BJP organised party legislature meet on Wednesday.

BS Yeddyurappa was authorized to take all major decisions on forming the new government at the state.

As per the information available it has reported said that, BSY claimed over 14 MLAs are showing interest to join the BJP party. “Few senior MLAs openly opposed the proposal of Operation Kamala, while the majority of the MLAs favoured such a move,” he added.

“BSY informed the meeting that he is fielding three candidates in the upcoming state legislative council election. This is to ensure that other party MLAs will cross vote to the BJP candidates and humiliate CM HDK,” he said.

PTI

Terming the ‘triple talaq’ ordinance cleared by the Union Cabinet “undemocratic and uncalled for”, the CPI-M on Thursday said that it tantamounts to bypassing Parliament where a bill on the issue is pending.

“The ordinance brought about by the central government is uncalled for and is motivated by considerations other than the welfare of Muslim women,” Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) said in a statement here.

“The bill is pending in the Rajya Sabha and requires full discussions, including reference to a Select Committee. The ordinance is an undemocratic step of bypassing Parliament,” it said.

The CPI-M said that ‘talaq-e-biddat’, or instant divorce, has already been declared illegal by the Supreme Court, but the Narendra Modi government brought a bill that has made a “civil wrong a criminal offence” with the prescription of a three-year jail term for the offender.

“It is an ill-conceived measure that will not help protect the affected women. There are other flaws in the bill that need to be rectified. This ordinance is designed to serve the political interests of the ruling party (BJP) and cannot be accepted. Parliament should adopt a revised legislation in this regard,” the CPI-M said.

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the ordinance that makes ‘triple talaq’ a criminal offence. The ordinance will be sent to the President for approval.

It comes against the backdrop of the government’s inability to get the bill on the issue passed in the last monsoon session of Parliament.

The government said it brought the ordinance as instances of ‘triple talaq’ “continue unabated” in spite of the Supreme Court declaring it unconstitutional. The Lok Sabha has passed the bill, which is now pending in the Rajya Sabha.

(IANS)

BENGALURU, INDIA – SEPTEMBER 19: D K Shivkumar, minister of Irrigation and Medical education in Karnataka government along with his brother D K Suresh during a press conference after ED initiates probe against him, at his official residence on September 19, 2018 in Bengaluru, India. 

Rejecting the BJP’s allegation that he had paid money to the Congress’s central leadership, Karnataka minister DK Shivakumar on Wednesday accused the BJP of misusing central agencies to harass him and pull down the Congress-JDS government in the state.

Pleading innocence, the high-profile minister said he was not involved in hawala transactions and was ready to face “any type of torture” by central agencies. He asserted he would come out clean.

DK Shivakumar’s repudiation came after a BJP spokesman in Delhi demanded that the top Congress leadership respond to the purported “confessional statements” made to the Income Tax department by his alleged associates claiming the money trail in a hawala network led to the Congress headquarters.

BJP spokesman Sambit Patra also referred to diaries allegedly recovered from Congress leaders in the state claiming “entries of money running up to Rs 600 crore were shown against SG and RG among others”.

Patra alleged the acronyms referred to top leaders in the opposition party and demanded that Congress president Rahul Gandhi and his predecessor Sonia Gandhi come out and respond.

“He is simply using RG names, SG names. Where is RG name and SG name? I want to make it very clear that no SG or RG names are there. No way we are connected. They are unnecessarily trying to damage the name of our leaders. Let them (Enforcement Directorate) call me,” he said.

Hitting out at the BJP spokesperson, DK Shivakumar sought to know why he was dragging Congress leaders into controversy.

“Unnecessarily you are bringing my party leaders (into the controversy). I have not paid any money to my party leaders, nor to the party. If anything is there, it is me and my party. They have to ask me, I have to reply to them. I need not reply to any of my BJP friends,” he said.

At a press conference in Delhi, Patra showed the purported confessional statements of Anjaneya Hanumanthaiah, an employee of the Karnataka Bhavan in the national capital, and claimed the documents were the proof of Congress’s involvement in a Hawala network.

“We have statements of DK Shivakumar’s driver, who told the I-T Department about how money in kilograms were sent to AICC. We now know why Congress party was crying during demonetisation,” Patra said.

