Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday targeted the Congress over Karnataka Chief Minister H. D. Kumaraswamy breaking down at a public event, saying the party believed that “only members of one family can rule India” and that others should be pushed to weeping publicly.

Jaitley’s remark came in a facebook post: “Is the Karnataka a preview of what the Congress and the Federal Front promise for the future?” Jaitley said the country is keenly watching Karnataka where the Congress and the Janata Dal-Secular joined hands post-elections to form a government in May.

“It is a repeat of what the Congress did to Chaudhary Charan Singh, Chandra Shekhar, H.D. Deve Gowda and I.K. Gujral. It is the obvious consequence of a non-ideological opportunistic alliance (working) with no positive agenda. The basis of the negative agenda is ‘keep Modi out’,” Jaitley said.

He said people had, in the last few days, seen Kumaraswamy pouring out his emotions with tears, declining to accept bouquets and garlands.

Kumaraswamy broke down at a public event on Saturday stating that he was “not happy” holding the top post and that he was swallowing the pain like ‘Vishakantha’ (Lord Shiva), who drank poison.

Jailtley said non-ideological opportunistic coalitions always get trapped within their own contradictions and their only objective remains survival and not service of the nation.

“Their longevity is suspect. If a Prime Minister of such a coalition has to weep before cameras with a wish to exit from office, it will be a scenario worse than the policy paralysis of UPA II. The Congress firmly believes that only members of one family can rule India. If anybody else gets a chance, he should be pushed to the desperation of throwing his hands up and weeping publicly,” he said.

Jaitley said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has clearly demonstrated the advantages of a decisive leadership.

“India’s Prime Minister and his government have to overcome the challenges that India faces today. He cannot be seen like the Chief Minister of Karnataka as a tragedy king. If such a coalition is a cup of poison, why even dream of inflicting it on the nation?” he said.

Jaitley cited parts of Kumarswamy’s speech and said it reminded him of tragedy-era Hindi films.

He said India needs a sustained high-trajectory growth, cohesive government and a decisive political leadership to face global challenges, including terrorism.

The minister said the country needs a government which is able to resist unfair pressures of allies and regions.

“If fighting terror has to be compromised because of vote-bank pressures of allies, then such a government would be a liability. Can a leadership unsure of itself meet the challenge of eliminating poverty and transforming the world’s fastest growing economy into a developed nation?” he asked.

(IANS)

National Agenda Forum (NAF) — As a tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on his 150th birth anniversary
year, I-PAC has launched a unique citizen-centric initiative to formulate an actionable agenda
for the General Election, 2019.
Inspired by Gandhiji’s 18-point Constructive Programme, which outlined the key priorities for
independent India in 1945, NAF was launched on 29th June 2018. More than 25,000 youth volunteers
from 1,788 colleges spread over 530 districts across India came together to launch this platform.
NAF aims to resurrect the conversation around Gandhiji’s vision and use it to reimagine and co-create India’s
priorities by mobilizing more than 1 crore citizens across the country, to formulate an actionable
agenda for contemporary India and choose a leader who could take this agenda forward.
An initiative by the Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC), NAF has 4 key action points:
1. Share the vision: Make the nation aware of Gandhiji’s 18-point constructive programme
2. Set the Agenda: Reimagine and co-create India’s key priorities and help formulate an actionable
agenda for contemporary India.
3. Choose the Leader: Nominate the leader best suited to adopt and execute this agenda.
4. Campaign for India: Help the chosen leader to get elected in the upcoming General Elections in 2019.
Citizens can become a part of NAF by logging on to www.indianpac.com/naf/ and voting on the agenda
and the leader from 11th Jul to 14th Aug 2018.
Once the results are out on 15th August, youth volunteers would meet the chosen leader in SeptemberOctober.
The agenda would then be taken to the entire nation before it is adopted as part of the party
manifesto in January 2019.
About I-PAC
Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) is a platform of choice for educated youth and young professionals
who want to participate in the Indian political system and contribute meaningfully in setting the agenda for
incoming governments, without necessarily being part of a political party.
I-PAC started as Citizens for Accountable Governance (CAG) in 2013 and has been operating in the sociopolitical
domain over the last 5 years. This group, founded by young professionals from renowned academic
and professional backgrounds, is described as “India’s first Political Action Committee”. I-PAC has
transformed the way elections are fought in India by introducing professionalism and innovation at scale in
campaigning.
I-PAC aims to bridge the gap between citizens’ aspirations and the incoming Government’s priorities in its
endeavor to support the election of visionary, progressive and inclusive leaders to public offices. I-PAC has
ensured that citizens’ agenda becomes focal to its campaigns through ‘Nitish ke Saat Nishchay in Bihar and
‘Captain de Nau Nukte’ in Punjab. In UP the ‘Kisan Yatra’, I-PAC brought back the focus on the demand for
farm loan waiver, which found resonance across the country.

