Former minister Iqbal Ansari would be the Congress candidate for the Koppal Lok Sabha seat, former chief minister Siddaramaiah announced on Sunday.

The announcment was made by Siddaramaiah during a visit to Ansari’s house at Gangavathi in the district.

The announcement by the chairman of the coalition co-ordination committee has come as a rude shock to the other aspirants, it is said.

Siddaramaiah said injustice was meted out to Ansari during the last Assembly elections. So, he would be given the the ticket this time, the former chief minister said.

Raghavendra Hitnal, the Koppal MLA, former MP K Virupakshappa, Shivaramegowda, former ministers Basavaraj Rayareddi and Shivaraj Tangadagi are the other aspirants for the Congress ticket from the constituency.

Agencies

Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, BJP state president BS Yeddyurappa and other top leaders cancelled their scheduled programmes and rushed to the Siddaganga Mutt.

Announcing the seer’s demise at Siddaganga, Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, flanked by deputy CM G Parmeshwara and Karnataka BJP chief BS Yeddyurappa, said the Swamiji breathed his last at 11:44am and the last rites would be held on Tuesday at 4:30. 

The CM also announced a three-day mourning period. “The state government declares a three-day state mourning and one-day holiday for all schools, colleges and government offices,” Kumaraswamy said.\

The Lingayat seer had been in and out of hospitals for the past two months.

Dr Paramesh Shivana, the head of Siddaganga Hospital where the Swamiji was being treated, informed the media that the seer’s protein levels and blood pressure were found to be low early on Monday. 

Kumaraswamy, Parameshwara and Home Minister MB Patil, along with the district administration and others, will be holding a meeting to discuss security arrangements and to check the precautionary measures to be put in place.

Yeddyurappa, Union minister DV Sadananda Gowda and BJP MP Shobha Karandlaje cancelled their scheduled programmes and rushed to the Mutt.

Reports say helipads are being set up around the Mutt and Tumkur industrial area for the arrival of VIPs. Many devotees from different parts of Karnataka have also started arriving at the Mutt, hoping to pay last respects to the Swamiji. Traffic on National Highway-48 towards Tumkuru has been diverted to different routes due to the huge crowds assembling near the Mutt.

The chief pontiff of the Siddaganga Mutt, Dr. Shivakumara Swamiji, was also fondly called Nadedaduva Devaru or ‘the Walking God’ by many. The Lingayat seer also headed the Sree Siddaganga Education Society which runs more than 100 educational institutions across the state.

On his centenary in 2007, the then Karnataka government had conferred the Karnataka Ratna, the highest civilian award in the state, to the seer. In 2015, the Government of India awarded him the Padma Bhushan. Kumaraswamy has urged the Centre to confer the prestigious Bharat Ratna on the seer. 

CM Kumaraswamy said that he would personally write, as well as meet the PM with this request. “Honours like the Bharat Ratna will have value when it recognises people like Swamiji,” Kumaraswami said on Friday.

Agencies

Former chief minister Siddaramaiah has called another Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting at 11 am even as the party MLAs remain holed up in a Bengaluru resort, fearing poaching attempts by the BJP. All eyes will be on four legislators who had failed to turn up at the last CLP meeting, triggering another round of hide-and-seek in the southern state. 

The meeting comes a day after the Congress sent notices to the four ‘rebel’ MLAs, seeking an explanation for their absence from the previous CLP meeting, asking why no action should be taken against them under the anti-defection law.

More recently, MLAs Anand Singh and JN Ganesh were involved in a ‘minor fight’ at the Eagleton resort that highlighted the urgency of the meeting, ANI quoted Congress leader Zameer Ahmed saying.

MLAs Ramesh Jarkiholi, B Nagendra, Umesh Jadhav and Mahesh Kumatahalli had skipped the CLP meeting on Friday, triggering speculation that the BJP was attempting to dislodge the HD Kumaraswamy-led coalition government through another round of ‘Operation Lotus’.

Ahead of Monday’s meeting, Siddaramaiah issued notices to all party MLAs, warning that their absence would be viewed “seriously” and action initiated according to the anti-defection law.

Top Congress sources had said Friday that at least eight party MLAs have “committed” themselves to BJP. The JD(S) and Congress have, however, expressed confidence that the government would 

arnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy has said that his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee, saying she is a “good administrator” and has all capabilities of leading the country.

Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy has said that people of the country were totally “disappointed” with the administration of Narendra Modi and heaped praise on his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee, saying she is a “good administrator” and has all capabilities of leading the country.

The Janata Dal (Secular) leader, however, maintained that leadership was not the pressing issue at hand and the opposition needs to focus on ways and ideas to win the polls.

