Former Karnataka Minister T B Jayachandra on Friday sparked a row by raking up Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement during demonetisation that he would not get bogged down even if he was burnt alive for the decision, drawing the BJP’s ire.

The Bharatiya Janata Party dubbed the Congress leader’s remark “outrageous and despicable.”

“The prime minister had sought 50 days time to set things right (after demonetisation). He had asked people to set him on fire alive if he failed to overcome this test ..probably the time has come to burn him alive,” Jayachandra said Friday at Tumkuru.

Making an emotional appeal at a function in Goa in November 2016, Modi had said there were certain forces up against him that may not let him live and destroy him due to his decision on demonetisation. He had asserted that he would not get bogged down even if he was burnt alive.

The former minister said if the prime minister has any faith in democracy, he should step down immediately.

The BJP’s Karnataka unit president B S Yeddyurappa condemned the statement, saying “This is absolutely an outrageous statement by any standard and by any parameter.

What is shocking is that such a despicable statement has come from Jayachandra, who had functioned as the law and parliamentary affairs minister of our state.”

Yeddyurappa wanted to know if Congress state unit president Dinesh Gundu Rao endorsed Jayachandra’s statement.

PTI

 BSP chief Mayawati on Friday demanded an apology from Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the “painful and forced” demonetization he ordered two years back.

In a statement, the former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister said that so far none of the benefits propagated by Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in justification of the note ban had come true.

“Facts and data prove that the nation and its people have suffered the hasty decision of demonetization and that like its other poll promises this too was a bundle of lie,” Mayawati said.

She charged the Prime Minister and the BJP with breaking the spine of the honest and hard working people and creating joblessness while helping their favourites in turning black money into white.

The BJP acquired massive property in the run up to the demonetization, Mayawati said.

A party which took power in 2014 with the promise of ‘acche din’ (good days) has done nothing for people’s welfare, farmers and the poor, she pointed out.

She termed the ban on Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes ordered in November 2016 a result of the “ego and dictatorial attitude of a single man” — referring obviously to Modi.

IANS

Chief Minister (CM) HD Kumarawamy is expected to visit New Delhi in the coming week to discuss the cabinet expansion and appointments to boards and corporations with the Congress leadership.

It may be recalled that the cabinet expansion had been initially deferred owing to the ‘inauspicious’ month of Ashada. Later it was postponed following the announcement of the bypolls. In a recent meeting, former prime minister H D Deve Gowda has given his green signal for the Cabinet expansion.

If sources are to be believed Kumaraswamy will hold talks with state Congress leaders before proceeding to hold discussions with Congress chief Rahul Gandhi in the national capital.

Senior Congress leaders, including former chief minister Siddaramaiah, deputy chief minister G Parameshwara, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee President Dinesh Gundu Rao and Water Resources Minister D K Shivakumar are also likely to visit Delhi.

PTI

A Goa-based activist on Friday threatened to go on a fast unto death if ailing Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar did not resign and hand over the reins of the state administration to a “physically fit” successor.

“Goa needs a fully fit Chief Minister who can dedicate his time and resources to find solutions to problems confronting the state. If Parrikar, who has been ill for a long time now, does not hand over charge by November 16, I along with my colleagues from other NGOs will sit on a fast unto death,” Rajan Ghate, the Right To Information (RTI) activist said in a press conference here.

The conference was also addressed by members of the Goa Citizen’s Action Forum (GCAF) and representatives of another state-based NGO Nari Adhikar.

“I am giving the BJP-led Goa government a notice of seven days’ time to announce a solution to the issues like rising unemployment, loss of jobs, spread of gambling and casino culture and the failure of Parrikar to allocate important portfolios like Home, Finance, Industries,” Ghate said.

Parrikar is suffering from advanced pancreatic cancer and has been in and out of hospitals in Goa, Mumbai, New York and Delhi for nearly nine months.

He returned from New Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences on October 14 and has not moved out of his private residence, for any official event since.

He has however chaired meetings with top bureaucrats, party officials and local industrialists over the last few days.

IANS

A Flybe flight plummeted 500ft in 18 seconds after an incorrect autopilot setting caused it to aim for the ground, an investigation has found.

Forty-four passengers and four crew were on board the flight from Belfast City Airport to Glasgow Airport when the incident occurred shortly after take-off on January 11.

A report by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) stated that autopilot was engaged when the Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 turboprop plane reached an altitude of 1,350 feet.

The aircraft continued to climb to 1,500ft but it “pitched nose-down and then descended rapidly” because autopilot was mistakenly set with a target altitude of zero feet.

Cockpit alarms alerted the captain and first officer to what was happening. They later reported they had “become visual with the ground”.

The captain disconnected autopilot and recovered the aircraft, having dropped to 928ft.

The maximum rate of descent of 4,300 feet per minute during the event suggests the aircraft may have hit the ground just a few seconds later if the crew had not intervened.

