Live blog: Standoff continues as K'taka govt tries to delay trust vote

Politics

Around 100 Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislators slept over in the Karnataka Assembly in protest on Thursday night.

TNM Staff

PTI photo

Drama in the Karnataka Assembly continued for a second day, hours after the Karnataka Governor asked Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy to conduct a trust vote by 1.30 pm on Friday. Around 100 Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislators slept over in the Karnataka Assembly in protest on Thursday night. The BJP is protesting the delay in taking the floor test by Kumaraswamy. On Thursday, the CM had moved for a confidence motiion to prove that his Congress-JD(S) coalition government has a majority in the state. The Governor's direction to the Chief Minister and the Speaker earlier on the trust vote was in response to a written representation to him by a delegation of BJP legislators that the House proceedings for a vote of confidence have been stalled and consequently adjourned without reaching any finality. The Governor's intervention came after Congress leader and former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah told the house that he will approach the Supreme Court for clarity on whether he had the authority to issue whip to all MLAs including the rebels. Siddaramaiah also asked the Speaker not to hold the trust vote till the Supreme Court gave him an answer. The coalition government in Karnataka has not moved the Supreme Court as yet.  In the Assembly on Thursday, meanwhile, the ruling coalition delayed the trust vote after Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy moved a trust motion. A delegation of the BJP had then met the Governor, urging him to hasten the process. Currently, the ruling coalition has 102 legislators in its kitty. The BJP has 107 MLAs on its side including 105 MLAs and the two independents. The Supreme Court’s verdict on Wednesday stated that the rebel MLAs in Karnataka cannot be forced to follow a whip and appear for the trust vote had stacked the numbers heavily against the ruling coalition. (Note: Please wait for a few moments for the live blog to load. If it doesn't, disable your Adblocker.)   

Body 2: 

from Karnataka https://ift.tt/2JGlK28
via IFTTT

Cauvery water supply to Bengaluru to be disrupted on July 21, 22: BWSSB issues notice

Water

Cauvery water supply for the entire city will be affected as pumping stations at TK Halli, Harohalli and Tatagani will not be functional due to refurbishing work.

TNM Staff

Image for representation

Water supply will be affected in Bengaluru due to refurbishing by the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) on Sunday and Monday. Cauvery water supply for the entire city will be affected as pumping stations at TK Halli, Harohalli and Tatagani will not be functional. An official release from the BWSSB further stated that pumping stations at Torekadanahalli, Harohalli and Tataguni, where Cauvery water is treated before it is pumped to the city, will not be functional between 8 am and 2 am. “The work of replacement of 220KV metering CT & PT for refurbishment of surge protection system is proposed to be taken on 21.07.19 and 22.07.19. In view of this CWSS Stage 1,2,3,4, phase 1 & 2 pumping system at T.K.halli, Harohalli and Tataguni will not be functioning on 21.07.19 to 22.07.19 (08:00am- 2:00am), which may disrupt water supply on these two days in entire Bangalore City. Public are requested to cooperate with the Board,” reads a statement issued by the BWSSB. "The work will disrupt the Cauvery Water Supply Scheme (CWSS) across all stages and phases and thus affecting the entire city,” a BWSSB engineer told Deccan Herald. The Cauvery Stage IV, Phase II water supply project was implemented in 2007 and was wrapped up around 2013. It was put into effect in order to meet Bengaluru’s demands for fresh water supply. This is not the first time that such an instance has taken place. In December 2018, the BWSSB had issued a similar statement in view of leakage along a pipeline dug 7 meters below the ground. At the time, it issued a release announcing that water would not be available for 12 hours due to the leak in one of the major pipelines which brought water into the city. The shutdown lasted from midnight on December 3 to noon. According to reports, the affected areas were supplied water under stage IV phase II of the Cauvery Water Supply Project.  “The leak is a major one and was located nearly 400m from Netkal Balancing Reservoir, which brings water from TK Halli to the city,” BWSSB Chairman Tushar Girinath had stated to TNIE at the time.

