What helped in breaking logjam over Karnataka CM pick?

News Network
May 18, 2023

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Bengaluru, May 18: Several top Congress leaders from party chief Mallikarjun Kharge to former party chiefs Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi were involved in hectic parleys with Siddaramaiah and D K Shivakumar which finally helped to break the logjam over the top post in Karnataka.

Ever since the Karnataka Assembly results were declared on May 13, both the leaders started garnering support of MLAs close to them while mustering support for themselves.

The supporters of both, meanwhile, started building up the momentum in support of their respective leader and a poster war erupted.

As the race for the top post heated up, Kharge appointed three observers -- Sushilkumar Shinde, Jitendra Singh and Deepak Babaria -- and the first meeting of the Congress Legislature Party was convened on May 14. Supporters of both the leaders continued to raise the pitch by raising slogans in support of their leaders outside the CLP meeting venue.

All Congress MLAs authorised the party chief to appoint a leader of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP), who would also be the new chief minister.

Keeping the consultation process alive, the newly-elected MLAs had authorised Kharge to appoint the new CLP leader, after which the scene shifted from Bengaluru to Delhi. The observers also held one-on-one consultations with all MLAs and sought a secret ballot from all of them, the results of which were tabulated and shared with party chief the next day.

In the national capital, the three observers along with party general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal and AICC general secretary in-charge Randeep Surjewala arrived and held a meeting with Kharge.

With Siddaramaiah emerging as the frontrunner in the race and after the report of observers, the party leadership asked him and Shivakumar to arrive in Delhi for further consultations. While Siddaramaih arrived on Monday evening, Shivakumar cancelled the meeting citing health issues.

This complicated the situation for the party as it hardened its stand against Shivakumar, who arrived the next day.

Tuesday saw the entry of Rahul Gandhi in the consultation process, who drove down to Kharge's residence and held a meeting on the Karnataka government formation for over an hour-and-a-half.

A series of fresh consultations started once again with Kharge meeting both of them separately, as also with the two general secretaries on Tuesday.

The final round of talks started on Wednesday when both the leaders met Rahul Gandhi at his residence. In the meantime, Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah also spoke to Sonia Gandhi, who was away in Shimla on a vacation. Sonia also asked Shivakumar to speak to Kharge and Rahul to sort out the matter, sources said.

The hectic parleys continued from Monday and went on till the wee hours of Thursday to break the deadlock in deciding on the Congress' chief ministerial pick in Karnataka as both Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar presenting their cases before the top brass.

The leadership issue in Karnataka lingered as Shivakumar had dug his heels in and asserted that he be made the chief minister as the party staged a stunning victory in the southern state under his presidency.

Sources said after Rahul Gandhi told both the leaders to sit together and work out a solution with Kharge, it was the party chief who told Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar to hold talks with Venugopal and Surjewala, and sort out the differences and agree to Siddaramaiah as chief minister, whose leadership abilities and mass support helped him clinch the top post.

The decision, sources said, was chalked out in the wee hours of Thursday when all parties agreed to accomodate confidantes of both the leaders and asked Shivakumar to continue on the post of state Congress chief till the next year's Parliamentary elections.

To maintain his number 2 position in the Karnataka government, Shivakumar was made the only deputy chief minister.

The chief minister and his deputy along with over 20 ministers in the cabinet would take oath on May 20 in Bengaluru, where leaders of several political parties would also be invited.

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News Network
October 26,2024

Bengaluru: Amid protests by farmers in Vijayapura who have been served notices by the Karnataka Board of Waqfs to vacate the land their ancestors had allegedly encroached, Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara on Saturday said the state government will review the situation. 

Speaking to reporters here, he said, "We will review it. The state government and the revenue department will review it. A decision will be taken based on old records." When asked that the Waqf Board had set a deadline to vacate the land, the minister said that is not a problem.

Meanwhile, in the district headquarter town of Vijayapura in North Karnataka bordering Maharashtra, the farmers staged a demonstration at the Deputy Commissioner’s office.

Holding the land records and registered land deeds, the farmers alleged that they were served notice soon after Housing and Waqf Minister B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan visited Vijayapura and directed the Deputy Commissioner to serve notices to the farmers who were sitting on Waqf land.

Farmer leaders alleged that without bringing the matter to their notice, the land records of farmers in Tenahalli village in Indi Taluk and Honvada village in Tikota Taluk were changed and made in favour of Waqf.

Bengaluru South BJP MP Tejasvi Surya on Friday said the Karnataka State Board of Waqfs has claimed its ownership over 1,500 acres of ancestral land of farmers in Honvada village.

Surya, who is also Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha president, said the farmers of Honvada village in Tikota Taluk were served notices declaring their lands as Waqf property "with no evidence or explanation provided".

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News Network
October 21,2024

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Mangaluru: Forest officials successfully captured a leopard that strayed into the kitchen of a house in Akkasaligara Keri, Mulki, on the outskirts of Mangaluru, during the early hours of Sunday, October 20.

Following multiple complaints from residents about leopard sightings, forest department officials had placed cages at various locations in Mulki. According to Deputy RFO Manjunath Ganiga, locals had reported spotting a leopard in the area, prompting the department to set up a cage about a kilometer from the affected house.

At approximately 10 p.m., the leopard entered the house and made its way into the kitchen. The family quickly locked the kitchen door and contacted the forest department for assistance. The forest officials, using a cage and a net, managed to trap the leopard around 2:45 a.m. The animal was later examined by veterinarians and released back into the wild.

Locals suspect that up to three leopards may be roaming the area.

The operation to capture the leopard was led by RFO Kiran Kumar, with assistance from Deputy RFOs Nagesh Billava and Manjunath Ganiga, along with forest department staff members Chandrashekar and Shankar.

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News Network
October 29,2024

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At least 60 people, including children, have been killed in Israeli strikes on several areas in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley, the Lebanese Health Ministry says.

The ministry said at least 58 people were also wounded in the attacks on 12 areas in the Bekaa Valley on Monday.

Of the 60 killed, at least 16 deaths were recorded in al-Alaq, west of Baalbek city, the ministry added.

The casualty figures were preliminary and are expected to rise as rescue efforts were still ongoing, according to to the ministry.

Baalbek governor Bachir Khodr denounced the attacks on the area as the "most violent" since the start of the Israeli aggression.

Israel has been targeting Lebanon since October 2023, when it launched a genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.

Hezbollah has been responding to the aggression with numerous retaliatory operations, including one with a hypersonic ballistic missile, targeting the occupied Palestinian territories.

Since late September, Israel has escalated its strikes against Hezbollah, killing its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and a number of its senior figures.

At least 2,710 people have been killed by Israeli fire, and 12,592 others wounded since the clashes began last year, the health ministry says.

The Lebanese resistance movement has vowed to keep up its operations against Israel as long as the Israeli regime continues its Gaza war, which has so far killed at least 43,020 Palestinians, mostly women and children.

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