Seat sharing deal for LS polls in Karnataka: Cong likely to field 18-20 candidates; JD(S) 8-10

Bengaluru, Feb 24: Raising questions about the situation in Kashmir, senior Congress leader and former Karnataka chief minister Sidddaramaiah on Monday asked the BJP heading the union government to prove 'normalcy' by hosting US President Donald Trump's event in the valley.

If @BJP4India feels Kashmir has returned to Normalcy, & If @BJP4India feels that there is no govt orchestrated violence. Now is the time to prove the same by hosting @realDonaldTrump's event at Kashmir, Siddaramaiah tweeted.

Amid concerns raised by opposition parties, the government has said efforts have been made to restore normalcy in Jammu and Kashmir which faced months of restrictions after its special status under Article 370 was scrapped in August last year.

Siddaramaiah, who is Leader of Opposition in Karnataka Assembly, in another tweet hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the long wall built near the airport in Ahmedabad allegedly to block the view of a slum, ahead of Trump's visit.

It is time for @realDonaldTrump to get inspired from @narendramodi. Inspiration to build decorative walls to hide not so decorative life!! he tweeted. The opposition Congress in Gujarat had accused the BJP- ruled civic body in Ahmedabad of building the 500-meter long wall to block the view of a slum colony. Refuting the allegations, AMC officials had said the construction of the wall, around four feet in height, was approved much before Trump's Gujarat visit was finalised.

Trump, accompanied by First Lady Melania Trump and a high-level delegation, arrived in Ahmedabad around noon on Monday for a little less than a 36-hour-long trip.

Bengaluru, Feb 21: Historian Ramachandra Guha on Thursday refuted Karnataka home minister Basavaraj Bommai's claim that the latter had apologised for police allegedly manhandling him during an anti-CAA protest in the city, saying he received no such call or apology.

The writer further said even if such an apology had been offered, he would have rejected it.

"The Home Minister of Karnataka has claimed on the floor of the State Assembly that he apologised to me by phone for the manhandling by the Bengaluru police on 19th December 2019. This is false.

I received no such call or apology," Guha tweeted.

"Even if such an apology had been offered, I would have rejected it.

The imposition of Section 144 was illegal (as the Karnataka High Court has since held) and I was proud to be one of thousands of peaceful protesters who defied the States arbitrary action on that day," he said in another tweet.

During his reply to the debate on law and order situation in the state, Bommai on Wednesday claimed that he had apologised to Guha.

The minister was apologising to senior Congress MLA and former Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar for police serving him notice and detaining him along with others at Mangaluru airport in December for trying to enter the city despite restrictions following violence there.

Stating that anti-CAA protests have taken place peacefully across the state, he had said, there might have been minor discrepancies, like that with historian Ramachandra Guha, being manhandled during a protest.

"I have called and apologised to him," he had said.

Guha was detained on December 19 for staging a demonstration against the Citizenship Amendment Act and National Register of Citizens at the Town Hall here, in defiance of the prohibitory orders imposed in the city.

He was taken away by police personnel and led to a police vehicle parked nearby.

Leader of Opposition in the assembly and former chief minister Siddaramaiah said Bommai has committed a "perjury" in the House, and asked him to apologise to people and Guha in front of media.

"Bommai has committed a perjury on the floor of the House. It answers the question of where @BJP4India workers derive their motivation to spread fake news.

Bommai has insulted the people whom he represents," he tweeted and demanded that he apologize to people and Guha.