The death toll in the suicide attack targeting an election meeting in Pakistan has increased to 149, while the number of injured stands at 186, an official said on Monday.

The attack on Friday, claimed by the Islamic State (IS) terror group, is one of the worst in recent years in the country and adds to a series of attacks perpetrated against electoral events and candidates for the upcoming elections on July 25.

“The death toll has reached 149 including nine minors and the injured are 186,” Qaim Lashari, Deputy Commissioner of Mastung in Balochistan province, where the attack took place, told Efe news.

The attack took place when Siraj Raisani, a leader of the regional Balochistan Awami Party, was holding an electoral meeting in a market.

Raisani was seriously injured in the attack and died later in a hospital.

On Friday, another attack had targeted an election campaign in the city of Bannu in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, leaving four dead and another 19 injured.

On July 10, at least 20 people were killed and 60 were wounded in an attack on the regional Awami National Party election campaign in the same province.

According to South Asia Terrorism Portal, of late there has been a decline in violence in Pakistan, with 1,260 terror-related deaths in 2017, comprising 540 civilians, 208 security force members and 512 alleged terrorists, the lowest figure in a decade.

Urban Development and Housing Minister UT Khader have said that the allegations of irregularities in the Indira Canteen project were baseless and politically motivated.

Addressing a press conference in the city, the minister said that the allegations made by the opposition MLA Ramdas that Rs. 50 crore irregularities have taken place in the Indira Canteen project are far from the truth. It is a baseless allegation.

‘Indira Canteen’ is a project of Rs 211.24 crore. So far, Rs 113.78 crore has been spent on this project. 72 of 136 canteens are already functioning. The rest of the work is in progress, Minister Khader said.

The Congress and the JD(S) had bitterly fought against each other for the May 12 Assembly polls but joined hands to form the government as the election threw up a hung verdict.

Congress, H D Kumaraswamy has said he was “not happy” as Karnataka chief minister and was swallowing pain like Lord Shiva who drank poison, but his party JD(S) today said all is well and the coalition government will last a full term.

Reflecting a strain in the alliance, Kumaraswamy broke down at a meeting of party cadres in Bengaluru yesterday, saying it was not the time for celebration.

“You are all happy that your elder or younger brother has become the chief minister, but I am not happy,” he said at a function organized to felicitate him.

“I am swallowing the pain like Vishakantha (Lord Shiva who drank poison to save the world),” he said.

On seeing him wiping tears, the crowd shouted, “We are with you.”

Kumaraswamy said that ahead of the Assembly polls, he had asked people to make him chief minister to bring in a pro-people government that would solve the issues of farmers, the poor and the needy, “but they did not show their trust in me”.

He said people showered him with love and affection when he traveled across the state, but forgot his party and candidates while voting.

JD(S) secretary general and party spokesperson Danish Ali, however, sought to play down Kumaraswamy’s remarks and claimed it was merely an “emotional outburst”.

“That was merely an emotional outburst and some in the media are reading too much into it,” he told.