Body 2: 

from Karnataka https://ift.tt/2YcSacr
via IFTTT

A different kind of ‘floor test’: Karnataka BJP MLAs spend the night in Assembly

Politics

The legislators opted to sleep on the floor in Assembly in order to ensure that the floor test would be conducted by Friday afternoon.

TNM Staff

The Karnataka political crisis took a rather peculiar turn on Thursday as about 100 BJP legislators decided to sleep in the Karnataka Assembly to protest against the delay in the floor test. This came after Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy moved a trust motion on Thursday to prove that his Congress-JD-S coalition government has the majority. Legislators stayed overnight in the Assembly to ensure that the floor test is conducted on Friday by 1.30 pm as Governor Vajubhai Vala directed.    As many of them didn't have pillows and bedsheets, some rebels bought them from nearby shops to sleep on the floor on bedsheets and rest their heads on soft pillows for a sound sleep. The legislators decided to go back to the resort or their rooms in the adjacent Legislature Home on early Friday and return to the Assembly for the session from 11 am to resume the inconclusive debate on the motion. With the Governor writing to the Chief Minister to prove majority in the House by 1.30 p.m. on Friday, uncertainty continues to dog the legislators. Here’s a look at the legislators at their ‘slumber party.’              

Body 2: 

from Karnataka https://ift.tt/2YYiMLq
via IFTTT

IMA scam: Founder Mansoor Khan, absconding since June, arrested in Delhi

Crime

He was taken into custody by the Enforcement Directorate in New Delhi.

Theja Ram

IMA Jewels Founder and Managing Director Mansoor Khan was arrested on Friday morning in Delhi by the Enforcement Directorate. SIT head and Joint Commissioner of Police (crime) BR Ravikante Gowda said, “We tracked Mansoor Khan in Dubai and arranged for his return to India. Our team members will take custody of him in Delhi.” "Once we tracked him down, our sources convinced him to surrender himself. He arrived at New Delhi at 1.55 am," Ravikante Gowda added. Mansoor has been accused of running a ‘halal’ ponzi scheme – where the money is rotated from new investors to older investors – in the name of I Monetary Advisory (IMA). He fled India around June 13, when the scam surfaced, and investigators believe he is in hiding in Dubai. He went absconding over a month ago. He has been accused of cheating 40,000 investors to the tune of Rs 2,000 crore. In a video he published on Monday, he had said that he was unwell and that he would be returning to India within 24 hours.  "I will be coming to India in 24 hours, on my will. I have full faith in the Indian judiciary," he had said. Till date, SIT has arrested 19 people, including IAS officer and former Bengaluru Urban Deputy Commissioner Vijay Shankar (IAS), Assistant Commissioner of the Revenue Department LC Nagaraj, BDA Executive Engineer Kumar, city corporator Syed Mujahid, one religious preacher and village accountant Manjunath. Others include the 12 directors of IMA.  

Body 2: 

from Karnataka https://ift.tt/2XOdi9u
via IFTTT

Explainer: What is a trust vote, and how will it affect the government in Karnataka?

Karnataka Political Crisis

If Kumaraswamy wins the trust vote, he will continue to be CM. And if he loses, the floor is open for any party to stake claim to form the next government.

