Karnataka Congress blames BJP for its rebel MLAs lockdown

Politics

Of the 16 rebel legislators, including 13 of the Congress and three of the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) who resigned from their Assembly segments, 13 have been holed up in a five-star hotel in Mumbai since the political crisis unfolded on July 6.

IANS

With time ticking away for the trust-vote on Thursday, a desperate Karnataka Congress on Tuesday blamed the opposition BJP for its rebel MLAs lockdown in Mumbai. "We are unable to contact 11 of our 13 rebel legislators as they are in complete lockdown in a Mumbai hotel. Their mobile phones have been taken away. They can't step outside the hotel and they are under house arrest," tweeted Congress state unit president Dinesh Gundu Rao. Of the 16 rebel legislators, including 13 of the Congress and three of the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) who resigned from their Assembly segments, 13 have been holed up in a five-star hotel in Mumbai since the political crisis unfolded on July 6. Of the 13, 10 are from the Congress and three of JD-S. Two more Congress rebel lawmakers - K. Sudhakar and M.T.B. Nagaraj joined the other rebels on July 14. The remaining two Congress rebel legislators R. Ramalinga Reddy and R. Roshan Baig are, however, in Bengaluru. Incidentally, Baig was prevented from leaving the city on Monday night and detained at the airport when he was about to board a private chartered aircraft to Pune by the police in connection with his alleged involvement in the multi-crore Ponzi scheme, floated by its prime accused Mansoor Ali Khan. Two independents, who resigned as ministers and withdrew support to the 13-month-old shaky Congress-JD-S coalition government, are also staying with the ruling party rebel legislators since a week. Just heard..the rebel @INCIndia MLA’s in Mumbai are in complete lockdown. Mobiles taken away, can’t step outside, under house arrest. They’re now in the clutches of @BJP4India & are sure to get disqualified. Soon they’ll be waiting in queue for B-forms to get BJP ticket — Dinesh Gundu Rao / ದಿನೇಶ್ ಗುಂಡೂರಾವ್ (@dineshgrao) July 16, 2019 Accusing the BJP of engineering defections by forcing most of the rebel legislators to resign and reduce the ruling combine's strength in the state Assembly, Rao said the opposition party has been desperately wooing them with money and positions of power to topple the coalition government. "The BJP's role in triggering the political crisis in the state is evident and proves our charge that the resignation of the rebel MLAs is neither voluntary nor genuine," said Rao in the tweet. The 10 rebel Congress MLAs staying in the hotel are Pratapgouda Patil, Ramesh Jarkiholi, Byrati Basavaraj, B.C. Patil, S.T. Somashekhar, Shivaram Hebbar, Mahesh Kumathalli, Munirathna, K. Sudhakar and M.T.B. Nagaraj. The three JD-S rebel legislators staying in the same hotel are K. Gopalaiah, A.H. Vishwanath and Narayana Gowda. The two independents also with the rebels are R. Shankar and H. Nagesh. Except Reddy, all the 12 Congress and three JD-S rebels petitioned the Supreme Court to direct Assembly Speaker K.R. Ramesh Kumar to accept their resignations forthwith, as 10 of them re-submitted them in his office here on July 11 as advised by a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi on July 10. Echoing Rao's tirade against the BJP, party's spokesman M.N. Suraj Hegde told reporters here that about 60 of the party MLAs have been shifted on Tuesday to Windflower Prakruthi resort at Devanahalli on the city's northern outskirts. "With 13 rebels resigning, our effective strength in the Assembly is 65, excluding the Speaker. We are keeping them together at one place to ensure the BJP will not wean away or poach them though its leader B.S. Yeddyurappa claimed 3-4 more Congress MLAs will resign ahead of the trust-vote on Thursday," said Hegde. With the strength of the JD-S also reduced to 34 from 37, the ruling combine has 101, including the Speaker and one of the Bahuja Samaj Party (BSP) against 107 of the BJP, with the support of the two independents. If the 16 rebel legislators stay away from the Assembly for the trust-vote on Thursday, the strength of the 225-member House, including one nominated without voting rights, will be reduced to 209, with 105 as the new halfway mark for a simple majority. "As my resignation has not been accepted so far, I will attend the session on Thursday in compliance with the whip issued to all the party legislators, including all those who resigned," said Reddy.

