Priyank Kharge urges Karnataka CM to announce 5-day work week for all govt employees

Bengaluru, May 7: Karnataka Minister for Labour Shivaram Hebbar, on Thursday, ordered issuance of notice to employers who have not paid salary to the workers during lockdown period amid Coronavirus threat in the state.

The Ministry has also directed serving notice to those employers who have reduced the wages of the workers in April '20, official sources told UNI here.

State Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa had appealed to the employers not to retrench any employee from the job because of their failure to attend to work because of Coronavirus which is spreading like wildfire and since they have been asked to remain in the house.

New Delhi, Jun 5: Congress has named Mallikarjun Kharge as its candidate for ensuing biennial elections to the Rajya Sabha from Karnataka.

Party interim president Sonia Gandhi approved Kharge's candidature on Friday, according to a Congress release by general secretary Mukul Wasnik.

The elections to fill the pending 18 Rajya Sabha seats from seven states will be held on June 19.

Bengaluru, Mar 11: Did Congress party’s Man Friday, DK Shivakumar, not rise up to the occasion and save the situation for the party, whose rebel MLAs were flown into Bengaluru to unsettle the Kamal Nath-led government in Madhya Pradesh? Shivakumar told The New Indian Express on Tuesday, “So far, I have not got any clear direction on what has to be done. But I am in touch with the central leaders. The party does not want to antagonise them... They are our own MLAs.”

He said that the Tenth Schedule, which makes defections illegal, is very strong. “It is not so easy for them once they are expelled. There are courts and then they have to get re-elected. It is not easy to get minister’s post after getting re-elected,” he added.

When pointed out that rebels from the Congress and JD(S) who joined the BJP have got re-elected and become ministers, he said, “There are other issues here.”

Asked about Digvijay Singh, who is at the centre of the controversy in MP and who was AICC general secretary in-charge of Karnataka, not being able to prevent the rebellion in his home state, Shivakumar said, “I do not want to comment on any of our national leaders.”But he was confident that the Congress government would be saved in MP. “I am aware of the developments and keeping track of them,” he said.

Congress leaders seemed wiser after the event.

One of them, who wished not to be identified, said the party clearly did not see the writing on the wall. “Jyotiraditya Scindia supported the BJP at the Centre when it scrapped Article 370. Later too he was not in line with the Congress position on several issues. But during the recent Delhi violence, he criticised the BJP, sending confusing signals,” he added.