In an interview to media, the Karnataka chief minister said, “According to me, deciding on the leadership is not a criterion to win the polls. People of the country are totally disappointed with the administration of Narendra Modi. Several states have their own problems. It is not necessary to select a leader before the elections.

“There are effective leaders, who can move in a big way for the development of the country. They can make headway in areas where the previous governments have failed. But we can sit and select our leader after the elections are over,” he said.

Kumaraswamy, who was part of the Trinamool Congress-led mega opposition rally — United India Rally – held in Kolkata on Saturday, also said that Banerjee has the abilities to run the country.

“She (Mamata) is simplest of the simple and a very good administrator. I believe that Mamata ji has all the capabilities of leading the country. And she has already proved herself by leading West Bengal for so many years.” Drawing parallels with the situation the country in 1977 when Prime Minister Indira Gandhi faced revolt from various quarters, Kumaraswamy said, “The present scenario is quite similar to that period. Even the politicians sat together and select their leader. This time, too, I think we will also have no problem in doing that.” The Janata Dal (Secular) leader asserted that the Mahagatbandhan would be “an alternate to the national party”.

“Several states have their own problems. Each of them have regional leaders who are as strong as national party members. And these regional parties will play a crucial role in the elections. This time people are going to bless them.” Talking about the absence of Telangana Chief Minister KCR at the mega rally called by Banerjee, Kumaraswamy said, “I think after the elections everybody will join. Everybody will come together. I am quite hopeful.” Incidentally, KCR had came down to Kolkata to meet Banerjee last month for a discussion on the grand alliance. He, however, stated that his efforts for a non-BJP and non-Congress alliance would continue.

Heaping praises on Banerjee for bringing together opposition leaders on a same platform, the Karnataka CM said, “Mamata ji did a great job in organizing the rally. She had even requested the Left to join her. This shows her generosity in her tactics in fighting the BJP government. She is ready to make compromises to take our fight to the next level.” Setting the tone for the Lok Sabha polls, leaders from 22 opposition parties came together at the mega rally here on Saturday and declared they will put up a united fight to oust the Narendra Modi government.

Agencies

By Saeed Naqvi 

The BJP in Kerala may have boosted its saffron image on the Sabrimala issue but is unlikely to gain much electoral advantage in 2019. That has been the pattern for decades: it has zero conversion rate even though it has a vote share of 10 percent. It would certainly like to weaken, harm, destroy the CPI-M. Towards this end it has to direct its cadres to quietly help the Congress. But in this instance it is not inclined to augment Congress numbers in New Delhi.

K. Karunakaran, as the Kerala Congress maestro, had mastered the art of playing “footsy” under the table with the RSS. Victory margins in Kerala were generally slim. Whenever it suited both the parties, the RSS cadres were injected into the process, thus improving Congress chances. In 1989, the wily, Karunakaran went one better. Holding the BJP with one hand, he gripped the Muslim League?s hand with the other.

Kerala-UP linkages were brought into play even in the aftermath of the “Shilanyas” or the brick laying ceremony in Ayodhya. On November 10, 1989, Rajiv Gandhi was the darling of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) because in violation of the Allahabad High Court order, he allowed the Shilanyas to take place on disputed land, precisely what the VHP demanded. His officials were instructed to put out the story that the brick laying ceremony was done “a good 100 metres from the disputed area”. But the truth was leaked by the VHP, out to prove its muscle.

The VHP, in seventh heaven because of the turn in Ayodhya, paid Rajiv Gandhi back in Kerala by instructing its cadres to help the Congress. But despite all exertions, Rajiv Gandhi, who had won 400 seats in 1984, lost the 1989 elections.

This somewhat extended focus on an election this reporter was witness to may help understand facets of the electoral battle ahead. Note how the Congress mistakes tactics for strategy with unerring frequency.

For Uttar Pradesh 2019, a seat sharing formula had been suggested some months ago. BJP?s stunning victory in the state for Lok Sabha in 2014 had not been with wide margins. Based on this fact a formula was suggested. The Samajwadi Party (SP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) and the Congress would be given tickets for seats wherever they came second in 2014. By this formula the BSP, SP, Congress and RLD would be entitled to 34, 31, 5 and 2 seats give or take a few. That Congress performance in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chattisgarh entitles it to more seats in UP is now purely theoretical because the BSP, SP (and possibly RLD) deal has been sealed and delivered. By announcing its intention to contest all 80 seats, the Congress is helping nobody except possibly the BJP.

