BJP's southern foray: Tale of scams and compromises

March 19, 2012

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Bangalore, March 19:The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) maiden rule in Karnataka is set to end as a sordid tale of scandals and compromises.

Two days ahead of the budget presentation, more than half the party’s 23 ministers are holed up in a resort on the outskirts of Bangalore, devising a strategy to get rid of Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda. The assembly session starts Tuesday. The budget presentation is scheduled the next day.

Giving them company are scores of party legislators, all wanting the return of B.S. Yeddyurappa as chief minister though he still faces nearly a dozen corruption and illegal land deal cases.

He has been summoned by a Supreme Court appointed panel to appear before it in person or send a representative Tuesday to answer charges of making several hundred crore rupees by favouring iron ore mining companies.

The panel, the Central Empower Committee appointed by the apex court to study illegal iron ore mining in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, is to decide whether the charges against Yeddyurappa need to be probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

However grave these issues may appear to the people, for Yeddyurappa, largely credited with bringing BJP into power for the first time in south India in May 2008, they are of no consequence as his sole aim is to be chief minister.

This unbridled hankering after power has been given a boost by the reported division of opinion among the national leaders on reinstating him.

It is generally believed that BJP chief Nitin Gadkari and a few other central leaders do not mind Yeddyurappa coming back as chief minister.

But his return is said to be strongly opposed by senior leader L.K. Advani, who fears this will further damage the party’s image and take the sting out of its campaign against the scandals of the Congress-led central government.

Yeddyurappa claims he was asked by the national leaders to quit July 31, 2011 with the promise that he will be brought back if a court clears him of charges of taking money from mining companies in return for favours.

Then Lokayukta (ombudsman) N. Santosh Hegde had July 27 recommended Yeddyurappa’s trial on the ground that his family members had received Rs.30 crore from two mining companies. This amounted to corruption.

The high court on March 7 quashed the Lokayukta findings and also the case against Yeddyurappa, which he has seized to demand that party national leaders honour their word.

The national leaders appear to be paying for the compromise formula they devised to make Yedddyurappa quit, though by that time he was already facing six cases of corruption and illegal land deals filed by two Bangalore advocates.

Both he and the party dismiss these cases as politically motivated.

Yeddyurappa’s lucky -- the institution of the Lokayukta in Karnataka, the first state to set it up, has been headless since September and there is no one to decide whether to challenge the high court ruling in the Supreme Court.

There are two Upa Lokayuktas (deputy ombudsmen) S.B. Majage and Chandrashekaraiah (only one name). While Chandrashekaraiah has said the high court verdict should be challenged, Majage is silent.

BJP’s rule in Karnataka began with several compromises - over ministry formation and giving all five independents who helped the party gain majority in the assembly cabinet berths.

Then followed rebellion, twice, by mining baron Reddys against Yeddyurappa.

At least 20 of BJP's 120 legislators have been involved in scams - from rape to porn viewing to illegal land deals.

As BJP enters last year of its first term in office, it is Yeddyurappa’s turn to don the mantle of the rebel.

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Agencies
July 24,2020

Lucknow, Jul 24: The Congress in Uttar Pradesh on Friday protested against what it dubbed as deliberate and systematic deletions of chapters dealing in freedom struggle and the party's role in it from the syllabi of Classes 10 and 12 of the Secondary Education Board.

Congress leader Anugrah Narain Singh said: "The deletions effected in Class 12 syllabus clearly has political overtones. Chapters dealing with the freedom movement and the Congress role in it have been cut out. The BJP has no role of its own in the country's history and, therefore, wants that the new generations should not learn about the Congress contribution as well."

A Congress delegation submitted a memorandum to UP Eduction Board Secretary Divya Kant Shukla to demand restoration of the deleted chapters and topics.

BJP MP Rita Bahuguna Joshi accused the opposition Congress of "turning every occasion into a political opportunity during the pandemic".

"The Congress is unnecessarily making an issue out of this. Only some portions have been deleted from the syllabi due to shortening of the academic session due to the nationwide lockdown. People already know about the Congress and the cut in the syllabi is only temporary. The Congress is unnecessarily trying to create a political controversy," she said.

Prof Yogeshwar Tiwari of the History Department in the Allahabad University dubbed the changes made in the syllabi as "unfortunate". "The history is not of the Congress alone -- it is the history of the nation and every student must know about it," he said.

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Agencies
January 5,2020

New Delhi, Jan 5: A masked mob on Sunday entered the Sabarmati Hostel on the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus and assaulted several students and professors with sticks and rods.

"I have been brutally attacked by goons wearing masks. I am bleeding. I was brutally beaten up," JNU Students' Union (JNUSU) president Aishe Ghosh told reporters.

She has been admitted to the AIIMS here for treatment.

Several other students were also injured in the incident.

In a video of the incident, a group of goons with their faces covered can be seen assaulting students with wooden sticks and rods.

A tweet from the official handle of the JNUSU said, "Sabarmati Hostel: right now. They are beating the students who are inside. Knocking on doors with rods. People are jumping from balconies. #SOSJNU #EmergencyinJNU."

"Professors who were trying to protect us have been beaten up. These are unknown ABVP goons, not all are students, they have covered their faces, and they are moving towards the hotels near the West Gate. Stay alert. Make human chains. Protect each other. #SOSJNU #EmergencyinJNU," another tweet added.

Meanwhile, the ABVP's JNU unit claimed in a tweet: "Emergency in JNU. Leftist goons of JNU accompained with their cadre from other universities have crossed every limit. They have proceeded with unimaginable violence on ABVP activists of JNU."

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Agencies
May 26,2020

New Delhi, May 26: The in-fighting among the residents of housing societies over feeding of stray dogs is nowhere near ending, with yet another attack on a pregnant Russian woman again in the national capital region this time in Noida.

The Russian woman residing in a condominium in Noida's Sector 71 was allegedly attacked by two men for feeding foundling canines inside the complex.

"We have initiated an inquiry and a case has been registered against the men for voluntarily causing hurt and criminal intimidation," Amit Kumar Singh, Station House Officer of Phase 3 police station told IANS.

The police said that the victim is married to an Indian man and they live in that society.

The issue was raked up on social media by one of the residents of the society. Her post had even solicited a response and help from the Noida Police Commissioner.

Kaveri Rana Bharadwaj wrote, "Mob led by Vikas Sharma, and Mr. Chauhan beat up a pregnant woman in Jagriti Apartment, Sector 71 Noida. Request you to immediately arrest these men and provide security to the scared woman!"

When contacted, a member of the Resident Welfare Association (RWA) of the society said that the allegations levied by her are false and that he, along with a handful of other people, had only asked her not to feed the dogs.

Vikas Sharma divulged, "The woman was called at the society gate by the members of the RWA. When she was asked not to feed the street dogs, she became aggressive, started fighting with the residents of the society and even pushed a 70-year-old woman. The complaint that she registered against us is false. We did not even touch her."

He added that there are 70-80 street dogs in the society who have lately become extremely aggressive. "The lady was asked not to feed them as people feared stepping out of their houses and getting bitten."

In another incident on Tuesday, a Greater Noida man beat up a Chinese woman for allegedly fostering a stray dog which bit his canine.

Greater Noida District Commissioner of Police Rajesh Kumar Singh told IANS that the man named Amar Pratap Singh of ATS Paradiso misbehaved with the woman after his dog was bit by another dog who she used to feed every day.

The incident happened in the wee hours of the day when the accused took his dog out for a walk. "After his dog was bitten, in a fit of rage, he misbehaved with the Chinese woman." A Non-Cognizable Report (NCR) has been registered and no arrests have been made so far, the police said.

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