PM Modi should assure nation he won't allow 'buying MLAs off': Kapil Sibal

Agencies
May 19, 2018

New Delhi, May 19: Ahead of the crucial floor test in the Karnataka assembly, the Congress on Saturday asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to assure the country that he would not encourage “buying MLAs off” as the BJP seeks to prove majority, and welcomed the assurance of live telecast of House proceedings.

The Congress said that every alleged attempt of the BJP to derail the vote of confidence stood “defeated” and asserted the "democracy will win".

Addressing reporters here, senior Congress leaders Kapil Sibal and Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who represented the Congress-JD(S) combine in the Supreme Court, said they did not press for the replacement of pro tem speaker K G Bopaiah after the assurance of live broadcast of the proceedings.

The Congress and the JD(S) had approached the apex court raising questions over the appointment of Bopaiah as the temporary speaker, contending he was not the senior most legislator.

It also maintained that Bopaiah had a "tainted past" as he as the then speaker had tried to save a previous government of Yeddyurappa, who faced corruption charges, in 2011.

Singhvi said whosoever wins or loses in the trust vote, it is the "democracy which will win".

Sibal also took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying "He (Modi) should also say 'na kharidunga, na kharidane dunga' (will neither buy off, nor let anyone be bought over)."

"The prime minister keeps saying 'na khaunga, na khane dunga' (will neither indulge in corruption nor allow it). He should also say 'na kharidunga, na kharidane dunga'," quipped Sibal.

There was no question of replacing the pro tem speaker when proceedings would be live telecast and transparency would be ensured, he added.

Asked about the BJP’s claim that the Supreme Court’s order was a blow for the Congress, Sibal countered it, suggesting that things were otherwise as the time period allowed for the BJP by Governor Vajubhai Vala was reduced from 15 days to 24 hours (which ends today).

Singhvi seconded Sibal, and added that the Supreme Court also said no to secret ballot and the pro tem speaker was disallowed to take any other agenda, suggesting the decision favoured the Congress-JD(S) combine.

"The achievement of our petition before the court is holding the trust vote in one-and-a-half days as against 15 days allowed earlier," he added.

Asked why did the Congress move the petition if it had to withdraw its pleas, Singhvi said the offer to hold live telecast was given only after our petition. He described the move of live telecast as “a virtue out of necessity".

Singhvi said, "We wanted safeguards to be in place on our apprehension. In a way most of our demands have been met."

Another senior leader of the party, P Chidambaram, saluted the apex court and added the live broadcast of the House proceedings would mean every citizen watching television “will be a pro tem speaker”.

“In Karnataka, what is at stake is not only who will form the Government, but who will be loyal to the electorate and uphold the verdict of his/her voters.

“Every trick of the BJP to delay or derail the vote of confidence has been defeated. Now, I am sure the Congress and JDS MLAs will defeat Mr Yeddyurappa,” he tweeted.

The Supreme Court today ordered live telecast of the floor test, which is scheduled for 4 pm.

"Live broadcast of floor test will be the best possible way to ensure transparency in the proceedings," a bench comprising justices A K Sikri, S A Bobde and Ashok Bhushan said.

The bench also made it clear that no other item in the agenda shall be taken up during the trust vote.

The bench said the secretary of the Legislative Assembly will record the proceedings of the House.

It said that several local channels will be provided the live feed of the proceedings so that they can also be in a position to telecast simultaneously.

The Supreme Court yesterday ordered a floor test in the Karnataka Assembly at 4 PM today, drastically slashing the 15-day window given by the Governor to BJP Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa to prove majority.

The BJP has emerged as the single largest party with 104 seats, followed by the Congress with 78, JD(S) with 37 and three seats have gone to others in the 224-member Assembly where elections were held for 222 seats.

The majority mark is 112 seats and the post-poll alliance strength of the Congress-JD(S) combine, which claims to have 117 MLAs, has alleged foul play in the Governor inviting BJP to form the government.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
November 18,2024

Advisors to US President-elect Donald Trump have instructed his allies and associates to refrain from using the inflammatory language they previously employed when discussing issues related to migrants and the deportation of asylum seekers, in a bid to avoid “looking like Nazis.”

US media reports said that Trump’s associates had been asked to stop using the word “camps” to describe potential facilities that would be used to accommodate migrants rounded up in deportation operations across the country.

The reports said the US president-elect’s allies had been ordered to stave off such charged terms as they would bring to mind “Nazis,” and be used against Trump.

“I have received some guidance to avoid terms, like ‘camps,’ that can be twisted and used against the president, yes,” one Trump ally told American monthly magazine Rolling Stone.

