JD(S) state President HD Kumaraswamy on Sunday said he would not be a “kingmaker” and instead people of the state would bless him as “king” in the May 12 Karnataka Assembly polls, which he conceded was a “battle for survival” for his party.

Expressing confidence about the JD(S) coming to power on its own, the former chief minister said, he is asking people to give the party a “chance”, having seen the performance of both the BJP and the Congress.

“I’m completely confident about bringing in a government with majority, I don’t have an iota of doubt,” Kumaraswamy said.
Pre-poll surveys on the elections to the 225-member Karnataka House, that includes one nominated member, have projected a hung assembly with the JD(S) emerging as kingmaker.

Kumaraswamy said his target was 113 seats. “I’m targeting 113, I have made preparations strategically, required to reach 113. So in my opinion ultimately I will succeed in reaching my goal. People will make me succeed, I have this confidence,” he said.

To a query, Kumaraswamy said, as per his current calculations, the JD(S) would comfortably reach the 97-105 mark and it is now working towards making up the remaining seats. “I’m confident that we will not fall short… according to my calculation 97-105 comfortably I’m going to reach this time, another 7-8 seats I may fall short. For that I’m working out and I’m sure we will make it up,” he said.

Asked if he would not need support of other parties to make up for the numbers, he replied in the negative.

Ruling out any prospect of a hung assembly, he said, “It (situation) is not going to arise, I’m confident.”

Dismissing pre-poll surveys which predicted a hung assembly and projected the JD(S) as “kingmaker”, he said only after polls can such surveys have some clarity and “not at this stage.”

“Not kingmaker, people will bless me as a king, that full confidence is there,” he said, as he claimed that there is an “undercurrent” in favour of the JD(S) across the state and people have “lost faith” in the BJP and Congress.

Kumaraswamy said he is asking people for a “chance” for good governance, to address their problems or issues.

“You have given chance to both Congress and BJP, you have seen their work, and you have experienced it. Give me one chance; I’m going with this message,” he added.

Conceding that the coming assembly elections were a “battle for survival” for the JD(S), Kumaraswamy said, it is because for the last 10 years “we have been out of power.”
He said, “all our workers are working very hard even without power. This time they want us to somehow reach the goal, for that they are sincerely working. Even I’m also working very hard to come back to power.”

“We want to come to power not for our selfishness. There are several problems created by BJP and Congress in last ten years, I want to clean it. For that Karnataka very badly needs good governance…,” he added.

Responding to Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s allegation that JD(S) is the “B team” of the BJP, Kumaraswamy said in his opinion Siddaramaiah is BJP’s ‘B’ team.

He said, “Congress is saying we are the ‘B’ team of BJP, as they don’t have anything to point fingers at me, they don’t have issues to comment against my party.”

“They have one issue that I had once joined hands with the BJP to form the government, keeping that issue alive they are saying to people that if you vote for Kumaraswamy it is like voting BJP, so don’t vote for Kumaraswamy,” he added.

The 2004 assembly polls had thrown up a fractured verdict with the BJP emerging as the single largest party.

Congress, which lost power, and JD(S) had formed a coalition government led by Dharam Singh. The Congress-JD(S) coalition, however, crumbled when Kumaraswamy led a revolt, withdrew support and joined hands with the BJP. He was the state chief minister heading a JD(S)-BJP coalition from February 2006 to October 2007 with B S Yeddyurappa as deputy chief minister.

The coalition with BJP also collapsed after JD(S) refused to hand over the mantle to Yeddyurappa after 20 months under a power-sharing arrangement, that led to elections with BJP installing its first-ever government in the south in 2008.

He pointed out that when BJP was in power it was he and not the Congress, who brought out several cases of corruption against them.

The former chief minister further said in his opinion Siddaramaiah is BJP’s ‘B’ team, as he had repeatedly entered into an understanding with the BJP to safeguard his seat.

He said, “Earlier in 2013 in Varuna constituency, the BJP candidate absconded for five days ahead of the election, people say Siddaramaiah had booked him and reached an understanding with the BJP. This time before the filing of nominations, BJP changed its candidate.”

“Who is behind it? Siddaramaiah even today is in contact with the BJP, there is unofficial contact even now, but they point fingers at JD(S),” he charged.

Siddaramaiah, who has been representing Varuna constituency since 2008, has this time opted for neighboring Chamundeshwari constituency. His son Dr Yatindra is the party’s candidate from Varuna in this election.

(PTI)

The National Executive of Indian Youth Congress (IYC) will be held on Monday (April 30) at Vishwa Yuvak Kendra, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi beginning at 10:00 am.

There would be an emphasis on the need for women empowerment by increasing women representation/participation in politics, the theme for this year’s National Executive would be “WHY NOT HER”.

Amrish Ranjan Pandey, National Spokesperson, Indian Youth Congress told Hindusthan Samachar that in pursuance of this theme and as per the vision of Rahul Gandhi for the first time in the history of Indian Youth Congress, National Executive will have a significant number of participants from amongst its women leaders gathered from across the Country.

To achieve the objective of equality and empowerment through political participation, the Indian National Congress under the leadership of Late. Sh. Rajiv Gandhi mooted the provision for reservation of women in Panchayats and Nagar Palikas.

Even though the Indian National Congress made all efforts to provide adequate political representation for women was thwarted in Rajya Sabha in 1989, the same was passed by both houses of Parliament in 1993 as the 73rd and 74th Amendments to the Constitution.

More than 1.3 million constitutionally elected women, mostly from socially disadvantaged groups, took on the mantle of leadership to transform their communities and villages. Over the years, women have described this as a big opportunity to bring transformative changes to villages and urban area in India, working on issues transcending the practical needs of education, water, daycare, vaccination, birth control etc.

