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Congress lagged in planning for Karnataka election: Leader

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A Congress leader on Tuesday lamented that the party failed to plan for the Karnataka Assembly election and educate the people about the government’s welfare schemes.

“The party and its leaders, both in Bengaluru and Delhi, should have woken up much earlier and planned much better for the election to educate the people of the state about the Congress government’s welfare schemes,” Congress state unit Vice President B.K. Chandrashekar told IANS here.

“The good economic policies of the government weren’t communicated effectively to the people of Karnataka.”

Chandrashekar said the party’s set-up was a reason for its defeat in the state election that took place on Saturday. The votes were counted on Tuesday.

“We should have strategized at least two-three years ahead of the elections by setting up a think tank in order to counter (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi’s charm,” Chandrashekar said.

“The Congress failed in communicating to the people of the state that the politics of communalism and nationalism of the BJP must be rejected.” The Congress now needs a structural reconstruction, he added.

Omar invokes Shakespeare to describe Congress defeat

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Reacting philosophically to the Congress defeat in Karnataka, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday invoked Shakespeare to describe the electoral debacle.

The National Conference leader wrote on his widely followed Twitter page: “Et tu Karnataka.”

Similar words were uttered by Julius Caesar in Shakespeare’s sublime tragedy when Caesar’s best friend Brutus stabbed him. The BJP was set to oust the Congress in the Karnataka Assembly vote count.

Ambassador Sarna slams US media for ‘negative’ portrayal of India

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Indian Ambassador to the US Navtej Singh Sarna has slammed the American media for their “negative portrayal” of India, alleging that there is a tendency among foreign journalists based in India to pick up the “exception” stories and ignore the development news.

Sarna’s remarks came during his address at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a top American think tank.

“Now, it is more a case of pity than worry. India has moved on, you haven’t,” he said when asked about the portrayal of India in the mainstream American media.

Sarna said the American media picks up the “exception” stories, while ignoring the development news.

“There is a tendency to look at the social exception… there is a dowry case, there is a caste issue… so pick it up and splash it. But if there is a start-up story for instance… (they will say) that happens everywhere. Frankly it bothers me, but I do not loose sleep over it anymore… I used to (worry),” the top Indian diplomat said.

By such a “negative” portrayal of India, Sarna said, the American media was doing “injustice” to its public.

Sarna was participating in a panel discussion during the opening session of the “US & India: From Estranged Democracies to Natural Allies” organised by the top American think-tank.

“These (negative) pieces just sound like oddities. They show the narrow mindset of the journalists, of the editor and marginalise them rather than marginalise us anymore,” the Indian Ambassador said.

“If they (the American media) want to survive and remain relevant, they should move on,” Sarna said.

Referring to his previous four-year stint at the Indian Embassy here when he was its spokesperson, Sarna said this was what he tried “correcting then, but failed miserably”.

“It is extremely important for us, but I think it’s important for the United States as well to get a correct picture of, even if I was not in India and I would say of a very important country in the world. Unfortunately, can’t tell you, I can guess at the reasons,” he said.

SC acquits Sidhu in road rage case (Lead)

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The Supreme Court on Tuesday acquitted former cricketer and Punjab Tourism Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu from culpable homicide charges in a 30-year-old road rage case for which he was awarded a three-year jail term.

A bench of Justice J. Chelameswar and Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul acquitted Sidhu of culpable homicide not amounting to murder charges but convicted him for causing simple injury and imposed a fine of Rs 1,000 without any jail term.

The court also acquitted the other accused, his cousin Rupinder Singh Sandhu, of all charges.

The incident dates to December 27, 1988 when Sidhu and his cousin had beaten up Gurnam Singh and two others in what was described as a road rage case. Gurnam Singh later died.

On April 12 this year, the Punjab government supported the decision of the Punjab and Haryana High Court convicting the minister. It told the apex court that the 65-year-old victim had died after a fist blow from the cricketer-turned-politician.

The state had said there was no evidence at all to suggest that Gurnam Singh died due to cardiac arrest and not brain haemorrhage.

In 1999, the trial court in Patiala had acquitted Sidhu and his cousin saying the medical report stated that the death was due to a heart attack.

The High Court in December 2006 had overturned the lower court’s decision. It had said that Gurnam Singh did not die of cardiac arrest but due to the injury on his temporal lobe. Sidhu was awarded three years in jail for culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

The apex court in 2007 stayed the conviction after counsel appearing for Sidhu had contended that the findings of the High Court were based on opinions and not medical evidence.

Sidhu’s lawyer had argued that there were deficiencies in the medical evidence and the prosecution witnesses had given different statements on oath before the trial court.