“Apparently, some people think it makes us look like Nazis.”

The presidential advisers also cautioned surrogates and allies to keep racist terms, which have dogged Trump’s campaign, out of their remarks.

They said with Trump’s heated rhetoric that used to compare undocumented immigrants to “animals” and his slight that they are “poisoning the blood of our country,” detractors did not need to reach too far to find parallels to Nazi Germany.

Stephen Miller, who Trump tapped to be his deputy chief of staff of policy, specifically used the word “camps” to describe holding facilities that he hoped the military could put together for immigrants.

Tom Homan, who served as the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and is chosen by Trump to be in charge of the US borders, was no stranger to such language.

“It’s not gonna be a mass sweep of neighborhoods,” he said in an interview earlier this week. “It’s not gonna be building concentration camps. I’ve read it all. It’s ridiculous.”

Becoming a little more forthright about the new government’s aggressive deportation plans, Homan likened the early days of the Trump administration to the initial invasion of Iraq in 2003.

“I got three words for them – shock and awe,” he said. “You’re going to see us take this country back.”

Trump made immigration a central element of his 2024 presidential campaign but unlike his first run, which was mainly focused on building a border wall, he has shifted his attention to interior enforcement and the removal of undocumented immigrants already in the United States.

People close to the US president and his aides are laying the groundwork for expanding detention facilities to fulfill his mass deportation campaign promise.

The businessman-turned-politician deported more than 1.5 million people during his first term.

The figure do not include the millions of people turned away at the border under a Covid-era policy enacted by Trump and used during most of Biden’s term.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
November 17,2024

hizbullah.jpg

An Israeli airstrike on the office of Syria’s Baath party in Lebanon’s capital Beirut has killed the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah's Media Relations Officer, Mohammad Afif, reports say.

Lebanon's National News Agency (NNA) reported that the Israeli raid struck the Ba'ath party’s building in central Beirut district of Ras Al-Naba'a on Sunday, adding that the strike was an attempt to assassinate the leader of the resistance media front.

According to Baath Secretary-General Ali Hijazi, Afif was having a meeting in the Baath Party headquarters when Israel carried out the attack.

"Afif did not fight with weapons and did not lead a military unit in Hezbollah. Rather, he led a media unit," he said.

Reuters, Sky News, Al Jazeera and a number of Henrew-language media reported that Afif was killed in the Israeli strike.

However, Hezbollah has not yet confirmed Afif’s death or whether he was present at the site or not.

Earlier, the Lebanese Health Ministry said at least one person was killed and three others injured after an Israeli strike targeted a central district in Beirut.

Lebanon's al-Mayadeen television network reported that five people were killed in the attack.

The latest development came after Afif said Hezbollah was behind the Caesarea operation and targeting Netanyahu’s home during a speech at the Ghobeiry area in the southern suburbs of Beirut on October 22.

This was the second assassination attempt on Afif in the last two months, after he survived an attack on the Hezbollah media relations office several weeks ago.

Israel launched a ground assault and massive air campaign against Lebanon in late September after a year of exchanging fire across the Lebanese border in parallel with the Gaza war.

At least 3,287 people have been killed in Israeli strikes in Lebanon over the past year, with the vast majority in the past seven weeks. Another 14,222 have been wounded, mostly women and children.

In response to the ongoing aggression, the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah has been staging hundreds of retaliatory strikes against the occupied Palestinian territories and the Israeli forces trying to advance on southern Lebanese areas.

The movement has vowed to sustain its strikes until the regime ends the escalation.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
November 18,2024

resort.jpg

Mangaluru: The Ullal police have arrested Manohar, the owner of Vazco Beach Resort, and its manager Bharath in connection with the drowning of three college girls from Mysuru at the resort’s swimming pool on November 17.

City Commissioner of Police Anupam Agrawal confirmed the arrests, stating that a case has been registered under Section 106 of BNS. The bodies of the victims, all in their twenties, have been handed over to their parents. The women had arrived at the resort for a weekend getaway on November 16.

Following the tragic incident, the resort was sealed by officials led by Mangaluru Assistant Commissioner Harshavardhan. The trade license of the resort, issued on June 13, 2024, has been suspended, and the tourism department has temporarily revoked the resort's registration. These actions prohibit the resort from engaging in any tourism-related activities until further notice.

Someshwara TMC Chief Officer stated that the suspension was due to the resort's failure to implement adequate safety measures, which resulted in the loss of three lives. Further investigations are underway.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.