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Kumaraswamy govt in Karnataka falls, BJP calls it ‘victory of democracy’

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Kumaraswamy govt in Karnataka falls, BJP calls it ‘victory of democracy’

The wobbly Congress-JD(S) coalition government headed by HD Kumaraswamy in Karnataka collapsed yesterday evening after a turbulent 14 months after failing the floor test in the Assembly.

The government got only 99 votes against 105 for the BJP. Twenty MLAs, including two independents, 15 rebels and the lone BSP member, stayed away from the vote on the confidence motion. The BSP MLA was promptly expelled from the party by Mayawati for ignoring her directive to vote for the ruling coalition.

The trust vote was occasioned by the resignation of 13 Congress and three JD(S) MLAs and the withdrawal of support by two independent MLAs over a fortnight. 

The trust vote, pending since Friday, was held on Tuesday evening after a week-long back and forth between the Speaker, the coalition and the BJP — and prodding from Governor Vajubhai Vala. The defeat of the coalition government brought an end to the 18-day drama that started with resignations of two MLAs and soon grew into a flood with 14 more following suit, leaving the government in a minority.

BJP dubbed it a “Game of Karma”. “It’s the victory of people of Karnataka. It’s the end of an era of corrupt & unholy alliance. We promise a stable & able governance to the people of Karnataka,” the state BJP tweeted.

State BJP president and former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa called the defeat of the government a “victory of democracy”. 

“People were fed up with Kumaraswamy government. I want to assure people of Karnataka that a new era of development will start now,” said Yeddyurappa who is set to be the chief minister for the fourth time. 

But while the 76-year-old Yeddyurappa can’t wait to take oath as CM, the BJP leadership is in no hurry. 

After losing the floor test, Kumaraswamy drove to the Raj Bhavan and submitted his resignation to governor Vajubhai R Vala around 8.40pm. Vala asked Kumaraswamy to continue in office till alternative arrangements are made.

The tussle between the ruling coalition and the BJP in the run up to the trust vote had even reached the Supreme Court. The debate on the confidence motion extended over Monday and Tuesday despite Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar’s Monday deadline. Ahead of Tuesday’s session, the Speaker, seeing near empty treasury benches in the assembly, commented: “Should this be the fate of the Speaker or the assembly? You will lose credibility, leave alone strength,” he said.

Last Friday, a trust vote could not be held despite two deadlines from the Governor. The house was adjourned after marathon speeches by Kumaraswamy and other coalition leaders. The BJP accused the government of delaying the trust vote with lengthy speeches in hope of reprieve from the Supreme Court.

Responding to the debate on Tuesday evening, Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy — who has already handed his resignation to the Governor — said he was “not particularly worried about the end of this debate” and that he would “happily give up… rather than all this”. “I have acted with decency. The last 14 months has been – ‘will they stay or will they go’ – and I thank my party leaders for staying through it all,” he added.

The Congress slammed the BJP for “unscrupulous political horse trading” and said it was a “moral victory” for itself, promising to hold nationwide protests against the “immoral, blatant and brazen political destabilization”.

The Congress and HD Kumaraswamy’s Janata Dal Secular had tied up last May when the counting of votes in the assembly elections indicated a hung verdict with the BJP emerging as the single largest party.

The BJP called their alliance “political opportunism”. It predicted that the government will collapse after the national elections. In May, the party scooped up 26 of the state’s 28 Lok Sabha seats while the alliance got only two. Earlier this month, 16 legislators – 13 from the Congress and three from JDS – resigned and two independent legislators withdrew support to the coalition government.

Both Kumaraswamy and Congress’s Siddaramaiah said the rebels will be punished. 

“I would like to reaffirm that those who have fallen for Operation Kamala will never be inducted back to our party,” Siddaramaiah tweeted. Another tweet read: “15-16 of our MLAs violated the whip by abstaining from the House during trust vote, thereby, it is a clear violation of Schedule 10 (of the Constitution) and attracts disqualification.”

Both Congress and JD(S) have moved disqualification petitions before speaker KR Ramesh Kumar and the process is expected to get on track once Supreme Court decides on the issue. On Tuesday, the apex court said it would wait and watch before deciding on the pleas linked to the trust vote and issue of party whips.

Thirteen of the rebel lawmakers have written to the Speaker asking for more time to meet him over a disqualification notice against them. “You are aware that the Disqualification Rule, 1986, requires a minimum of 7 days period. In spite of the same, the proceedings are being hurried up. In these circumstances, I request you to grant four weeks’ time to appear,” the letter read, according to news agency ANI.

The speaker has so far reserved his decision. 

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Hardeep Singh Puri says Sunita Kejriwal is preparing to hold Delhi CM post like Rabri Devi

The Union Minister was speaking to the media during the inauguration of Delhi BJP’s election office along with leaders including Delhi BJP Chief Virendra Sachdeva and Bansuri Swaraj.

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Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Friday compared Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s wife and former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi, hinting that she may be gearing up to take on her husband’s post. The Union Minister was speaking to the media during the inauguration of Delhi BJP’s election office.

