Archives for 2019

Nasheman News : Amidst allegations of poaching by BJP, Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy on Wednesday said there was no threat to his government.

“Our coalition government is running smoothly. I am relaxed. We are in touch with all our (Janata Dal-Secular and Congress) legislators and have their support,” he told the media here.

Some of the Congress legislators reportedly in Mumbai were also in touch with him, the Chief Minister asserted, though he did not name them.

The ruling coalition partners JD-S-Congress and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have been trading charges of poaching each others’ legislators for the past few days. 

“Three of our MLAs are in Mumbai. We (Congress) are aware of the horse trading that is being attempted by the BJP. Our legislators have also admitted to being approached by them,” Minister for Irrigation D.K. Shivakumar earlier said.

The BJP, on the other hand, while denying the poaching allegations, has lodged its legislators in a private resort at Gurugram, Haryana.

On Tuesday, R. Shankar, a legislator from Ranebennur Assembly segment in Haveri district, belonging to the regional Karnataka Pragnavantha Janata Party (KPJP), and H. Nagesh an Independent from Mulbagal constituency in Kolar district, withdrew their support to the coalition.

“Even if two MLAs withdraw their support, we (coalition) have the majority,” Kumaraswamy said on Tuesday.

Responding to the political developments, JD-S supremo H.D. Deve Gowda stressed that the coalition government continued to remain “stable”.

In the 225-member Legislative Assembly, including one nominated Speaker, Congress has 80 legislators, JD-S 37, and the BJP 104, while one Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLA continues to support the coalition after one Independent Nagesh and the KPJP legislator Shankar withdrew their support.

Nasheman News : The Delhi government on Tuesday decided to increase the number of Urdu Certificate Course Centres from eight to 50, to promote the language.

The decision was taken in a meeting of the Governing Council of Urdu Academy, chaired by Deputy Chief Minister and Minister of Art, Culture and Languages Manish Sisodia.

“To promote the language and take it to people interested in the language, the Delhi government has decided to increase the Urdu Certificate Course Centre from eight to 50 in different parts of the city,” the government said in a statement.

“We have to take Urdu to more people. Why should Urdu centres be limited to certain areas? If there is a centre in Okhla there should be one in Greater Kailash. We are also going to take knowledge in Urdu to more people through translation that will not only enrich academic discourse but also challenge fake news by providing historical evidence,” it said.

Various issues pertaining to the promotion of Urdu language and functioning of the Academy were also discussed in the meeting.

“The Urdu Academy has done very well in the last year with some out of the box initiatives like the Heritage Festival and programmes in memory of Kaifi Azmi and Tom Alter. In the next year, we will focus on the grassroots level work for the language including increasing budgets and ensuring quality implementation of programmes. There is a need to revisit old schemes and come up with new ideas,” the statement said.

Nasheman News : The BJP on Tuesday rejected Congress’ allegation that it is trying to topple seven-month-old Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S)-Congress coalition government in Karnataka and hit back at opposition parties calling the current crisis their “internal problems”.

“We are not doing any game. Why we should topple if they themselves are toppling their government? It is their problem. They have their internal problems and unnecessarily blaming us,” BJP General Secretary and party’s in-charge for Karnataka P. Muralidhar Rao told media.

He said to date, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has never said that the Karnataka government is in minority, though he added that it cannot survive its full five-year term.

“From our side, there was no meeting with dissidents or there was no such activity. If there are dissidents, they are within the Congress. Instead of solving the problem, they are calling dissidents as BJP agents. We are waiting and watching. But it’s sure that this government cannot survive its full five-year term and will fall on its own due to internal conflicts,” he said.

Earlier in the day, R. Shankar, a legislator from Ranebennur Assembly segment in Haveri district, belonging to the regional Karnataka Pragnavantha Janata Party (KPJP), and H. Nagesh, Independent MLA from Mulbagal constituency in Kolar district, withdrew their support to the coalition government.

Rao also slammed the Congress for their “failure to provide good and coherent government” in the southern state.

The senior BJP leader said that the party MLAs are staying in a hotel in Manesar as a precautionary measure after Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy said that some BJP MLAs are in his touch.

“My MLAs are here only because they had come to Delhi for National Convention. All over the country all MLAs came. We only stopped them as a precautionary measure after Kumaraswamy said that the BJP MLAs are in touch with him,” he said.

The BJP has kept 99 of its 104 legislators at a private resort in Gurugram, adjoining the national capital.

In the 224-member Assembly, the BJP has 104 members, Congress-79, JD-S 37, BSP, KPJP and Independent one each, besides the Speaker. The Bahujan Samaj party, KPJP and an Independent were supporting the coalition.

