Archives for 2019

Hours after launching the poll manifesto, BJP president Amit Shah on Monday met veteran leaders LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi.

The meeting comes days after Advani and Joshi were denied tickets by the party for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

The meeting is being viewed as a means to disperse the tension between the party and the veteran leaders.

LK Advani was replaced with Amit Shah in Gandhinagar Lok Sabha constituency, while MM Joshi was replaced by Satyadev Pachauri in Kanpur.

Both the leaders were extremely unhappy over the way in which their names were dropped from the BJP list.

Advani did not say anything about being dropped from the party’s list of Lok Sabha candidates but wrote a blog asserting his party never regarded those who disagreed with it politically as “anti-national”.

Joshi, after being denied party ticket, had written a letter stating that the BJP had conveyed to him that he should not contest the ensuing parliamentary election from Kanpur and elsewhere.

Advani and Joshi were the founding members of the BJP, along with former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

A number of veteran leaders, including Shanta Kumar, BC Khanduri and Kariya Munda- all in their 80s- have not been fielded by the BJP in the polls, seen as part of its strategy under PM Modi and Amit Shah to ease them out and groom younger leaders in their place.

LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi were moved out of the BJP’s highest decision-making body, Parliamentary Board, in 2014 after Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the party to victory and Shah was made its president.

Both veterans were made members of ‘Margdarshak Mandal’ (a group of mentors), a body which has never met.

Agencies

Lucknow, Apr 9 : Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president Mayawati will address rallies in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to seek vote for the party candidates on Wednesday.

Party sources here said while the first rally will be held at Maharaj college ground in Mysore, the second one will be held at Wing Convention centre in Chennai.

She had launched campaigning for the party from Odisha on April 2 and after covering Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Maharashtra, she held series of meeting in UP. She also joined the first alliance rally at Deoband in Saharanpur on April 7.

Bagalkote, Karnataka, Apr 9 : Senior Bharaitya Janata Party leader and former Karnataka Deputy Chief minister K S Eshwarappa said that there was no space for social justice in the Congress party.
Addressing newsmen here on Tuesday, he said, “the prominent minority community leaders quitting this party including H T Sangliana and J Alexander, and this proved that Congress is shedding only crocodile tears for minority community to garner votes”.
Referring to the criticism by Congress leaders on BJP’s election manifesto for Lok Sabha election, which was released by the prime minister Narendra Modi on Monday, he said “These people enjoyed power taking name of Congress in the country”.
Terming the BJP manifesto as the game-changer in the coming years, the BJP leader said “People of the country got elated to know that BJP is pitching for a Unified Civil Code. The manifesto was also welcomed by all sections in the society, including youth and farmers of the nation” he added.

Bengaluru, Apr 9 : As many as 237 candidates were in the fray for the 14 Lok Sabha constituencies which goes to poll for the second phase in Karnataka on April 23 after withdrawal of 45 candidates from contest.

According to official sources, among the 14 Lok Sabha seats, a highest number of 57 candidates were in the fray for the Belagvi Lok Sabha seat, while Raichur accounted for lowest number of candidates in the fray with five candidates.
The constituencies, which goes to poll on April 23 were Belagavi, Koppal, Chikkodi, Raichur, Kalaburagi, Bidar, Bagalakote, Vijayapura, Bellary, Haveri, Dharwad, Uttara Kannada, Davanagere and Shivamogga.
All the sitting MP’s, including Mallikarjuna Kharge (Kalaburagi), Ramesh Jigajinagi (Vijayapura), Ananthakumara Hegde (Uttarakannaa), Prahlad Joshi (Dharwad) Suresh Angagi (Belagavi) were seeking a re-election.

It may be recalled that for the first phase poll in Karnataka, which goes to poll on 14 Lok Sabha seats on April-18, as many as 241 candidates, including 133 independents were in the fray.

With the three major parties not favouring many candidates from the community and polarisation of voters, Karnataka hasn’t elected a Muslim MP since 2004.

Experts say delimitation of constituencies also had an impact on winnability, although Muslim leaders say that should not be a factor while giving representation.

Of the 84 MPs Karnataka sent to Parliament since 2004, Iqbal Ahmed Saradgi, from Kalaburgi in 2004, was the only Muslim. The Congress and JD(S) together had only 11 Muslim candidate from 2004 to 2019, while the BJP had none. These 11 make up for less than 10% of the seats (112) that were at play, while Karnataka has more than 12% Muslims.

“There are no clear Muslim constituencies where the community votes decide the winner,” said political scientist Muzaffar Assadi. “Parties also don’t encourage leaders to grow beyond community identity markers. Another factor is that there has been a polarisation of voters, especially when the BJP is contesting.”