Soumya Chatterjee

The drama surrounding the Chief Minister's chair in Karnataka continues as an inevitable trust vote looms in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly. This especially after Governor Vajubhai Vala wrote to the CM asking him to prove his majority by 1:30 pm Friday. But what exactly is a trust vote, and what happens at the end of it? Here’s the lowdown.  A ‘trust vote’ or confidence motion has to be moved by an MLA or an MP, and the objective is to find out whether or not the Chief Minister has the ‘trust’ or ‘confidence’ of the House. In the case of Karnataka, the Legislative Assembly now has to vote on whether Kumaraswamy can continue as the Chief Minister.  If Kumaraswamy wins the trust vote, he will continue to be CM. In this case, there cannot be another trust vote for six more months. And if he loses, the ball goes to Governor Vajubhai Vala’s court. The Governor can invite the BJP which has the numerical advantage as of Thursday to form the government. He can also choose to declare President’s rule, and the state will go to elections in six months.  A trust vote can be registered in two ways, with no electronic voting system in place in the Vidhana Soudha. In a voice vote, the Speaker will ask those in favour the motion to say ‘Aye’, and those against the motion to say ‘No’. The Speaker then decides whether the ‘Ayes have it’ or the ‘Noes have it.’  A division of votes can be carried out in multiple ways. Since the Karnataka Assembly does not have an electronic voting system, a vote can be carried out with slips that have ‘Ayes’ and ‘Noes’ on them. However, this method is highly unlikely. The Speaker can also ask the MLAs to physically stand up for those in favour and against the motion and decide by a manual counting of heads. He can also employ the roll call method. The Assembly Secretary can do a roll call of members, block by block, recording each vote. The Secretary also records those MLAs who choose to remain neutral.  Numbers As things stand on Thursday, the number of BJP MLAs in the 224-member House is 105 and the Congress-JD(S) coalition has 99 MLAs including the Speaker. The number of MLAs who were absent in the House on Thursday were 20. These included the 15 rebel MLAs who went to the apex court plus two independent MLAs R Shankar and H Nagesh, BSP MLA Mahesh, Congress MLAs Nagendra B, and Shrimant Patil.  The 15 MLAs who approached the SC are Ramesh Jarkiholi (Gokak), Byrathi Basavaraj (KR Puram), ST Somashekhar (Yeshwanthpura), BC Patil (Hirekerur), Shivaram Hebbar (Yellapur), Prathapgouda Patil (Maski), Mahesh Kumathalli (Athani), K Gopalaiah (Mahalakshmi Layout), AH Vishwanath (Hunasuru). Narayana Gowda (Krishanarajapete),  Munirathna Naidu (RR Nagar), Roshan Baig (Shivajinagar), MTB Nagaraj (Hoskote), K Sudhakar (Chikkaballapura) and Anand Singh (Vijayanagara). Recent crisis The recent saga had started on July 6 when 10 rebel MLAs of the Congress-JD(S) coalition shifted to Mumbai in a chartered flight after sending their resignation letters to the Speaker. Five others followed suit and the matter had even gone to the Supreme Court, urging the Speaker to accept their resignations swiftly and effectively dislodge the current government. The Supreme Court in its interim order on Wednesday had given the rebel MLAs the liberty to stay out of the House’s possibilities on Thursday with the possibility of the trust vote taking place on this day itself. However, as things stand the trust vote may only happen as early as Monday.

Body 2: 

from Karnataka https://ift.tt/2O4Y5N5
via IFTTT

2 patients lose eyesight following cataract surgery mishap at Bengaluru hospital

Health

5 of the original 24 patients who were not showing any improvement in their condition had been referred to a private hospital for a second procedure.