Siddaramaiah trailing in both seats

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Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was on Tuesday trailing in both the constituencies where he contested, officials said.

The Congress leader was way behind G.T Deve Gowda of the Janata Dal-Secular in Chamundeshwari by over 13,000 votes, Election Commission officials said.

And after leading initially, Siddaramaiah fell behind B.R. Sriramulu of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Badami constituency by 428 seats.

Bahujan Samaj Party opens account in the state

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N Mahesh,state president of the Bahujan Samaj Party(BSP) opened the party’s account in the state by emerging victorious from the Kollegal reserve constituency in Chamarajnagar district today.He had unsuccessfully contested from the same constituency during the previous 2013 Assembly elections.

It may be recalled here that the BSP had entered into an pre poll alliance with the Janata Dal Secular and as a result of such an understanding BSP was allotted 20 seats to contest. Kollegal was one such constituency where N Mallesh came second during the previous general elections.

N Mahesh defeated AR Krishnamurthy of the Congress to register the maiden victory for his party in the backward district bordering Tamil Nadu.He polled 31,362 votes garnering a vote share of 40.62 percent while his nearest rival AR Krishnamurthy bagged 24,764 votes and 32.07 share of votes polled. BN Nanjundaswamy of the BJP came third by getting 18,631 votes and 24.13 percent of votes polled.

During 2013 polls N Mahesh had got 37,209 votes and 25.40 vote share while S Jayanna,the winning Congress candidate had bagged 47,402 votes and 32.36 vote share.In fact last time the KJP of BS Yeddyurappa had played spoil sport as its candidate Balaraj S garnered 32,578 votes while GN Nanjundaswamy of the BJP had to be content with 17,089 votes.

Hindusthan Samachar/Manohar Yadavatti

BJP’s victory belongs to Modi: MP

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The BJP’s victory march in Karnataka with leads in 114 Assembly constituencies is because of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s extensive election campaign, party MP from the state Shobha Karandlaje said on Tuesday.

“The mandate is clearly against the divisive politics of the Congress and arrogance of Siddaramaiah. The victory belongs to the extensive campaign by Narendra Modi, party President Amit Shah and our Chief Ministerial candidate B.S. Yeddyurappa,” Karandlaje said here.

BJP crosses half-way mark in Karnataka, Congress concedes defeat

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The BJP was on Tuesday set to return to power in its southern bastion Karnataka as its candidates crossed the half-way mark in vote count, stunning and ousting the ruling Congress and leaving the JD-S at the third spot.

Noisy celebrations broke out in party offices in Bengaluru, New Delhi and across Karnataka as Bharatiya Janata Party nominees were on the victory lap in 118 of the 222 constituencies which voted on Saturday.

This was a dramatic jump from the 40 seats the BJP won five years ago.

The Congress, desperate to retain power in the state amid shrinking appeal nationally, suffered major blows and was ahead only in 62 seats, with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah trailing in both the constituencies he contested: Badami and Chamundeshwari.

The Congress leader was way behind G.T Deve Gowda of the Janata Dal-Secular in Chamundeshwari, Election Commission officials said. And after leading initially, Siddaramaiah fell behind B.R. Sriramulu of the BJP in Badami.

In contrast, the BJP’s Chief Ministerial face B.S. Yeddyurappa was ahead of his Congress rival by more than 11,000 votes in Shikaripura.

Energy Minister and Congress leader D.K. Shivakumar said that the numbers indicated that his party was on the way out after five years in power.

Any party or grouping will need 113 of the total 224 seats to secure a majority in the Assembly. Polling did not take place in two constituencies on Saturday.

The BJP was overjoyed. “We are in a jubilant mood because we have crossed the half-way mark. We are confident of winning,” spokesman S. Shantharam told IANS.

BJP activists and leaders celebrated noisily in both Bengaluru and New Delhi, waving party flags and shouting slogans hailing Prime Minister Narendra Modi, their main vote-getter, and party President Amit Shah.

There were also celebrations outside the residence of Yeddyurappa, who has been Chief Minister earlier too.

The Janata Dal-Secular of former Prime Minister H.D. Dewe Gowda, which has been expected to play the role of a kingmaker in the event of a hung Assembly, was leading in 40 seats — the same number it won five years ago.

As the vote count progressed, BJP leaders became assertive, saying they were confident of taking power again in Karnataka while Congress leaders began to speak about the possibility of an alliance with the JD-S.

BJP leader and Union Minister Sadanand Gowda said that there was no question of any alliance.
Union minister Prakash Javadekar, who is in charge of Karnataka, met BJP President Amit Shah in New Delhi.

