Siddaramaiah downplays rift in Congress

DHNS
September 3, 2017

Bengaluru, Sept 3: “Ask Parameshwara (state Congress president) about it.” This is how Chief Minister Siddaramaiah reacted on Saturday on seeking to know the reason for Parameshwara not attending the swearing-in ceremony of new ministers on Friday.

Initially, Siddaramaiah sought to downplay the issue, saying that the KPCC chief could not attend the ceremony as he was away in Delhi. But when media persons pointed out that Parameshwara was very much in Bengaluru on Friday, a visibly upset chief minister asked media persons to pose the question to the state Congress president.

Parameshwara and many senior Congress leaders kept off the ceremony as they were upset with Siddaramaiah for not taking them into confidence while selecting candidates for expanding the council of ministers. Siddaramaiah decided to induct Gundlupet MLA Geetha Mahadeva Prasad, who is the widow of late H S Mahadeva Prasad, instead of Tiptur MLA K Shadakshari. It was done without informing the state Congress president and other senior leaders of the state unit, sources in the state Congress said.

Parameshwara is also upset with Siddaramaiah’s decision to make former union minister C M Ibrahim a MLC in the recently held byelection. The KPCC chief was lobbying to get the seat to his close follower G C Chandrashekar.

Sources said a majority of the leaders who attended Friday’s ceremony were close followers of Siddaramaiah. Many senior party leaders and Cabinet ministers, including Revenue Minister Kagodu Thimmappa and Energy Minister D K Shivakumar, kept themselves away from the ceremony held at Raj Bhavan. Shivakumar was eyeing at the Home portfolio, but the chief minister chose to give it to Ramalinga Reddy.

Parameshwara was, however, not available for comments. Shivakumar denied that he was upset with the chief minister. “I am not upset with anybody. I am a straight fighter. There is no confusion in the party,” he told reporters.

Comments

Danish
 - 
Sunday, 3 Sep 2017

Silence is better infront of media till election

Suresh
 - 
Sunday, 3 Sep 2017

Good reply from CM. He trying to avoid unwanted issues. Media need to know the reason and they wanted to make that issue bigger. 

Hari
 - 
Sunday, 3 Sep 2017

Rubbish. He is the CM. He is prominent cong lHe should know the reason. He always downplays

Jinu
 - 
Sunday, 3 Sep 2017

If need to know the reason, should ask to parameshwara, not to cm

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News Network
January 19,2020

Bengaluru, Jan 19: The long-awaited discussions on cabinet expansion finally took place between BJP national president Amit Shah and the state party unit on Saturday, but they produced no result.

Latest indications are that new members will be appointed only after CM BS Yediyurappa returns from Davos, Switzerland, on January 25.

The party held a close-door party meeting at a top hotel in Hubballi. The subject of expanding the cabinet, which currently has 16 vacancies, featured in the talks.

Earlier, Yediyurappa reportedly had a one-on-one with Shah during their 45-minute flight from Bengaluru to Hubballi. He is said to have insisted on accommodating all 11 newly MLAs in the cabinet. These legislators were earlier a part of Congress and JD(S); they contested the December byelections on BJP tickets and won.

This apart, BJP sources said, Yediyurappa and Shah had a brief chat at a private event at Palace Grounds . Separately, Shah, who is the Union home minister, held meetings with Jagadish Shettar, Laxman Savadi and Prahlad Joshi, seeking their views on cabinet expansion.

Shah also wanted to get an idea of what people think about the Yediyurappa government’s performance.

Newly elected MLAs Ramesh Jarkiholi, BC Patil and Srimanth Patil greeted Shah. “We only met him to wish him; we didn’t discuss the cabinet issue. That’s something state BJP members will do,” said Hirekerur legislator BC Patil.

Saturday’s deliberations fail to break the stalemate over the cabinet appointments. There are clear differences in the camp about whether all Congress-JD(S) defectors should be made cabinet members, according to a senior minister attended one such meeting.

Shah reportedly wants only seven to eight newly elected MLAs to be made ministers; the rest of the spots should go to BJP loyalists. Yediyurappa disagrees with this position as he had promised all 13 turncoats places in the cabinet. Two lost in the bypolls.

Shah has now asked Yediyurappa to visit Delhi after returning from Davos to finalise the composition of the cabinet, according to the sources.