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Bengaluru’s Namma Metro, BMTC to introduce common mobility cards by early September

Transportation

Both the metro and the BMTC are upgrading their Electronic Ticketing Machines so that the interoperable cards can be used.

Theja Ram

The Bengaluru Metro Rail Transport Corporation Limited (BMRCL) and Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) are collaborating to introduce a common mobility card for commuters in Bengaluru. According to BMTC, the new interoperable smart card will be piloted in late August or early September. According to BMTC, the smart card will be provided by the BMRCL, which can be utilised in buses as well. The BMTC is planning on using its existing Electronic Ticketing Machines (ETMs) so that commuters can use the interoperable smart cards for buses and the metro. “The existing ETMs are being upgraded with an Android system to facilitate online payment. Currently, BMTC is looking into sorting out the technical constraints regarding the payment gateways and the software to be used. BMTC already had a plan to upgrade its existing ETMs but BMRCL approached us and asked us to collaborate so we decided to go with an interoperable smart card,” a senior BMTC official told TNM. The metro has decided to install separate entry and exit gates for those with the common mobility card as the existing system allows only tickets and metro smart cards. “The logistical problems are there in phase 1 metro stations. We will install the new ticket collection gates which are being designed by BEL. The pilot project will be in Baiyappanahalli and Majestic metro stations. In all stations in phase 2, the entry and exit gates will be the same from both smart card holders, ticket holders and the common mobility card holders. The software that will be used in the new gates in phase 2 will enable it. Since we cannot change all the entry and exit gates in phase 1 stations, we will have to add separate gates,” a BMRCL official said. The BMTC official said that the new mobility cards will be priced between Rs 50 and Rs 100 and not more. “The cards can be used as a credit or debit card. So we are figuring out the software and payment gateways that will be used. It should be ready in a couple of months,” the BMTC official added.

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Cataract surgery goes wrong: Bengaluru hospital alleges eye gel was contaminated

Health

Fourteen patients who had undergone cataract surgery on July 8, presented with severe reactions a day after the surgery.

Dr Nimeshika Jayachandran

Nothing about the appearance of the premises at Minto Eye Hospital gives away the terse situation inside. The surroundings are calm, with a few people scattered about. Inside the stone building of the hospital’s outpatient ward, however, is a different story. It was just here that hardly a week ago, 24 patients who had undergone cataract surgery went through immense turmoil after postoperative complications left them with diminished vision, unsure if they’d be restored with sight again.  It all began with the patients being taken for a cataract surgery on July 8. They exhibited with varied adverse reactions the next day which led doctors to believe an infection may have occurred.  Following the allegations that medical negligence led to the botched cataract surgeries on 14 patients, the administration has been working relentlessly to take care of the issue. Doctors at the hospital say that the surgeries went fine, but the allege that a contaminated medication given was responsible for the adverse reactions in the patients. “A total of 24 patients were taken up for the cataract surgery on July 8. The next day, several of them were found to be having varying forms of irritation and reactions and we immediately began treating them with steroids and other measures to control the reactions. Upon investigating, we found that a gel used in the surgery was found to be contaminated,” stated Dr Sujatha Rathod, Director of Minto Eye Hospital. A cataract occurs when there is degradation of the lens in the eyeball. This leads to diminished vision and other issues. In a cataract surgery, doctors operate to remove the degraded lens and replace it with an artificial one. The gel which is used in the surgery helps the new lens stay in place and aids in healing.  “The gel which was used was bought from the manufacturers themselves directly and was sterilised, it was not opened until the time of surgery. The few samples of the gel that was sent was found to be contaminated with Pseudomonas bacteria,” added the doctor. Amaresh Tumbagi, the Drug Controller of Karnataka told TNM that they had begun an investigation. "The hospital has said that the gel may have caused the loss in vision and other complications. We will investigate the gel and other aspects too." Of the 24 patients who were operated, the condition of 11 improved and they were sent home and told to visit as per regulations for a follow up. Of the remaining 13 patients, 8 are showing considerable improvement and another 5 are being monitored. One out of the five patients will most likely not be able to regain her eyesight in the affected eye, due to her comorbid conditions which have resulted in a particularly aggressive infection.  The administration of the hospital held a meeting on Tuesday with members of the Drugs Controller Department to further decide what action needs to be taken.

