There is no silence if the government does the same. The state government will call for a rebellion against the BJP, “said Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy on Thursday.

Speaking to the media, I said, The statement was quoted as saying whether the people of the state should wait.

At the same time, I did not name anybody as King Pin, but why did Somashekhar touch him?

I was not quoted as saying that Yeddyurappa was born on Thursday morning, a senior party activist who had stirred up the allegation against Yeddyurappa. The government said that I knew what to do with it. Yeddyurappa’s central government has come forward to say that we will release the record of corruption in the evening.

The CM said the Congress and the JD (S) MLAs would go to Maharashtra’s resort on the one hand and asked whether the government would remain.

PTI

Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy would meet the public at his home-office in the city centre only once in a month, instead every week, an official said on Thursday.

“Doctors have advised him to meet people once a month,” an official from the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) told IANS here.

Kumaraswamy, 58, who underwent a heart surgery in 2017, was meeting at least 3,000 people every week during the ‘Janata Darshan’ (public interface) to listen to their grievances.

“The Chief Minister was developing fever and respiratory issues after the meetings which last over 12 hours and the doctors have advised him to hold them once a month,” the official added.

Besides the Janata Darshan, started on September 1, at least 150 people are lining up outside the Chief Minister’s home-office every morning since he took office on May 23, seeking his intervention on various issues.

In July, about 250 unemployed youth from across the state were offered jobs after a special team from the CMO tied up with various companies to provide employment on Kumaraswamy’s directions.

Several poor people also come to the Chief Minister seeking help with housing, pension and other benefits from the state.

(IANS)

The RSS would never accept the Muslims even if they agreed to build not just the Ram temple in Ayodhya but many other temples, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati said on Thursday.

She also slammed the Narendra Modi government’s move on the ‘triple talaq’ ordinance, calling it “politically motivated”.

Reacting to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat’s observation on Wednesday that if the Muslims themselves build the Ram temple in Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh it would help mitigate the animosity between the Hindus and Muslims, she said she did not agree with this.

“We don’t agree with this logic. Even if the Muslims make many more temples the narrow-minded Hindus will never mend fences with the Muslims because their basic mentality is anti-Muslim, anti-Dalit and anti-minorities,” Mayawati said in a statement.

Warning people to guard against the RSS and BJP leaders’ efforts to divide society on religious lines, the Dalit leader said that “they say one thing and do another”.

She alleged that the RSS’ “communal and casteist” face had come to the fore after the BJP came to power at the Centre and in many states.

The former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister said that Bhagwat’s three-day outreach programme was a ploy to distract public attention from the burning issues of poverty, hunger, price rise, unemployment and corruption.

“The RSS has put everything at stake for the BJP. Now that the discontent against the Narendra Modi government is at its peak, the RSS is also jittery,” the Dalit leader said.

She said that had the Sangh’s ideology been so humane, pro-people and respecting the Constitution of India, the organisation would not have faced a ban thrice after Independence.

On the ‘triple talaq’ ordinance cleared by the Union Cabinet, Mayawati said: “The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is doing politics on such sensitive issues to deflect public attention from its failures. Had it not been a politically motivated move, the government would have agreed to send the triple talaq bill pending in the Rajya Sabha to a Select Committee for comprehensive discussion.”

(IANS)

The Congress on Thursday demanded Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s resignation accusing her of “misleading” the country after former HAL chief T.S. Raju refuted her claim that the defence undertaking did not have the capability to build Rafale fighter jets.

Leading the charge, Congress President Rahul Gandhi earlier in the day tweeted: “The RM (Rafale Minister) tasked with defending corruption has been caught lying again.

“The former HAL chief, T.S. Raju, has nailed her lie that Hindustan Aeronautics Limited didn’t have the capability to build the Rafale. Her position is untenable and she must resign.”

Subsequently former Union Minister Manish Tewari citing Raju’s assertions made to a national daily, reiterated the demand for the Defence Minister’s resignation.