Analysts said the BJP was leading in Lingayat dominated seats and the JD-S in Vokkaliga dominated areas.

Expectations of a BJP victory in Karnataka lifted the key Indian equity indices during the mid-morning trade session on Tuesday.

According to market observers, broadly subdued Asian indices and disappointing macro-economic inflation data points released on Monday capped some gains.

Sector-wise, healthy buying was witnessed in banking, capital goods, metals, consumer durables and automobile stocks.

The Sensex has so far touched a high of 35,993.53 points and a low of 35,498.83 points during the intra-day trade.

Congress Leader U T Khader says he is confident to win,

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Ulla constituency Congress leader U T Khader seemed confident of his win and also of Congress winning all the eight constituencies in Dakshina Kannada.

Addressing the press, at Eden Club on Monday, May 14 he said, “I am sure that Congress will win all the 8 constituencies in Dakshina Kannada. I am confident of my victory. Congress will form the government in state and there is no confusion over the chief minister’s post. The Congress high command will take the decision.”

He lauded the EC’s hard work for making sure the elections go smoothly. “I appreciate the Election Commission’s work on the day of election. I am thankful to all officers, staff and police for their service.”

“Meanwhile, I thank all the voters and people of the district. They showed their maturity and maintain the spirit of democracy on the day of election,” he said.

Referring to the malfunctioning EVMs in the district he said, “The Election Commission should be careful in the elections in future. Many voters did not receive voters’ slip this time. The Booth Level Officers (BLO) failed to distribute it to voters on time. Many BLOs issued the slips to local political leaders. It is said that they had distributed the voters slip only to their respective party members and followers.

Meanwhile it is also said that door numbers were not mentioned in the voters’ slip. Hence, the BLOs faced difficulties to distribute it to voters.”

“It is said that many officers allowed people to vote without any ID proofs. They allowed voters’ to vote on the basis of voters’ slip. This will lead to duplicate voting. So, the next time, Election Commission should rectify these issues. I will write a letter to them regarding this,” he added.

“In my last tenure, I handed two departments. I sincerely worked for the people of the state. Both the departments secured national awards and I am satisfied with my work as a minister of Health and Food and Civil Supplies,” he said.

Congress leaders Imithiyaz, Prashanth and others were also present at the meet.

PTI

Nawaz Sharif Defends 26/11 Attacks Admission, Says ‘What’s Wrong in What I Said’

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Pakistan’s ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Monday defended his recent remarks about the 2008 Mumbai terror attack, saying he will speak the truth no matter what the consequences are.

Sharif, for the first time, publicly acknowledged in an interview that militant organizations are active in Pakistan and questioned the policy to allow the “non-state actors” to cross the border and “kill” people in Mumbai.

Sharif’s comments have stirred a controversy in Pakistan, prompting the National Security Committee to call a high-level meeting to reject the statement.

Sharif’s response today on the controversy is contradictory to the stance taken by his party, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, whose president Shahbaz Sharif said on Sunday that the party “rejects all claims made in the report, be they direct or indirect”, Dawn newspaper reported.

“What did I say that was wrong in the interview?” 68-year-old Sharif asked while talking to reporters outside an accountability court in Islamabad, where he is facing corruption charges.

After the publication of Sharif’s interview on Saturday, his party issued a clarification, saying that the Indian media had “grossly misinterpreted” his remarks.

Sharif on Monday dispelled the notion that the comments were falsely attributed to him, saying that he will speak the truth come what may.

“Former president Pervez Musharraf, former interior minister Rehman Malik and former National Security Adviser Major-General (retd) Mehmood Durrani had already confirmed [what I said],” he added.

Nawaz regretted that those who ask questions are being termed traitors in the media.

“Despite our 50,000 sacrifices [of lives], why is the world not paying heed to our narrative? And the person who is asking this question has been labeled a traitor.”

He also called out those local media outlets that had criticised his words. “I am being called a traitor on the media they [the media] are being made to call me a traitor.”

“Are those who tore apart the country and the Constitution patriots? Are those who pulled out judges from their offices patriots?”

“Will speak the truth no matter what the consequences are,” he said.

When a reporter pointed to Sharif’s acknowledgment of the presence of “non-state actors” in the country, his daughter Maryam, who was accompanying him, replied: “So then who was Zarb-i-Azb [military operation] conducted against?”

Operation Zarb-e-Azb was a joint military offensive conducted by the Pakistan Armed Forces against various militant group in 2014.

According to Dawn newspaper, differences within the ruling party surfaced following the issuance of contradictory statements by the Sharif brothers on the issue.

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