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Mysuru: Chairman of JD(S) core committee and Chamundeshwari constituency MLA G T Devegowda on Thursday expressed his solidarity with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah saying the latter need not resign, while lambasting leaders of his own party and alliance partner BJP, including Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy.

In his speech during Mysuru Dasara inauguration he said that if persons against whom FIR is registered have to resign, many leaders from all the three parties, including Opposition Leader R Ashoka, will have to resign.

“All are sitting in glass houses... Since I know Siddaramaiah well, I am talking about him. At a time when mines and real estate are ruling politics, Siddaramaiah has survived in politics. He has never done any favour,” Devegowda said.

He added, “Allegations against Siddaramaiah are unexpected and accidental. If the Governor and Chief Justice order an investigation, it does not mean that he should resign."

He continued, asking, "Have they told Siddaramaiah to resign or have they asked to imprison him? When a person becomes a Central minister, he or she should realise their dignity and responsibility. Instead of recognising the good work done by Siddaramaiah, they ask him to resign. Will Kumarswamy (facing an FIR) resign? Should Siddaramaiah, who has become CM with a support of 135 MLAs, resign?"

"Opposition leaders are not remembering the good work of earlier CMs Kengal Hanumanthaiah, Veerendra Patil, Ramakrishna Hegde, H D Deve Gowda or S M Krishna. Karnataka is a model state. It is a bad trend to topple an elected government which is doing good work,” he further said.

Devegowda added, “Siddaramaiah is Goddess Chamundeshwari’s ‘Varaputra’ and hence has her blessings during tough times. He won the election in Chamundeshwari Assembly constituency, when the BJP-JD(S) government was in power in 2006. With the blessings of the Goddess, he has held varied positions right from becoming an MLA for the first time in 1983. He presented 15 budgets and has become CM for a second time. He took H C Mahadevappa, a Dalit leader to the state level. Siddaramaiah has the support of Deputy CM D K Shivakumar as ‘Jodeththu’. Blessings of the beneficiaries of guarantee schemes are with him (Siddaramaiah).” 

Siddaramaiah said, “Devegowda was a MUDA member. He knows the truth. Hence, he is saying this. His words have filled strength in me. ‘Satyameva Jayate’, Truth will always triumph.” 

The Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah says it targeted Israel's Glilot military base and Mossad headquarters in the outskirts of Tel Aviv with salvos of Fadi-4 rockets.

Israeli reports said several settlers were injured in the rocket barrage from Lebanon on Tel Aviv.

The reports said the rocket attack from Lebanon was “the largest” since the beginning of the war.

Hezbollah earlier said it struck gatherings of Israeli troopers in artillery and rocket attacks on the northern part of the occupied Palestinian territories in retaliation for Israel’s deadly strikes on Lebanon.

In separate statements released on Tuesday, the resistance movement said the gatherings of the enemy troops were hit at the Shtula, Metulla, Avivim and Rosh Pina settlements.

The resistance also targeted the Doviv barracks with a Falaq-2 rockets as well as the gathering of Israeli forces near the settlement of Rosh Pina with a rocket barrage.

The resistance group added that it had conducted the operations in support of “steadfast Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and … their valiant and honorable resistance, and in defense of Lebanon and its people.”

The attacks came amid a major escalation in Israel’s acts of terror and aggression in Lebanon that saw the regime assassinating Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in an airstrike on southern Beirut.

The death toll from Israeli aerial assaults across Lebanon since early October 2023 has reached 1,745 with some 8,767 injured, according to Lebanese government data. In response, Hezbollah has fired barrages of rockets and drones towards Israeli targets.

The deadly exchange of fire was sparked by Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, which has killed 41,615 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and wounded 96,359 others over the past year.

Yemeni Armed Forces have launched a series of attacks on Israeli military positions deep inside the occupied territories, in solidarity with Palestinian and Lebanese people amid the Tel Aviv regime’s ongoing offensives in the Gaza Strip and across Lebanon.

Delivering a televised statement broadcast live from the capital Sana’a on Wednesday morning, Yemen’s military spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Saree said the country’s missile units had fired three domestically-developed Quds-5 cruise missiles at the strategic installations.

He added that the missiles managed to strike the designated targets precisely, despite the Zionist regime’s attempts to conceal the losses it sustained in the aftermath of the missile attack.

Saree also hailed the Islamic Republic of Iran’s retaliatory attack, dubbed Operation True Promise II, against Israel, stressing that Yemeni Armed Forces are prepared to participate in any joint military operation against the Zionist enemy in support of the Palestinian and Lebanese nations, and in response to Israeli atrocities.

“The continued US and British support for the Israeli enemy will put their interests in the region in jeopardy. Yemeni Armed Forces will not hesitate to expand their military operations against the Zionist enemy and its sponsors until the ongoing aggression against Gaza stops, the siege on the coastal territory is completely lifted, and the attacks on Lebanon come to an end,” he pointed out.

Yemenis have declared their open support for Palestine’s struggle against the Israeli occupation since the regime launched a devastating war on Gaza on October 7, 2023, after the territory’s Palestinian resistance movements carried out surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity.

The Yemeni Armed Forces have said they will not stop their attacks until unrelenting Israeli ground and aerial offensives in Gaza end.

So far, Israel has killed at least 41,638 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 96,460 others in Gaza.