He said the Modi government’s “web of lies” surrounding the controversial defence deal has been demolished.

Besides asserting that the Bengaluru-headquartered Hindustan Aeronautics Limited’s (HAL) capability of building the French fighter jets, Raju also claimed that Dassault and the state-owned aerospace and a defence company had signed a mutual work-share contract and given it to the government.

“Raju, who retired on September 1, has absolutely demolished the entire case that the Modi government has tried to build in the last few months.

“He has not only asserted HAL’s capability but also revealed about the signing of a mutual work-share contract with Dassault Aviation (the French aircraft manufacturer of the fighter jet at the centre of the controversy).

“In the light of clear and unequivocal statement of facts by the former head of HAL, we demand the resignation of the Defence Minister on the charge of misleading the people of the country,” Tewari told the media here.

He also endorsed Raju’s call for the Modi government to make public the files concerning the deal.

Targeting both Prime Minister Modi and Sitharaman, Tewari reiterated the Congress’ demand for a Joint Parliamentary Probe into the deal announced in 2015.

The fresh attack against the Modi government came a day after the Congress on Wednesday approached Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) Rajiv Mehrishi seeking a special and forensic audit into the deal which has caused “loss” to the exchequer and “endangered” national security.

IANS

Ambassadors of Iceland, the Netherlands, Guinea, Lithuania and Luxembourg presented their credentials to President Ram Nath Kovind at a ceremony held at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Thursday.

The envoys who presented their credentials are Iceland Ambassador Gudmundur Arni Stefansson; the Netherlands Ambassador Marten van den Berg; Guinea Ambassador Fatoumata Balde; Lithuania Ambassador Julius Pranevicius; and Luxembourg Ambassador Jean Claude Kugener.

(IANS)

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday slammed the BJP for “controlling the media” by filing police cases against journalists. Kejriwal levelled the allegation following a BJP worker’s complaint against several journalists for reporting that he washed a party MP’s feet and drank the dirty water.

On Monday, a video clip had gone viral, showing Jharkhand BJP worker Pawan Kumar Sah washing MP Nishikant Dubey’s feet at a function in Godda district and drinking the collected water. Sah alleged that he was being “hounded” by reporters since then.

“Every day, people from TV channels call me and threaten me with derogatory words. They are continuously trying to damage my image in social circles and this has affected my health,” Sah complained to Godda police.

Kejriwal’s reaction came on Twitter after Leader of Opposition in Bihar, Tejashwi Yadav, shared a copy of Sah’s complaint.

“So far, the BJP was controlling the media by controlling advertisers and through money. But now, it seems it has decided to file police cases against the media if it dares to question the shameful acts of its MPs,” Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo Kejriwal said.

Tejashwi Yadav wrote on Twitter: “Instead of apologising for his shameful conduct, Dubey (getting his dirty feet washed by a poor man who then drank that water) is bullying and trying to intimidate people in the media and social media through cases through his proxies.”

(IANS)

Following the removal of flex banners across Bengaluru, the Karnataka High Court, led by Chief Justice Dinesh Maheshwari, came down heavily on the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and told them to ensure that the city is free of potholes by Thursday.

“It should be zero potholes by tomorrow. It is your job. How you go about it is up to you. Bengaluru has to be put back on its glory from every angle. If you cannot do it, then we would have to take a call. The city cannot be left to anybody’s mercy”  a Division Bench of CJ Maheshwari and Justice SG Pandit observed, according to The TImes of India.

While hearing a PIL filed by Vijayan Menon of the Citizens Action Forum and others, the bench also noted that potholes were a minor part of the larger traffic problem. The PIL had sought a direction from the court to ask the Palike to submit an action plan to fix potholes, and also to introduce a system to record complaints about the condition of roads in the city. Furthermore, the petitioners sought a method to award compensation to victims of road accident due to the deplorable condition of the roads.