He explains that polarisation doesn’t have an impact where Congress and JD(S) fight each other — voters see candidates as party members — but the Hindu-Muslim divide is apparent when the BJP is in play “Hindu votes get consolidated,” he said.

This year, too, there is just one Muslim in the fray Congress’ Rizwan Arshad from Bengaluru Central and only time can tell if the state will break the trend. Karnataka has not elected too many Muslims over the years: There were two in 1989, BM Mujahid from Dharwad South and CK Jaffer Sharief from Bengaluru North, and one  in each of the election from 1991 to 2004.

Between 1991 and 2004, Sharief won thrice (1991, 1998 and 1999), Qamar ul Islam won in 1996 and Saradgi in 2004. Even in these elections, the Congress and JD(S) together fielded Muslims in not more than five seats. 

Former deputy chief minister KS Eshwarappa last week told former MLA Iqbal Ansari to “sweep the BJP offices for 10 years” if he wanted a ticket, reflecting BJP’s stand. Muslim leaders within the Congress were hoping to get at least three seats this time, including one in Bidar, where the party eventually opted for Eshwar Khandre.

Congress’ Roshan Baig rubbished theories on winnability. “There’s a lot of talk about social justice, but where is it? Do all the candidates win? The idea is to encourage people, give them representation and back them to win,” he said.

Courtesy : TOI

Mandya, Apr 9: JD(S) workers clashed with Ambareesh fans at Gurudevarahalli near Bharatinagar in Maddur taluk of the district on the night of Sunday April 7. In this incident six persons were injured.

At around 8 pm on Sunday, hundreds of Ambareesh fans were waiting for the arrival of Sumalatha at Kere Circle in Gurudevarahalli. A JD(S) worker, who was passing that way, blew his vehicle’s horn seeking space to ride his vehicle away. On this occasion, a fight occurred between Ambareesh fans and a gang led by a person named Karthik. Again at 11.30 the same night, the two groups fought it out near Lord Eshwara temple in the village.

JD(S) Lok Sabha candidate from here, Nikhil Kumaraswamy visited the village and met the injured JD(S) workers. He also consoled them.

Agencies

New Delhi, Apr 9 : Describing the BJP manifesto as ‘The voice of an isolated man’, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday called it ‘short sighted’ and ‘arrogant’.

In a post on social media, Mr Gandhi said, ”The Congress manifesto was created through discussion. The voice of over a million Indian people, it is wise and powerful. The BJP manifesto was created in a closed room. The voice of an isolated man, it is short sighted and arrogant.”

The BJP proclamation was released on Monday. While stressing on national security, the BJP manifesto reiterates the party’s policy of zero tolerance towards terrorism.

It also promises pension to farmers and small traders after the age of 60.

Embattled businessman Vijay Mallya’s plea against his extradition order was rejected by a UK court on Monday. He will now appear for an oral hearing on his appeal.

Mallya, who is wanted in India on charges of fraud and money laundering to the tune of Rs. 9,000 crore, had appealed against the December 2018 order.

Last year, the London Westminster Magistrates’ Court ordered his extradition.

A brief timeline of Mallya’s case

Mallya left for the UK from India in March 2016 for a “self-imposed” exile. Ten months later, the Karnataka Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) said that Mallya owed Rs. 9,863 crore to 13 banks.

In February 2017, the Home Ministry certified India’s extradition request. He was arrested in April of the same year but got bail.

The extradition hearing began in June 2017.

Hearings

The murky case had troubled the judge

During the proceedings in the court, Judge Arbuthnot likened the case to a jigsaw puzzle. Mallya raised the issue of the condition of Indian jails to evade extradition.

Subsequently, Indian authorities sent video clips of Arthur Road jail where Mallya would be lodged when he returns to India.

He will live in a special cell, will have a library and open area.

Mallya claimed he was being made a scapegoat, court disagreed

Notably, throughout his trial Mallya claimed he was a victim of political conspiracy and reiterated that he couldn’t repay the money as his business, Kingfisher Airlines, failed.

After months of hearings, Judge Arbuthnot found Mallya guilty of fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy.

CBI, which was investigating the case, was happy with the verdict and had said their hard work paid off.

In February, Mallya’s extradition was cleared by UK Home Secretary

To recall, Mallya’s extradition was formally cleared by the United Kingdom Home Secretary in February this year. A spokesperson of the UK Home Secretary said the green signal was given after considering all relevant aspects.

Meanwhile, Mallya was upset banks didn’t save Kingfisher

Last month, Mallya wrote a tweet to “highlight” the double standards of banks under NDA.

His comments were in connection to reports that government asked state-owned banks to bail out Jet Airways to ensure the airlines doesn’t turn defunct.

Mallya claimed he invested Rs. 4,000 crore into Kingfisher Airlines to save the company, but banks didn’t offer to help him.

Agencies