DK Shivakumar asserted, “I am ready to face any kind of consequences or any type of torture they (central agencies) want to give me. I am confident that I will come out clean because I am a law-abiding citizen.”

Hitting back at Patra for referring to the abbreviated names in the diary, Shivakumar said, “What diaries are you talking about? Did you forget the Jain diaries, Advani diaries, or Modi Sahab’s diary?”

DK Shivakumar claimed he was being subjected to harassment by central agencies ever since he hosted Gujarat Congress MLAs during Rajya Sabha elections when the party leaders felt the BJP may poach on them in August last year.

Sonia Gandhi’s close aide Ahmed Patel was contesting the election which he narrowly managed to win.

The Karnataka minister also linked his “harassment” to the BJP’s alleged attempts to destabilise the coalition government in the state.

“These are your daydreams Mr Yeddyurappa (the state BJP chief and leader of the opposition). We have the numbers,” asserted DK Shivakumar, adding these “blackmailing tactics will not work”.

The Enforcement Directorate has registered a money laundering case against DK Shivakumar and a few others for alleged tax evasion and hawala transactions.

PTI

A group of over 100 Anganwadi workers from across the country, called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday to thank him for increasing the honorarium amount by up to 60 per cent.

After Modi’s announcement, the Anganwadi workers would now get a monthly honorarium of Rs 4,500 per month instead of Rs 3,000 earlier. The Anganwadi helper would get Rs 2,250 per month in place of Rs 1,500 earlier.

The Anganwadi worker at a mini Anganwadi centre would get monthly Rs 3,500 instead of Rs 2,250, the government said.

Acknowledging the greetings, Modi said Anganwadis play a key role in a child’s physical and cognitive development.

“Nutrition requires constant focus and development of good habits, which can be provided by Anganwadi workers,” he said.

He then exhorted the Anganwadi workers to ensure that the nutritional assistance being made available to beneficiaries is used judiciously.

“Children will listen more to Anganwadi workers. They have a key role in generating awareness,” Modi, who was accompanied by Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi, said.

He encouraged healthy competition among Anganwadis, as a “motivation for better nutritional care and efforts among various Anganwadi workers.”

(IANS)

The Congress on Wednesday appointed former Union Minister and Lok Sabha MP Mullappally Ramachandran as the President of party’s Kerala unit, replacing M.M. Hassan.

The party also announced the appointments of K. Sudhakaran, M.I. Shanawaz and K. Suresh as working presidents and K. Murleedharan as the chairman of campaign committee for its Kerala unit.

(IANS)

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, against whom a non-bailable arrest warrant was issued by a Maharashtra court last week in a 2010 case, will not attend the court on September 21.

Naidu, who is also the President of Telugu Desam Party (TDP), on Wednesday decided to send his lawyer to file a petition in Dharmabad court to recall the Non-Bailable Arrest Warrant (NBW).

The decision was taken after the TDP chief held series of consultations with legal experts, officials and top leaders of his party here.

Judicial Magistrate First Class, Dharmabad Court (Nanded) N.R. Gajbhiye on September had 13 issued the NBWs against Naidu and 14 others including his two cabinet colleagues.

The police were ordered to arrest and produce them before the court at the next hearing on September 21.

Maharashtra police had registered a case against Naidu and others when the TDP organised massive protests over what it termed the “illegal constructions” of the Babli Barrage project by the Maharashtra government allegedly to divert Godavari River waters from Telangana region of the then undivided Andhra Pradesh.

At that time Naidu was the Leader of Opposition in the state and along with 40 legislators, he had entered the barrage vicinity flouting prohibition orders clamped there.

The TDP has alleged that BJP is behind the revival of eight-year-old case. It termed the NBW as an act of vengeance by Narendra Modi government against the TDP for pulling out of NDA.

Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah, while addressing a news conference in Hyderabad on September 15, denied the allegation and pointed out that the case was booked when Congress was in power in Maharashtra.

He also claimed that the court had issued 25 summons against Naidu but he did not respond to any summon.

Reacting to Shah’s claim, Chandrababu Naidu informed the Andhra Pradesh Assembly that he had not received summons from the court before the NBW was issued.

“I verified with my office. Not even a single summon was received,” the Chief Minister said.

(IANS)