“Are your officers not ashamed of this action of counting potholes,” the bench asked, when it was told that the city had 1,600 potholes, reported media.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court had also taken note and said that the situation was “frightening” when it was told that a total of 3,597 lives were lost across the country due to potholes.

Reacting to the HC’s observation, BBMP Commissioner N Manjunath Prasad said, “The work on filling potholes has been going on almost every day, except on days it rains. A standing instruction has been given to all officers to ensure the roads are pothole-free at the earliest.”

PTI

Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy dropped a bombshell on Thursday, claiming that the BJP was planning to use “military logistics” to poach Congress and JDS MLAs to topple his government in the state.

Launching a scathing attack on state BJP president BS Yeddyurappa, he said that the desperate BJP was using every trick in the book to engineer mass defections from the coalition to form its government by hook or crook.

“The BJP and Yeddyurappa have crossed all limits. They are telling some of our MLAs that they will take them to Mumbai and Pune and bring them back to Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru for a floor test by military planes. What is this?” he asked while speaking to reporters.

He further alleged that the BJP has offered Rs 5 crore in cash among other things to MLAs. “Yeddyurappa and the BJP maintain that they are not toppling the government and they will form the government only if my government goes. In reality they are doing everything,” he said.

Kumaraswamy said the BJP told his MLAs that 18 MLAs from Congress and JDS have already agreed to defect and once the number crosses 20, they will be shifted to Mumbai and Pune. He said the BJP government in Maharashtra has agreed to shelter the MLAs.

He described Yeddyurappa as the “father of percentage politics” in Karnataka and the “most corrupt” politician till date in the state.

“My family has a long history of serving Karnataka people. We have been in politics for the past 60 years. We have always tried to protect the resources of the state. Yeddyurappa has looted the same resources when he was chief minister. What moral rights does he have to call me and others corrupt,” he angrily asked.

He dared Yeddyurappa to use central agencies to “fix” him and others from JDS and Congress. Kumaraswamy warned Yeddyurappa that the state government could do anything to him if he really wants to trouble him.

“Yeddyurappa says he has central government in his hands and can do anything to us. I want to tell him that we have the state government. We can also do anything”, he said.

According to Kumaraswamy, the BJP is holding a series of meetings at various places to unseat him.

He warned the BJP of a mass uprising in Karnataka if they don’t put a full stop to “illegal and unethical” operations. “The attitude of the BJP is sickening. The people are watching them closely. If they continue like this, perhaps the people will rise against them. There will be a mass movement against them across the state. The BJP will have to pay a heavy price,” he said.

JDS MLA Suresh Gowda also warned the BJP that they could also poach MLAs from the saffron party if they don’t stop approaching the ruling party’s MLAs.

Yeddyurappa, earlier in the day, had made yet another blistering attack on Kumaraswamy calling him the most “corrupt” chief minister whose family is into only moneymaking business.

Even though the coalition leaders claim that the government is safe and they have resolved all internal issues, some fear that the BJP might launch an all-out attack anytime.

Kumaraswamy met Water Resources minister DK Shivakumar at a private hospital in the morning. Shivakumar, who was charged with money laundering by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday, has been admitted to hospital for food poisoning.

ANI

The Hebbal traffic police informed the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) officials, consultants and experts who rushed to the trouble spot on Wednesday morning.

The problem is on the arm leading towards Hennur from the airport. Motorists plying on the stretch feel a thud and vibrations.

“This is the first time we have come across such an expansion joint problem at any flyover. To decide on the next course of action and ensure that there are no untoward incidents, a detailed report has been sought from all stakeholders. A meeting will be held on Saturday. Then the next course of action, including, whether traffic needs to be diverted, will be decided,” said an expert who inspected the site.

However the BDA officials assured of quick fix for this issue.

The Hebbal flyover links Bengaluru to north Bengaluru and the airport and is part of the flyover maintained by the National Highways Authority of India (NHIA).