
To further substantiate this point is the fact that of the total 58 MLAs’ elected from all the three parties the strength of BJP alone accounts to 38.Not only the BJP has the highest number of Lingayat legislators the party has been successful in winning from most of the regions like Mumbai Karnataka and Hyderabad Karnataka from the North Karnataka region and Central Karnataka where the votes of Lingayats matter to register a win.
It is taking all these factors into account the party high command is said to have come to a conclusion of further entrusting the responsibility to BS Yeddyurappa for green pastures during the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls scheduled during April/May 2019.
BS Yeddyurappa has already pronounced in the state Assembly:As a mark of gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amith Shah,BJP national president it would be our endeavor to win in all the 28 Lok Sabha constituencies of the state.
Though the claim looks too optimistic but by going through the best of performances of the party so far managing to win in at least 20-22 constituencies shouldn’t be a problem is what party insiders admit.
It is also being said that the responsibility of major tasks like organizing the party machinery by appointing office bearers,selection of candidates and many other challenges related to the polls will be assigned to BS Yeddyurappa considering the wins he has ensured in the just concluded polls.
According to party sources BJP candidates have won in most of the constituencies where he had a say in the selection.Interestingly the Hebbal,Dasarahalli.Anekal,Byatarayanpur,Sringeri,Tumakuru Rural,Sakleshpur,Channapatna,Athani,Afzalpur,Babaleshwar,Ballari Rural,Kampli,Vijayanagar,Hirekeruru which the party had a sure bet of winning failed to win.
But surprisingly in many other constituencies where the party was not so serious about a win it emerged victorious.So under such changed circumstances the party’s top brass is said to have decided to handover the entire responsibility of the party organization to BS Yeddyurappa.
Hindusthan Samachar/Manohar Yadavatti
Hyderabad to face Chennai on May 22 in the first qualifier
In IPL Cricket, all the four play-offs berths have now been decided as Rajasthan Royals has joined Sunrisers Hyderabad, Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders in the top four.
In the first qualifier, Hyderabad will take on Chennai on Tuesday. The winner will enter the Final, while the losing team will have another chance of making it to the title clash.
They will play the winner of Wednesday’s Eliminator between Kolkata and Rajasthan. The Final will be played on Sunday at Mumbai.
Hindusthan Samachar/Shri Ram Shaw
Karnataka State might have Two Deputy CMs
HD Kumaraswamy led Janata Dal Secular-Congress alliance government is likely to have two positions of Deputy Chief Ministers according to Dr G Parameshwar ,KPCC President.However the high command will take a call on this demand shortly,he clarified here today.
He also made it clear:It is true that there has been a discussion over the subject in the party circles keeping the Lingayat factor and the demand to give one DCM post to North Karnataka.But a final decision on the matter would however be possible only after the top brass of the party dwells on it.
On Wednesday 23 May HD Kumaraswamy will take oath of office and secrecy at 4 pm before the Vidhana Soudha.He alone would be sworn in and the remaining members of the cabinet will do so once a discussion between the two parties get over,told Dr G Parameshwar.
One DCM post for a Dalit and more so to Dr.G Parameshwar is almost finalized in the Congress group but the second nominee appears to have become a controversy.There has been hectic lobbying for the second DCM post on caste and region considerations.
The Lingayat leaders are insisting to leave it to someone from their community belonging to North Karnataka region as they argue by doing so they could ward off the feeling that JDS-Congress combine avoided a Lingayat(read BS Yeddyurappa) from becoming the chief minister.
However there are two many a claimant for this position.Shyamanuru Shivashankarappa,86 years old President of All India Veerashiva Mahasabha and Davanagere MLA is said to be seriously trying to become DCM.He also has equally serious contenders in the form of MB Patil and HK Patil.
Apart from these competitors DK Shivakumar,Chairman KPCC campaign committee and Man Friday for the Congress party is also gunning for the top slot while RV Deshpande,another senior leader isn’t hiding his ambitions either.
Hindusthan Samachar/Manohar Yadavatti
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