To further strengthen and empower the women of this country and to amplify their voices in the decision-making processes of our Country, the Indian National Congress through the incessant efforts of Smt Sonia Gandhi saw the passing of Women’s Reservation Bill or the Constitution (108th Amendment) Bill, 2008 in the upper house of Rajya Sabha. However, due to stiff opposition in Lok Sabha and subsequent disruptions, the bill could not be cleared in Lok Sabha.

In this backdrop, the National Executive of India Youth Congress will address on the measures to empower and strengthen women with special emphasis on increasing participation/representation for women in politics.

Other main agendas that will be taken up for discussion during the National Executive meeting will be as following:

Appraisal about the current situation of the Country and governance with a special emphasis on rising unemployment, failing businesses, inflation, attack and atrocities on Dalits, Adivasis and backwards.

Developing methods for spreading awareness among the general public regarding the false promises made by BJP during the previous election.

Developing strategies to highlight Government’s failure and discuss the response to tackle them.

The meeting will be chaired by Amarinder Singh Raja, National President, IYC and Krishna Allavaru, AICC Joint Secretary, Incharge, IYC. Several senior leaders of the party will also address the meeting.

Hindusthan Samachar/Shri Ram Shaw

Countering Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s claim that all villages in India have been connected with electricity under his rule, Congress on Sunday said the government was celebrating inefficiencies and taking credit for the work done by UPA government.

“Dear Amit Shahji, India has 6,49,867 villages. Congress connected 97 per cent with electricity. During UPA (2004-14), Congress electrified 1,07,600 villages.

“In 60 years, Congress average is electrifying 10,000 villages per year. Congress created #PowerfulIndia but didn’t boast,” said Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala in a tweet directed to the BJP President.

“Dear Modiji/Piyushji (Railway minister Piyush Goyal), on May 26, 2014, only 18,452 villages were without electrification.

“BJP government took 46 months to complete this at at an average of 4,813 villages per year. This is – ‘celebrating inefficiencies’ and taking ‘fake credit’ for Congress work,” he said in further tweets.

Modi on Sunday announced that all villages in India have now been connected with electricity.

“Electricity reached all Indian villages on Saturday.

“Yesterday, we fulfilled a commitment due to which the lives of several Indians will be transformed forever!” Modi said in a series of tweets.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will induct five new faces in the Jammu and Kashmir Cabinet and has also decided to drop three ministers in the much-awaited coalition ministry reshuffle slated to take place on Monday.

Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh, Health Minister Bali Bhagat and junior Minister Priya Sethi will not be included in the new council, Top party sources said late Sunday.

“Assembly Speaker Kavinder Gupta will be the new Deputy Chief Minister. Nirmal Singh who will be named the new Sspeaker of the state Legislative Assembly,” the sources said.

“The other legislators who will be inducted into the cabinet today are Sat Sharma, Rajiv Jasrotia, Devender Maniyal and Shakti Parihar.

“Parihar will be sworn in as a junior minister while the other four will be of cabinet minister rank.

“Among the existing ministers, Sunil Sharma will be elevated to cabinet rank,” the sources added.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is also inducting two new faces into the council.

Pulwama MLA Muhammad Khalil Bhand and Sonawar MLA Muhammad Ashraf Mir will be sworn-in on Monday.

State Governor N.N. Vohra will administer the oath of office and secrecy to the new ministers at the Convention Centre here.

Portfolios of the Council of Ministers will be announced by Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti later on Monday.

Two soldiers were injured on Monday in an ongoing gunfight between the security forces and holed-up militants in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district, police said.

“The injured soldiers, including a Major, have been shifted to a hospital. The gunfight in Drabgam village is going on,” police sources said around 11.15 a.m.

The gunfight erupted after the security forces, including personnel from the Rashtriya Rifles (RR), the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the Special Operations Group (SOG) of the state police cordoned off the village upon receiving a tip-off about the militants.

“As the cordon was tightened, the militants fired at the security forces triggering the gunfight,” the sources added.

Reports coming in from the area said stone-pelting mob also clashed with the security forces. A few protesters have been injured.

Mobile internet services have been suspended across Pulwama district.

Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu today said the nation has a chance to re-emerge as a global powerhouse in the field of education, but for that changes in syllabus and improvement in infrastructure are needed. Inaugurating the new campus of the Central University of Kerala at nearby Periye and dedicating it to the nation, he said India was once known as ‘vishwaguru’ and people from across the globe used to come here to study and acquire knowledge and expertise in different domains.

“However, the situation changed following foreign invasions and the British rule, and India lost its pre-eminent position in the field of education,” Naidu said. The vice president said all higher educational institutes, including central universities, have the onerous responsibility of transforming the country into the epicenter of knowledge and innovation.

“Today, the country has a chance to re-emerge as a global powerhouse in the field of education. But this requires reorienting the syllabus and improving infrastructure in the education sector with the sole objective of imparting world class quality education,” Naidu said. He said though there are more than 800 universities in India, none of them figure in the top-ranking educational institutes in the world.

“We cannot adopt a ‘business as usual’ approach if we want to change the situation”, the vice president said, adding, “From private educational institutions to central universities and academic organisations, all must work in a mission mode to revamp the educational architecture in tune with the requirements of the 21st century to make India a leading nation education and innovation.”

Naidu said though India has the third largest higher education system in the world, its Gross Enrolment Ratio was only 25.2 percent. Considering the huge demographic dividend the country was blessed with, it was imperative that the higher education system be expanded qualitatively and quantitatively for the betterment of the nation and society, he said.