The BJP is going all out in its bid to corner the Siddaramaiah government in Karnataka.
On Friday, BJP Karnataka president BY Vijayendra said the party was starting a seven-day padayatra (foot march) from Bengaluru to Mysuru on Saturday to take the fight against the Congress government to its “logical end”.
The BJP has organised the march to raise further heat on Siddaramiah over the alleged Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) scam.
The BJP has alleged that the CM’s wife Parvati was “illegally” benefitting from MUDA after the agency encroached on a parcel of land owned by her to create layouts. The BJP has also claimed that there was an irregularity in the purchase of land by her brother and also in the compensatory sites allotted by MUDA in exchange for the land.
On July 26, Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot sent a show cause notice to Siddaramaiah on the scam. The Karnataka Council of Ministers on Thursday discussed the show cause notice. They alleged that it was a “gross misuse of the Constitutional Office’ of the Governor and said that a concerted effort was “being made to destabilise a lawfully elected majority government in Karnataka for political considerations”.
While the BJP will use the march to hit out at the Congress government, there is a particular absence from the march that is causing the BJP discontent.
Its ally in Karnataka, the Janata Dal (Secular), has publicly pulled out of the march. On Wednesday, JD(S) leader and Union minister HD Kumaraswamy declared that the party would not be part of the march, saying that many JD(S) leaders were not in favour of it at a time when people were battling rain-related issues. He also went on to accuse the BJP of “sidelining” the JD(S).
Speaking to reporters in Delhi, the Union minister said: “In the region between Bengaluru and Mysuru, we (the JD-S) are strong. In this situation, if they do not take us into confidence in a proper manner, why should we support (the march)?
AAP protest in front of LG’s office
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Lieutenant Governor’s office in Delhi have reached yet another flashpoint.
This time, the sparring occurred over the deaths of a woman and her child in East Delhi who had fallen into a drain after a downpour on Wednesday evening.
On Friday, AAP leaders alleged that the drain was under the purview of the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and demanded the resignation of the LG, who is the chairman of the Authority. The AAP has also announced a protest at the LG office on Saturday.
The LG’s office shot back a letter in which it hit out at AAP leaders and said the drain was under the jurisdiction of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), which is under the Delhi government.
“While this is undoubtedly another example of abuse typical of the AAP and its leadership, the fact of the matter is that the drain in which the unfortunate incident of drowning happened at Khoda colony belonged to the MCD under the control of AAP,” said the LG office. The 100-metre drain was neither desilted nor covered, it claimed.
“AAP MP Sanjay Singh, MLA Kuldeep Kumar, party spokesperson Priyankar Kakkar and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), yesterday issued a patently false, deliberately misleading and blatantly improper statement holding the DDA responsible for the tragic death of a lady and her child by drowning and demanded the Hon’ble LG’s resignation. The same set of lies were again peddled today in a press conference by minister Gopal Rai and MLA Kuldeep Kumar,” the letter said.
In a scathing attack on the AAP government, the LG office charged that the 10 years of “deliberate inaction, lack of development and worsening of civic infrastructure services” in Delhi “glossed over by rhetoric and hype generated through advertisements” was now getting “exposed”.
Governors conference continues
The two-day Governors conference will continue on Saturday.
On Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President Draupadi Murmu, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar and Union Home Minister Amit Shah addressed the programme.
“In his address, the Prime Minister urged the Governors to play the role of an effective bridge between the Centre and the state and interact with people and social organisations in a manner to co-opt those who are underprivileged,” a press release issued by the Rashtrapati Bhavan said.
The conference, which ends on Saturday, “will cover a wide range of issues that play a critical role in not only shaping the Centre-state relations but also promoting welfare schemes for common people,” the release said.
In her opening remarks, Murmu said it was crucial for the smooth functioning of democracy that various central agencies work with better coordination across all the states. She advised Governors to think about how they, as constitutional heads of their respective states, can promote this coordination.
PM to inaugurate agricultural economists conference
The PM will inaugurate the 32nd International Conference of Agricultural Economists (ICAE) in New Delhi on Saturday.
This programme is being held in India after 65 years, an official statement said.
The theme of the six-day triennial conference, organised by the International Association of Agricultural Economists, is Transformation Towards Sustainable Agri-Food Systems. The conference will witness participation of around 1,000 delegates from around 75 countries.
— With PTI inputs
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