The Congress cannot have forgotten the panic which gripped it when all assessments indicated the party might be a cypher in UP in 2014. Week after week, Sonia Gandhi?s side-kick in Rae Bareli and Amethi, Kishori Lal Sharma, twiddled his thumbs waiting in vain for Priyanka Gandhi?s promised visitations. To look after the two family fiefdoms was the therapy assigned to her. But she would not show up. Only the fear of her mother and brother losing in their citadels spurred her to action. In a week of effective campaigning, beaming an Indira Gandhi like charisma, she did help keep her family in Parliament.

That was just four and a half years ago. To play spoilsport in UP now will diminish the party. There is so much else to play for. Look, how ham handedly the BJP has played its hand on the Citizen?s Bill in Assam. Here is a chance for Rahul Gandhi to try recover its turf in the North East. It is generally believed that the Congress lost the brilliant organization man, Himanta Biswa Sarma, to the BJP by treating him high handedly when Sarma came to consult the Congress President. Apparently, the duration of the meeting was spent with Rahul feeding biscuits to his dog.

There is a profound lesson for the BJP and an opportunity for the Congress opening up in the North East. There will be far reaching consequences for the BJP in the lesson it is about to learn. There are limits to Hindu consolidation that can be affected by targeting minorities. The party?’s hands were more or less forced when Prime Minister V.P. Singh dusted up the Mandal committee report providing reservation to other Backward Castes (OBCs). That was the context of L.K. Advani?s Rath Yatra and the movement to build the Ram Temple. The rest is familiar history.

The RSS and its creatures like the BJP have never quite accepted the centuries old caste pyramid being exposed to western notions of democracy, upward mobility, social justice. There is a huge, visceral resistance to ideas of equality in a system which, in this life, is inherently unequal, where upward mobility is only possible in a series of lives hereafter. Communalism, therefore, does not only feed on imagined or real historical wrongs alone. It is, in effect, also a strategy to keep the caste pyramid from keeling over.

In Assam and the North East, the faultline is not caste but Bengalis versus Assamese and plainsmen versus the tribes. The situation is custom made for constructive intervention by the Congress.

In West Bengal the Congress presents a confused picture. A small section is willing to go along with Mamata Banerjee. Of the 44 Congress MLAs, eight have crossed over to Mamata?s Trinamool Congress. At her rally in Kolkata, Mamata pointedly invited Sonia Gandhi, ignoring Rahul Gandhi. The upshot is that the Congress will send a senior leader to the rally. In other words the party will remain on talking terms with Mamata without letting her dictate the terms of endearment. But if the Congress is on talking terms with Mamata so far, CPI-M Secretary General Sitaram Yechury’?s insistence to hold the Congress hand in Kolkata must await clarity. Also, the Congress is fighting the CPI-M tooth and nail in Kerala. Should that also not require some clarity?

Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy has called an emergency special meeting at Tumkur Math on Monday afternoon when Dr Shivakumar Swamiji’s health condition in Tumkur Siddaganga Math has been worsening.

CM Kumaraswamy will soon take an emergency meeting with the ruling council, senior officials, younger swamiji, DCM Parameshwar, home minister MB Patil, BS Yeddyurappa and V Somanna in the monastery after coming to Mysore from Tumkur.H

More than 8,000 policemen have been deployed in major locations including Tumkur’s outer zone in the wake of the precautionary measures. Police have also been assigned to Bangalore and Tumkur National Highway Toll Gates.

He will also hold a meeting of five top police superintendents including Tumkur. The Tumkur Deputy Commissioner and SP will be accompanied by police officials, the report said.

:The LED has been planned to be installed around the monastery and the LD vehicle has come in this direction. Helipads are being built. Important entrances have been closed. There was a clash between the police and the public in this regard.S

There has been some recovery in Srirang’s health. Many specialist doctors are being called by Bangalore. Devotees do not have to come to the monastery for the vision of Sree. Pray for Suresh’s recovery from wherever you are. Please do not need any confusion about Srirangam’s health, said Dr Paramesh, a psychiatrist.

Nasheman News : Sabarimala temple custodian, the Travancore Devasom Board (TDB), on Monday extended time to Tantri Kantararu Rajeeveru to explain why a “purification” ritual was conducted following the visit of two women devotees to the Lord Ayyappa shrine just after New Year, said a board official.

“Till Sunday he was at Sabarimala. Now that he is free, he might have to take opinion from others before he gives his reply. So we gave him another 15 days time,” TDB president A. Padmakumar told the media here.

“Generally when a normal purification ritual is done, the tantri does not need to take the permission of the TDB, but what happened on January 2, was not a normal one,” Padmakumar added.