“There are no strains between the Congress and the JD(S) and the coalition government in Karnataka is stable and will complete its five-year term under a common minimum programme for the welfare of the people of the state…,” Ali said.

Ali alleged that the opposition BJP was attempting to weaken the coalition government and bring it down but asserted the saffron will not succeed.

The BJP dismissed Kumaraswamy’s emotional comments, calling him a “legendary actor” and accusing him of “fooling the common man.”

The BJP state unit in a tweet said: “& the best acting award goes to…”

“Our country has produced talented actors. Actors who have mesmerized the audience with their brilliant performance, here we have another legendary actor Mr Kumaraswamy, an actor who has constantly fooled common man with his amazing acting skills,” it said, tagging a video clip of the chief minister getting emotional.

But the Congress joined the JD(S) in playing down Kumaraswamy’s statement.

“How can he say that… He must be definitely happy. A chief minister has to be happy always. If he is happy, we will all be happy,” Deputy Chief Minister and Congress leader G Parameshwara told reporters in Bengaluru.

It has been a rocky road for the JD(S) chief since he took over as Karnataka chief minister on May 23 as the head of the coalition government, confronting wrangling among leaders over portfolio allocation and presentation of the state budget.

Presenting his government’s first budget on July 5, Kumaraswamy, who also holds the finance portfolio, unveiled a Rs 34,000-crore farm loan waiver and subsequently announced an additional crop loan waiver of Rs 10,700 crore from cooperative banks.

However, his budget came under attack from within the coalition, with a few senior Congress MLAs, including former minister H K Patil, writing to him demanding programmes for the minority community and for the northern region of the state.

Recently former chief minister Siddaramaiah, who is also the head of the Congress-JD(S) coordination committee, in a letter to Kumaraswamy, had pressed him to withdraw the decision on petrol and diesel price hike and reduce the supply of rice under the Anna Bhagya scheme, announced in the budget.

In the Assembly polls in May, the JD(S) won 37 seats in the 224-member House. While the Congress has 80 seats, the BJP 104 and the BSP one.

At least 18 people were killed and 30 others injured on Monday in a road accident in Pakistan’s Sindh province, police said.

The victims, residents of Hyderabad city, were returning from Sakrand, reports Dawn online.

On their way back, the driver had stopped the bus to change the tyre when a trailer rammed into the stationary vehicle.

According to rescue teams, of the 30 injured, six were in critical condition.

Cranes are being used to lift the wreck as rescue officials fear that there could be more people trapped underneath it.

Rajasthan Congress chief Sachin Pilot said the party will introduce laws for protecting advocates, lawyers and journalists if voted to power in the assembly polls later this year.

Pilot, while addressing the “Save Constitution, Save Democracy” programme organised by the legal cell of the Rajasthan unit of Congress here on Sunday, said the ones who are currently in power, have brought both democracy and constitution under threat.

“However, we promise to bring in the Advocate Protection Act and Journalist Protection Act once we assume power in the state,” the leader said.

The Supreme Court judges had to come out in open to prove that the present government is neither interested to retain the principles of democracy nor do they believe in the fundamentals of democracy, according to Pilot.

The Indian constitution and democracy has garnered a huge respect in the world, however, at the present hour, both institutes feel threatened, he added.

Senior Congress leader Mohan Prakash said lawyers need to come at the forefront to save the Constitution by making people more aware of legal norms.

According to AICC General Secretary Avinash Pandey, lawyers need to act as watchmen to check the malpractices of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has failed completely in the national capital with the law and order situation further deteriorating.

“Law and order in the capital of India is deteriorating by the day. BJP has completely failed,” Kejriwal tweeted.

The responsibility for the police and law and order of the national capital lies with the Central government.

Kejriwal’s remarks come after two suicides occurred here on Sunday.

In one incident, a 17-year-old girl allegedly hung herself inside a police station in West Delhi and an air hostess committed suicide at her home.

(IANS)