Nasheman News :  Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday asked how YSR Congress Party President Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy and his sister Y.S. Sharmila can contest elections in the state when they have no trust in the state police.

The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief asked the leaders of the main opposition party in the state to behave as responsible citizens of Andhra Pradesh.

“How will you remain citizens of the state if you don’t trust the state police? In that case, how can you contest the elections here?” Naidu said while addressing a news conference in his native village Naravaripalle in Chittoor district.

Naidu was reacting to Sharmila lodging a complaint with the Hyderabad police, seeking action against those trying to defame her by posting objectionable comments in the social media. Alleging that the TDP is behind the conspiracy, she told reporters after meeting the Hyderabad Police Commissioner on Monday that she has no trust in Andhra Pradesh Police.

Condemning Sharmila’s allegation, Naidu said the TDP has never indulged in personal attacks and character assassination.

Naidu reiterated that the state will challenge in court the Centre’s move to order probe by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) into October 25 attack on Jaganmohan Reddy at Visakhapatnam airport.

“The Centre is trying to take away the state’s rights. We will not allow this. We will fight for our rights,” he said.

The NIA on January 1 took up the investigation into the knife attack on Jagan, who had refused to give his statement to Andhra Pradesh Police, saying he does not trust them.

“Can you go to another country and demand inquiry into an incident which happened in India?” Naidu said.

The TDP chief alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Jagan and Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao have colluded with the aim to damage Andhra Pradesh.

He also remarked that justice to Andhra Pradesh is possible only if Modi is defeated in the coming elections.

He claimed that TDP is the only party which has a right to seek votes in the coming elections as it has undertaken more development and welfare schemes than revenue-surplus states like Telangana.

Nasheman News :  The five star ITC Grand Bharat resort in Haryana, where over 100 BJP MLAs are housed to guard against their poaching, resembles an impregnable fort with armed security men guarding the entire compound in the scenic background of the Aravali Hills.

Sources in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday said the MLAs started their day with their routine activities and later enjoyed breakfast with former Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyyurappa. Later some of them tried their hand at cricket within the premises.

The development comes in the wake of allegations that the Janata Dal-United (JD-S)-Congress coalition is trying to poach some of its MLAs.

The resort housing the Karnataka BJP MLAs has become the power centre amid allegations and counter-allegations of poaching. Since the arrival of the BJP MLAs on Monday night, over 100 security guards are keeping a watchful eye on the visitors.

Located amid the Aravali Hills in Manesar, about 55 km west from the national capital, the resort is also out of bounds for the media persons who are not being allowed inside.

A party source told IANS that the media is being kept away as the movement of all persons is being monitored through closed-circuit televisions.

He said that there are several security check-points at the resort, so that no unidentified visitor gets to meet the legislators.

The source said that over 90 MLAs came to this resort on Monday evening, and around six MLAs joined them later.

He also said that BJP leader Sadanand Gowda is flying to Delhi to meet the party MLAs in the resort.

Earlier in the day, R. Shankar, a legislator from Ranebennur Assembly segment in Haveri district belonging to the regional Karnataka Pragnavtha Janata Party, and H. Nagesh, an Independent from Mulbagal constituency in Kolar district, withdrew their support to the coalition government.

Nasheman News :  Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) Working President K.T. Rama Rao will meet YSR Congress Party President Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy here on Wednesday to invite the party to join the proposed Federal Front.

Rama Rao, who is son of Telangana Chief Minister and TRS President K. Chandrashekhar Rao, also known as KCR, along with some other leaders of the party will hold talks with Jaganmohan Reddy, who is the Leader of Opposition in Andhra Pradesh Assembly, TRS sources said.

This will be the first direct talks between the leaders of two parties since KCR floated the idea of Federal Front as an alternative to both Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress.

The TRS chief has already held talks with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Janata Dal (United) leader and former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda, former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and DMK leader M.K. Stalin.

After taking over as the Chief Minister for second term following TRS’ victory in last month’s elections, KCR intensified his efforts to cobble together the Federal Front.

TRS leaders are also likely to discuss with Jagan the possibility of their working together in Andhra Pradesh to defeat the ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in the ensuing elections in the neighbouring state.

KCR last month dropped hints to this effect with a remark that he will “return the gift” to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and TDP President N. Chandrababu Naidu. He was referring to Naidu campaigning extensively in the Telangana elections.

The grand alliance led by the Congress and comprising TDP and two other parties suffered crushing defeat in the Telangana polls.