They continued the flight to Glasgow and landed without incident.

The AAIB concluded that the crew’s selection of a particular autopilot mode before take off led to the zero altitude target.

Autopilot systems are used to automatically control aircraft.

Flybe has taken several safety measures in response to the incident, including revisions to simulator training and amendments to pilots’ pre-take off checklists.

A spokeswoman for the airline said: “Flybe maintains a rigorous approach to ensuring the very highest flying standards are maintained.

“As reported by the AAIB, Flybe implemented remedial actions quickly in response to the incident and our training and procedures have been amended to minimise the risk of a reoccurrence.

“Flybe operates over 158,000 flights a year and the safety of our passengers and crew remains our number one priority.”

Press Association

On the second anniversary of demonetisation, he also said that there was nothing innocent about this “scam” and claimed that drawing any other meaning out of it was an insult to the intelligence of the nation.

Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on Thursday alleged that demonetisation was a planned “brutal conspiracy” and a “shrewd scheme” to convert the black money of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “suit-booted friends”.

On the second anniversary of demonetisation, he also said that there was nothing innocent about this “scam” and claimed that drawing any other meaning out of it was an insult to the intelligence of the nation.

Gandhi’s remarks came after former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s scathing assessment of the demonetisation exercise. He said the “scars and wounds” it caused are getting more visible with time and the decision’s second anniversary is a day to remember how “economic misadventures” can roil the nation.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley made a strong defence, saying demonetisation resulted in formalisation of economy and increased tax base, with the government earmarking more resources for the poor and infrastructure development. “Note ban was a premeditated brutal conspiracy. This scam was a shrewd scheme to convert the black money of Prime Minister’s suit-booted friends to white. Nothing was innocent in this scam. Drawing any other meaning of it would be an insult of the intelligence of the nation,” Gandhi tweeted in Hindi.

PTI

All the four Indian-American Democrat members of the House of Representatives were re-elected in Tuesday’s election and a member of the community won the Attorney General’s position in Wisconsin state.

Raja Krishnamoorthi, who represents a constituency near Chicago in Illinois, won about 66 percent of the votes to defeat his Indian-American challenger J.D. Diganvker of the Republican Party.

The other House candidates re-elected were Pramila Jeyapal from Washington State, and Ro Khanna and Ami Bera from California.

Together with the only Senator of Indian descent, Kamala Harris, they make up what they themselves jokingly call “The Samosa Caucus,” Harris won from California in 2016 did not face a re-election as she has a six-year term.

None of the other Indian Americans running for Congress made it.

In a sign of the Indian-American community’s growing political involvement, Democrat Josh Kaul was elected Attorney General of Wisconsin in a tight race with a margin of about 1 percent of the votes, although his victory is likely to be challenged by his Republican rival.

He will be the second Indian-American Attorney General. The first is Gurbir Grewal, a turban-wearing Sikh, in New Jersey where Attorneys General are not elected but appointed by the Governor.

Kaul is the fourth Indian-American to win a state-wide election, which sets the stage for him to run for other higher offices. The first was Piyush Bobby Jindal, elected Louisiana governor in 2007 who was followed by Nikki Haley, elected South Carolina governor in 2010; both are Republicans. The third is Harris.

Shiva Ayyadurai, who ran as an Independent against Massachusetts Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, lost badly, getting only about 3.5 percent of the votes.

Warren has claimed Native American or American Indian ancestry and Ayyadurai ran a controversial campaign with the headline, “Only a real Indian can defeat a fake Indian’.

At least seven other Indians ran for Congress on Democratic Party tickets but lost according to a database of the Indian American Impact Fund and Desis for Progress, which had endorsed them.

Harry Arora, who ran for the House as a Republican from Connecticut, lost.

The database also showed that six Indian-American Democrats had been elected to State legislatures for the first time.

Industrialist and former parliamentarian L. Rajagopal has tried to stop police from searching the residence of his friend, an official said.

Late on Thursday, Rajagopal rushed to businessman G.P. Reddy’s house on Jubliee Hills after learning that the police have arrived there.

He questioned the officers’ action without a search warrant.

The former Lok Sabha member from Andhra Pradesh entered into a heated argument with the officers present. At one point he stopped them from entering the house.

He also alleged that the police were harassing Reddy by conducting midnight searches despite his friend extending cooperation in the probe into a civil case.

When a sub-inspector was speaking with his senior on the phone, Rajagopal snatched the device and vented his ire on the person across the line.

He said Inspector General of Police Nagi Reddy was behind the search.

A case was registered against Reddy for allegedly faking documents related to a land belonging to a police official.

Deputy Commissioner of Police A.R. Srinivas clarified that police had gone to the Reddy house as part of the ongoing probe and it has the right to question an accused at any time.

IANS