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Cong MLAs unhappy with K'taka coalition, tell leaders to pull the plug: Sources

Politics

Congress sources say that MLAs demanded that the party withdraw support from coalition government and sit in the opposition.

Theja Ram

Early on Monday morning, the Congress’ 65 legislators, who are still with the party met at Taj Vivanta in Bengaluru’s Yeshwanthpur to discuss a crucial issue – must the Congress withdraw its support from the coalition or should it try to convince the rebelling MLAs cooped up in Mumbai to return? Congress insiders say that several MLAs expressed their concerns over expressing solidarity with the JD(S) as most of the renegade MLAs had placed the blame squarely on Chief Minister HD Kumaraswmay’s shoulders for rebelling against their own party. Congress sources say that the legislators demanded that the party withdraw its support from the coalition government and willingly sit in the opposition to avoid further embarrassment. “Most of the MLAs were of the opinion that staying in the opposition and building up a strong base for the party is the only thing Congress must do. Most of them are concerned about the BJP and JD(S) making inroads into Old Mysuru,” the source said. A Congress leader told TNM that several veterans were of the opinion that the JD(S) was only using the Congress’ support in the government for its own gains. “They [JD(S)] are gaining ground in Mysuru segment. GT Devegowda and Sa Ra Mahesh have been using this opportunity to destroy the Congress in segments which matter. In the meantime, BJP has gotten stronger in central Karnataka. The party must concentrate on becoming strong enough to face elections in four years and not play a game which is futile,” the Congress leader said. The leaders were allegedly unhappy that Deputy CM Parameshwara and Water Resources Minister DK Shivakumar had supported HD Kumaraswamy and his brother PWD Minister HD Revanna when MLAs had complained about their high-handedness and refusal to cooperate in running the government. “Many leaders were blaming Lakshmi Hebbalkar, who is DK Shivakumar’s supporter for the whole drama. The crisis started when Ramesh Jarkiholi rebelled against the party after the PLD Bank elections. Lakshmi Hebbalkar was elected with the help of Dk Shivakumar. Soon after that many more MLAs were being convinced by Ramesh to join him in his rebellion. Many were convinced that Kumaraswamy and HD Revanna would only destroy their reputations. They also were not happy that DK Shivakumar was supporting Kumaraswamy,” the Congress leader alleged. However, insider say that Water Resources Minister DK Shivakumar and his supporters are still confident of pulling a rabbit out of the hat and convincing the rebel MLAs to return to the party. “DK Shivakumar informed the leaders that he would at least try to bring back five or six MLAs before the trust vote. They also proposed seeking more time from the Speaker Ramesh Kumar for this purpose. Now that they have a two-day respite, the seniors are trying to convince the rebels. But a majority of the MLAs are of the opinion that withdrawing support from the coalition before the trust vote would give the Congress a chance to recover from this drama,” the Congress leader added.  Sixteen MLAs of the coalition – including three JD(S) MLAs and 13 Congress MLAs – have so far submitted their resignation letters to the Speaker. Most of the MLAs in the state are lodged in various resorts across cities: The Congress MLAs are put up in Taj Vivanta in Yeshwanthpur, JD(S) leaders are at Prestige Golfshire and the BJP MLAs are at Ramada hotel in Yelahanka and Sai Leela hotel in Rajanakunte.

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