Dr Nimeshika Jayachandran

When 24 patients were taken up for a simple cataract surgery on July 9, no one imagined that the relatively risk-free procedure would result in 2 people losing their vision. However, that is exactly what has transpired at the end of this unfortunate mishap. Five of the original 24 patients who were not showing any improvement in their condition had been referred to Narayana Nethralaya by the doctors at Minto Eye Hospital where the surgery took place initially. Sources at Minto stated that the 5 individuals who didn’t show much improvement after being treated for the infection they developed following the surgery, were referred to the private hospital for a vitrectomy. This is a procedure wherein the vitreous humour, a jelly-like substance which renders the eyeball its shape, is removed and replaced with a saline fluid. In this particular instance, this was the solution opted for by doctors, in view of the extent of the infection. It was at this time that doctors at the private hospital were able to confirm that 2 of the 5 patients had developed an incredibly severe form of the infection, due to their comorbid conditions, the result of which made it unlikely that the 2 would be able to regain their sight. Administrators at Minto hospital have stated that the government would approach the manufacturers of the tainted gel to provide compensation to these individuals. In the meantime, the hospital's operation theaters will be functioning in 2 days after they were shut down and swabbed to test for evidence of the infective agent. How did such a huge mishap occur? It all began when all 24 patients who underwent cataract surgery presented with various symptoms of an adverse reaction the day after the surgery. Further investigations led doctors to believe that a gel used in the procedure had been contaminated with Pseudomonas bacteria. Following allegations of medical negligence, the hospital administration began a thorough investigation into the issue and confirmed the presence of the bacteria in samples of the gel. However, they noted that the gel came in sterile packaging which is not opened until the time of surgery, and claimed that the fault lay with the manufacturers. Supporting this allegation, they stated that a batch of the gel which was used on patients one day earlier, did not show any evidence of contamination and that the patients too had recovered as expected. There is a natural lens in the eye, which can degrade over time due to a number of underlying reasons. When this occurs, it is termed as a cataract and it can cause a decline in an individual’s vision, in addition to other issues. A cataract surgery is done to remove the degraded lens and replace it with an artificial intraocular lense (IOC). The gel which was used in the surgery serves the purpose of keeping the IOC 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,” Dr Sujatha Rathod, Director of Minto Eye Hospital, had earlier stated to TNM. A case has been filed against the hospital by a relative of one of the affected patients at VV Puram police station in Bengaluru. An FIR has been registered against the hospital under section 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) under the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Also read: Cataract surgery goes wrong: Bengaluru hospital alleges eye gel was contaminated    

Body 2: 

from Karnataka https://ift.tt/2K2NgpB
via IFTTT

Karnataka Governor asks HD Kumaraswamy to prove his majority before Friday 1.30pm

Politics

The Governor's direction comes at a time when Siddaramaiah had sought more time for the trust vote.

Soumya Chatterjee

Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala on Thursday night asked Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy to prove his majority on the floor of the house before 1:30 pm on Friday. Citing his capacity as the head of the state, the Governor in his letter to the CM said, “I had not intervened in the matter having regard to the fact that the House was called and Trust vote has been moved. However, it has been reported to me that the proceedings of the house on 18-07-2019 for vote of confidence has been stalled and consequently adjourned without reaching any finality. This cannot go on in a democratic set up governed by the Constitution.” In his letter, Vala said, “That you were sworn in as the Chief Minister of State after receiving support from the Indian National Congress. The strength of the House of the Karnataka State Legislative Assembly stands at 224 (plus a nominated member) out of which INC has 79 members, JDS has 37 members, One member from KPJP Member from BSP and one independent candidate. And the Bharatiya Janata Party is at 105.” He added, “In the last few days, several members of the INC have met me and intimated that they have tendered their resignations as the Members of  the Legislative Assembly.” In his letter to the CM, he listed out the names of the 15 rebel MLAs who had approached the Supreme Court to get their resignations accepted by the Speaker expeditiously. The Governor's intervention comes after Congress leader Siddaramaiah told the house that he will approach the Supreme Court for clarity on whether he had the authority to issue whip to all MLAs including the rebels. Siddaramaiah also asked the Speaker not to hold the trust vote till the Supreme Court gave him an answer. In his letter, the Governor also pointed out, “It is clear from the above that out of 117 members, which is the strength of the Coalition Government, if these members are to move away from the ruling coalition, the same casts a serious doubt on the confidence in the Government/Ministry led by you in the House.” The Congress- JD(S) coalition which at the moment is struggling with numbers, went on a delay mode after Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy moved a trust motion on Thursday. Dismayed by the proceedings, a delegation of the BJP had met Governor urging him to hasten the process.

Body 2: 

from Karnataka https://ift.tt/2YTNlC1
via IFTTT