Yediyurappa will leave for Davos early on Sunday, while Shah will fly directly to Delhi from Hubballi.

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News Network
January 23,2020

Mangaluru/Bengaluru, Jan 23: A day after two senior functionaries of the BJP — a deputy chief minister and a political secretary to the chief minister — made provocative speeches against a minority community, Nalin Kumar Kateel, state president of the saffron party, on Wednesday issued a gag order, banning functionaries from talking on issues without the party’s approval.

Deputy CM Govind Karjol and Honnalli legislator MP Renukacharya had passed comments castigating Muslims, in the process seriously denting the image of the party which is trying to avoid controversies in its efforts to allay fears on the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. The comments come on the heels of Ballari City legislator Somashekara Reddy warning Muslims at a pro-CAA rally of repercussions if they do not fall in line.

Kateel said a gag order has been “clearly” communicated to all concerned at a recent meeting that he and chief minister BS Yediyurappa had chaired. “Our message to party functionaries is in line with what Prime Minister Narendra Modi has told his council of ministers and party MPs — to focus on their work and constituencies rather than comment on issues. Let them leave this task to official spokespersons of the party,” Kateel said.

However, it appears the message hasn’t gone through to Renukacharya, Yediyurappa’s political secretary. A day after courting controversy by saying anti-nationals were using mosques to store weapons, Renukacharya said he stood by his comments and launched a fresh tirade against madrasas, saying they were manipulating youth and encouraging terrorism.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Renukacharya said: “In our [temple-run] institutions, nothing anti-national is taught. We only teach values that are mandated for life. But at madrasas, youth are manipulated by teaching terrorism. Why do we need such schools? The majority of those accused of terrorism are Muslims.”

He immediately followed up this comment by saying he did not imply all Muslims were terrorists. The Honnalli MLA justified his comments saying he did not receive a single Muslim vote in the 2018 assembly elections. “They [Muslims] come to us seeking our help. They want the BJP for development, but when it comes to elections, they vote for Congress and JD(S),” Renukacharya said. He said no “special packages” will be distributed to Muslims in his constituency.

Comments

neshu mangalore
 - 
Thursday, 23 Jan 2020

its really saddening the so called government functioneries making ill concieved statements on partic. community. its an eye opener for general public they make firm stand now on such element of provocative speech.

preach peace ... live and let others live peacefully...

INDIAN
 - 
Thursday, 23 Jan 2020

These parties and his ministers having nothing to do in the name of governance. Only divide society and preach hatred. Did he mention anything about the inflation, vegetable prices, there are many. Cheap politics I urge every Indian to open up your eyes and mind. This politician whichever party they belong we have appointed them to benefit us. Instead of that they are benefitting from us and are using us for their gains.

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News Network
July 20,2020

Bengaluru, Jul 20: Janata Dal (Secular) leader HD Kumaraswamy has urged the Karnataka government to stop putting warning signboards in front of COVID-19 patients' houses alleging that they are leading to "social discrimination and untouchability" in the present times.

"A local government warning signboards in front of the homes of COVID-19 infected people is leading to neo-social discrimination and untouchability in the new age. Even after infection, the individual and family should live with dignity. The government should immediately stop the practice of placing signboards," Kumaraswamy's first tweet read.

"Instead of placing them in front of their homes and creating untouchability, send health workers to their homes to create courage and awareness. They should be told not to leave the house. There is no such degrading practice left behind. I would like to ask Chief Minister Karnataka BS Yediyurappa to pay attention to this," he added.

The former chief minister further said that threatening to cancel the licenses of medical colleges for refusing treatment to patients would not solve the problem and urged the government to take them into confidence instead of rebuking them.

"Refusing treatment is the fault of any hospital. But for the same reason, threatening to cancel government medical college licenses is not right. There is no profit in this emergency of health. MCI also has the power to revoke the licenses of medical colleges. Remember not the government," he said.

"In this case, the government should look to the Medical Colleges to get their services in order to get them to trust them instead of getting angry. Let them focus on meeting their needs. I insist on a collective fight against the coronavirus through this," he further added.

The COVID-19 count in Karnataka reached 63,772 on Sunday, including 39,370 active cases and 23,065 cured and discharged patients.

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