The temple was shut for an hour around 10.30 a.m., on January 2, for “purification rituals” after Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan confirmed two women — Bindu Ammini and Kanaka Durga, belonging to the hitherto banned age group — completed a ‘darshan’ at 3.30 a.m. in Sabarimala. 

“We have asked for an explanation from him (Rajeeveru), why the TDB permission was not sought,” said Padmakumar.

On January 4, after serving the notice to the tantri, Padmakumar said the purification ritual went against the directive of the Supreme Court that on September 28 allowed all women entry inside the shrine.

Action against the tantri for closing the shrine to conduct the “purification” ritual would depend on his explanation of the action, especially as Vijayan had asked the TDB to take a serious look into the matter.

Confirming the entry of Kanaka Durga and Bindu Ammini then, the Chief Minister had said that the state abided by the apex court directive and had come down heavily on the tantri for the blatant violation.

Vijayan had said that Rajeeveru has every right as a person to differ with the court order but if he was not able to digest the verdict, he could well have quit his post.

Nasheman News : Calling ailing Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar the “architect of modern Goa”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday prayed for his quick recovery.

“I wish my best friend … well and hope for his quick recovery. He is indeed the architect of modern Goa. And I salute his efforts at work despite being ill,” Modi said, in response to a question from a party worker in Goa during video conference.

Parrikar is suffering from advanced pancreatic cancer and has been in and out of hospitals in Goa, Mumbai, Delhi and New York since February 2018.

Modi said both the state government as well as the Central government were making efforts to resume mining in the state, which was banned by the Supreme Court in February 2018.

“Goa’s economy is hinged on mining,” he said.

Mining was banned in the state by the apex court, citing irregularities in mining lease renewal procedures.

The BJP has accused former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah of accepting a 2019 Mercedes Benz sedan as a gift from Congress MLA Byrathi Suresh from Bengaluru’s Hebbal constituency. The car is touted to cost an estimated Rs 1.8 crore. Incidentally, Byrathi Suresh is one of the richest MLas in Karnataka with his election affidavit saying he has assets worth Rs 416 crore.

This is not the first time that such a controversy has erupted in Karnataka.

Though Suresh has denied these allegations and has claimed that he gave the car to the former CM for a ride once, the BJP insists that the car was a quid pro quo. Suresh had recently been posted as the chairman of the Karnataka State Small Industries Development Corporation recently.

“Congress MLA Byrathi Suresh gifts Sri siddaramaiah a Mercedes-Benz car worth 1.5 crore. Wears spectacle costing ₹2 Lakh. Wore 80 lakh worth hublot watch Siddaramaiah vere looks like you have made enough & more money during your 10% govt,” the party said in a tweet.

sSpeaking to media, Suresh claimed, “It’s my car. It’s the one I use to travel. It’s registered under my wife’s name. I did not gift it to Siddaramaiah. I only let him use it once. Is that wrong? Wouldn’t you let your friends ride your car if they need to? It was not a gift. Please try to understand.”

Congress senior leader and Water Resources Minister DK Shivakumar too tried to downplay the allegation saying, “There is no gift or anything. We also sometimes take our friends’ vehicle to travel. There is no issue. Is there any record that he has received a gift or anything? Nothing, no record.”

former Lokayukta and SC judge Santosh Hegde had said any government official or party leader should declare any gift worth above Rs 5,000 as per rules.

sA controversy had erupted in 2016 when the Congress had accused BS Yeddyurappa of accepting an SUV worth Rs 1 crore from BJP leader Murugesh Nirani. The Congress had alleged that Nirani had gifted Yeddyurappa the SUV so he could be comfortable while travelling for his “drought-tour”. Yeddyurappa had denied allegations that the car was a gift and stated that he had returned it to Nirani.

The Hublot watch controversy also took broke out in early 2016 during Siddaramaiah’s tenure as Chief Minister.

At a time, when the state was reeling under extreme drought and farmers were committing suicide, Siddaramaiah had appeared in public sporting the diamond studded luxury watch costing over Rs 70 lakh. He claimed it to be a gift from a long time friend currently residing in the Middle East. The BJP had then claimed that Siddaramaiah’s goggles are also of a luxury brand which allegedly cost a minimum of Rs 50,000. However, Siddaramaiah claimed that they were collectively not worth more than Rs 5 lakh.

Then opposition leaders— former CM BS Yeddyurappa of the BJP and current CM HD Kumaraswamy had even asked for a CBI enquiry on the issue. Later, Siddaramaiah had to hand over the watch to then Speaker Kagodu Thimmappa who declared it to be the property of the state legislature.