Equality, cooperation must in India; friction will not work: RSS chief

New Delhi, Mar 19: Senior Congress leader Oscar Fernandes on Wednesday extolled the virtues of 'gaumutra' and shared an anecdote about a man claiming to have cured his cancer by drinking cow urine to drive his point home.

Participating in a debate in Rajya Sabha on two bills for setting up national commissions for homoeopathy and Indian systems of medicine, the former Union minister said, "My extreme friend Jairam Ramesh pulls my leg, when I talk of 'gaumutra'."

Sharing an anecdote, Fernandes said once during a visit to an ashram near Meerut he had met a person who claimed to have cured his cancer by drinking 'gaumutra'.

Many BJP leaders have earlier spoken about the healing power of 'gaumutra'. The Congress has reacted sharply to such remarks.

He also praised the virtues of the Indian systems of medicine. He said when he had severe pain in knee joint and doctors had suggested for replacement surgery. However, he refused and started doing 'Vajrasana'.

"I started Vajrasana, practising yoga, and today I am able to do wrestling without any difficulty," the septuagenarian leader said.

"When (former) prime minister (Atal Bihari) Vajypee ji had a knee surgery, I thought if I had known him earlier, I would have definitely gone to him and ask him to follow 'Vajrasan' and it could have been cured," he said.

He also claimed to have met a person in US aged around 104 years and moving swiftly as a young man.

"Yoga is our wealth. If you practise yoga, may be our budget cost of health can be reduced by 50 per cent. It's way of life," he said.

"Our own Indian systems of medicine will provide a lot of reliefs even before going to a doctor," he said.

Though Fernandes supported the bills but raised objection over the exclusion of yoga and naturopathy.

"I would urge the minister either to amend the bill or bring an assurance that it will bring a separate legislation to cover yoga and naturopathy," he said.

Bengaluru, Apr 14: Bracing for post-lockdown hard times, the Karnataka government on Monday decided to auction about 12,000 BDA sites and regularise unauthorised constructions across the state in a bid to shore up its already-thin finances.

"Some 12,000 corner sites (developed by Bangalore Development Authority, or BDA) are lying idle in Bengaluru. We hope to net about Rs 15,000 crore from the auction of the sites," chief minister BS Yediyurappa said after chairing a meeting with senior ministers and officials to discuss ways to raise funds.

"The Covid-19 pandemic has thrown Karnataka into a deep financial crisis. There's a need for such measures," the chief minister said in defence of the decisions.

The sites – mainly of 40x60ft and 50x80ft dimensions – are in nine layouts. Also, the state government will auction corner and vacant sites in layouts formed by development authorities in other major cities of Karnataka.

Industry experts said that in a tepid market, it wasn’t easy to find buyers for the sites, each of which costs about Rs 1 crore. The CM said, “Since it’s an open auction, I’m confident of a good price since corner sites are always in demand. If we don’t get the expected price, then we will stop the process.”

The meeting decided to fast-track disposal of the cases related to regularisation of unauthorised constructions pending before courts. “If courts decide these cases, then thousands of people will be relieved, besides helping the government in mobilising resources to take up development works,” the CM said.

The government hopes to get about Rs 4,000 crore from the layout-regularisation move.
The government decided to amend the law to allow hundreds of private and cooperative housing societies to allot residential plots.

Bhopal, Mar 18: Congress leader Digvijay Singh's detention by police in Bengaluru is display of "dictatorship and Hitlarshahi" by the BJP, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath said here on Wednesday.

Singh staged a protest near a Bengaluru resort this morning where rebel MLAs of Madhya Pradesh Congress are staying, and demanded that he be allowed to meet them.

Singh, who has been detained by the police, accused the BJP of holding the MLAs captive and said that he would go on a "hunger strike".

Reacting to this, Nath said if the need arises he would also go to the Karnataka capital.

"Preventing Congress Rajya Sabha candidate and other ministers from meeting MLAs, misbehave with them, forcibly taken them into custody is totally a dictatorship and hitlershahi (sic)," Nath said in a tweet.

"Entire country is watching how an elected government is being made unstable and how BJP is murdering democratic values," Nath said.

"Why they are not allowing them to meet MLAs. What BJP is afraid of. BJP is playing a dirty political game in the state," the chief minister tweeted.

Demanding immediate release of detained Congress leaders, Nath said that democratic norms and Constitutional values are being stifled.

Later speaking to reporters, the CM said, "Why the BJP is afraid of presenting 16 MLAs here (Bhopal)? What is the problem in one person (Singh) meeting with 16 legislators?"

Nath reiterated that his government had proven majority on floor of the House in the last 15 months since coming to power.

Amid political uncertainty in Madhya Pradesh, the state Congress Legislature Party on Tuesday moved the Supreme Court seeking direction to the Centre and the BJP-led Karnataka government to grant it access to communicate with its rebel MLAs staying in Bengaluru.

The apex court had also directed the Kamal Nath government to respond by Wednesday to a plea by senior BJP leader Shivraj Singh Chouhan seeking immediate floor test in the Assembly.