The BJP leader further took a dig at Delhi Chief Minister for forming an alliance with the most corrupt party against whom they had started an anti-corruption movement with social activist Anna Hazare. The minister made the statement in response to a question regarding Sunita Kejriwal, who earlier today launched a whatsapp campaign advocating for support for her husband, who is in ED custody in connection with the Excise policy case.

In a video Sunita Kejriwal said her husband has challenged the most corrupt and dictatorial forces in the country and asked people to support her husband through their prayers and blessings. She issued 2 WhatsApp numbers 8297324624 and 9700297002 through which people can send their blessings, prayers or any other messages to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo and she will communicate those to him.

She said yesterday Kejriwal had presented his side in the court, and the entire country heard it. She requested the people to listen to it if they had not listened till now. She added whatever Kejriwal had said in front of the court required a lot of courage. She said her husband is a true patriot. She requested the people to participate in the Kejriwal ko Aashirwad campaign.

BJP leader Manoj Tiwari also took a dig at Aam Aami Party asking why only Kejriwal’s wife is coming out in his support, and not the people of Delhi. He said the Honorable Justice of High Court said they cannot stop Arvind Kejriwals’ arrest that they are surprised why he hasn’t been arrested yet?

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Lok Sabha elections: INDIA bloc in Bihar seals seat-sharing deal, Congress get 9 seats, RJD 26

Purnea and Katihar, currently held by the Janata Dal (United), had emerged as the sticking point in seat-sharing talks between the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Congress for the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar.

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The Opposition INDIA bloc sealed the seat-sharing deal in Bihar for 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The Mahagathbandhan’s largest constituent, RJD will field its candidates from 26 seats, including Purnea and Hajipur, while the Congress will contest on nine seats, including Kishanganj and Patna Sahib. Meanwhile, the Left will fight on five seats.

Purnea and Katihar, currently held by the Janata Dal (United), had emerged as the sticking point in seat-sharing talks between the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Congress for the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar.

Reportedly, the Congress has been made to give up the Purnea Lok Sabha seat, which recent entrant Pappu Yadav, husband of Rajya Sabha MP Ranjeet Ranjan, was hoping to contest, mentioning that he had received assurance of Congress ticket from Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi.

The seat will be contested by RJD, which recently gave the party ticket to JD(U) turncoat Bima Bharti, but stopped short of announcing it formally. The INDIA bloc seat-sharing announcement comes a day after the filing of nomination papers for the first phase of Lok Sabha polls was over. The RJD has fielded its candidates in all four seats going to elections in the first phase.

Earlier, Tejashwi Yadav attended an INDIA bloc meeting regarding Bihar’s seat-sharing formula at Congress leader Mukul Wasnik’s residence and said that the RJD, the Congress and the Left will fight the Lok Sabha elections together in Bihar. He added that the INDIA bloc partners have agreed verbally on the seat-sharing arrangement and all the constituents are getting a respectable deal. Tejashwi Yadav’s remarks came amid reports of disquiet in the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance in Bihar over seat sharing.

In the previous Lok Sabha elections, the National Democratic Alliance, including the BJP, JD(U) and LJP won 39 seats. The first phase of the Lok Sabha elections is scheduled for April 19.

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Tax terrorism has to stop, says Congress after Income Tax Department issues fresh Rs 1,700 crore notice

The Congress has accused the BJP of squeezing it financially and of using tax authorities against it ahead of Lok Sabha elections beginning April 19.

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Ahead of the Lok Sabha election, the Congress’ financial woes worsened once again with the Income Tax Department issuing a fresh Rs 1,700 crore notice. The tax department issued the notice due to discrepancies in tax returns. 

The fresh notice is for assessment years 2017-18 to 2020-21 and includes penalty and interest. This comes a day after the Delhi High Court dismissed the party’s petition challenging the tax notices. 

The opposition party is already facing a funds crunch after Income Tax authorities imposed a penalty of Rs 200 crore and froze its funds. Furthermore, the party has not received any relief from the High Court in the case and is likely to approach the Supreme Court. The Congress has accused the BJP of squeezing it financially and of using tax authorities against it ahead of Lok Sabha elections beginning April 19.

Addressing a press conference, Congress MP Jairam Ramesh said that the notices are being sent to cripple the party financially. Calling the action as tax terrorism, Jairam Ramesh said that this attack on Congress has to stop.

Earlier in February, the Income Tax department had found fault in the party’s tax returns and demanded Rs 200 crore. Subsequently, the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) had asked the party to pay the dues and froze their accounts. The Congress stated the tax tribunal’s order freezing its funds was an attack on democracy as the order came just ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

AICC general secretary K C Venugopal stated that this is a deliberate attempt by the Narendra Modi-led to bankrupt the Congress ahead of elections. He mentioned that the timing of the penalty notice, following the Delhi High Court’s dismissal of Congress petitions challenging tax reassessment proceedings, reeks of political vendetta.

He underlined that while political parties are typically exempt from taxes, this penalty is allegedly due to delayed filing of returns. He asserted that it is a blatant move by the Modi government to cripple the Congress financially, especially during the elections. He further asserted that in response to the notice, the Congress plans to stage a nationwide protest, condemning BJP’s exploitation of central agencies to target opposition parties. 

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