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Thursday, July 25, 2019

Rebel Cong MLA claims Siddaramaiah was behind the rebellion, former CM denies

Politics
Rebel MLA Shivaram Hebbar was in his constituency of Yellapur in coastal Karnataka on Thursday to apologise to voters for resigning abruptly.
With the coalition government in Karnataka collapsing following Tuesday’s floor test, one of the rebel MLAs Shivaram Hebbar, who returned to the state on Thursday said, “Siddaramaiah was the one who instigated us. We are still with Congress and we have nothing to do with BJP forming government.”   Shivaram was one of the 15 rebel MLAs who had withdrawn support to the government, which led to the recent political crisis. They were holed up in a Mumbai luxury hotel from July 6 to the advantage of the BJP. He was in his constituency of Yellapur in coastal Karnataka on Thursday to apologise to his voters for resigning abruptly. This statement to reporters by the rebel MLA has irked Siddaramaiah, the former chief minister and chairman of the Congress-JD(S) coordination committee. In a series of tweets, Siddaramaiah said those were “false allegations with mala fide intention”. Siddaramaiah said, “Media houses are reporting that few rebel MLAs have claimed that I instigated them to resign & destabilize our govt. This is nothing but a false allegation with malafide intension. I will give them a befitting reply if they repeat the same in front of me (sic).” “Rebel MLAs are trying to shift the blame on me after wide spread public backlash against them for betraying & back-stabbing both the electorate & the party. Everything will be clear when the dust settles but by then they would have bitten the dust,” he added. Siddaramaiah said there were numerous baseless allegations against him even when he was the CM and that this is not the first or last time that he is facing such allegations.  Out of the 15 rebels who were responsible for destabilising the Kumaraswamy government, some were known to be Siddaramaiah’s men who had often made controversial statements such as “Siddaramaiah is still our PM” during the last government’s tenure. There were also consistent and continuous speculations suggesting Siddaramaiah’s hand in undermining the sitting CM even though he would publicly deny them. It was also reported how following the Lok Sabha debacle, Siddaramaiah had reportedly sought the High Command’s nod to pull away from the JD(S), his former party which he had left in “not so good” terms. Ahead of Tuesday’s trust vote, Siddaramaiah on the floor of the House said, “Never. We will never take them back. Those who have fallen victims to Operation Kamala will never be taken back, even if there are floods, or an apocalypse or even if the sky is falling down."  However, reports suggest that KPCC working secretary Eshwar Khandre was heading to Maharashtra to meet the rebels. These rebel MLAs await their fate at the hands of Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar who will decide if their resignations will be accepted, or if they will be disqualified. If disqualified, these MLAs can’t seek re-election in the present term of the Assembly. Hence, they can’t become ministes as one needs to be elected within the six months of assuming ministership.
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SC allows Karnataka independent MLAs to withdraw petition on trust vote

Court
Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi reprimanded the counsel appearing for the petitioners, Mukul Rohatgi, for not being present in court on Wednesday.
The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed the two independent MLAs from Karnataka to withdraw their petition, after Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy lost the motion of confidence on July 23. Independent MLA H Nagesh and KPJP MLA R Shankar had petitioned the court on Monday, urging it to direct Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar to conduct a floor test before 5 pm on Tuesday. They had claimed that the coalition did not have the numbers to run a government. Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi on Thursday reprimanded the counsel appearing for the petitioners, Mukul Rohatgi, for not being present in court. "When you want urgent listing all of you are here. But if you want to withdraw none of you are here,” CJI Gogoi said. The independents had moved the court seeking to withdraw their earlier petition on Wednesday. The apex court had adjourned the hearing, refusing to pass an order on the matter as the counsel for both sides were not present in court. On Tuesday morning, the Supreme Court had decided to wait on hearing the petition as Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar’s counsel Rajeev Dhavan had informed the court that the floor test would be conducted on the same day. The voting took place on Tuesday evening, and the Congress-JD(S) coalition lost its majority. HD Kumaraswamy also resigned as the Chief Minister soon after the Assembly was adjourned. The political crisis began as 16 MLAs from the Congress-JD(S) coalition tendered their resignations on July 6. The two independents R Shankar and H Nagesh and the now expelled BSP MLA N Mahesh also withdrew their support from the government. The Congress-JD(S) coalition had 119 MLAs prior to the rebellion. On the day of the floor test, they had only 98 MLAs, while the BJP had 105.   On July 19, the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee chief Dinesh Gundu Rao moved the Supreme Court, seeking clarity on the issue of court’s exemption of party whip applying to the rebel MLAs. In his petition, he stated the SC’s interim order on July 16, diluted the power of a political party to issue a whip and is contrary to the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution. The petition mentioned that as guaranteed under the 10th Schedule, a political party has a constitutional right to issue a whip to its legislators. However, the petition is yet to come up for hearing in the Supreme Court.
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IMA scam: SIT issues notice to outgoing Minister Zameer Ahmed Khan, Roshan Baig

Crime
Rebel Cong MLA Roshan Baig was named in the first audiotape released by IMA founder and MD Mansoor Khan, before the latter went absconding.
PTI/ File image
he Special Investigating Team (SIT) probing the IMA Ponzi scam has issued notices to outgoing Minister Zameer Ahmed Khan and rebel Congress MLA Roshan Baig, as HD Kumaraswamy continued to be the caretaker-chief minister. Both of them have been asked to appear before the SIT by July 29. Initially, both these politicians’ names had come up during the probe and they were issued notices by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the SIT respectively.   Baig was named in the first audiotape released by IMA founder and Managing Director Mansoor Khan, after the latter went absconding. In that tape, Khan had alleged that the senior Congress MLA had not returned Rs 400 crore loan he had taken from him. While initially Baig claimed that he did not know Mansoor Khan, outgoing Revenue Minister RV Deshpande said Baig had accompanied Mansoor Khan to his chamber. Later on July 15, Baig was detained by the SIT as he was trying to leave Bengaluru at the height of the political crisis in the state, with 15 rebel MLAs including himself withdrawing support and destabilising the government. Zameer, in his 2018 Assembly elections affidavit, had listed purchasing a property worth Rs 5 crore from Mansoor Khan. Khan continues to be in the ED’s custody after he was arrested recently, as he returned to the country after absconding for a month. He maintained that this was the only transaction he had with Mansoor Khan. When the ED notice issue was reported in June, Zameer had pleaded innocence and said, “I’ll appear before the ED and answer the officers’ questions. If the case is transferred to the CBI, I will be the happiest person. My only prayer is that the investors — the poor people, in particular — get their investment back.”  The scam, which is to the tune of over Rs 2,000 crore, is being heard by the Karnataka High Court. Based on the court’s directions, the state government has appointed Bangalore Regional Commissioner TV Rashmi as the competent authority to recover money for the duped investors. In connection with the IMA case, the SIT has arrested 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, among others.
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Identify silent zones in the state, Karnataka High Court directs govt

Civic Issues
The HC was hearing a case filed by the Defence Colony Residents’ Association and other resident welfare groups from Indiranagar.
The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday asked the government to give it a timeframe by August 13 to complete the categorisation process of areas with respect to noise levels including silent zones in the state. The bench led by Chief Justice AS Oka passed the direction noting that the state government in the last 19 years has not exercised its power under the Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000.  These observations came as the HC was hearing a case filed by the Defence Colony Residents’ Association and other resident welfare groups from Indiranagar, alleging large scale violation with regard to sound pollution by pubs and bars in their neighbourhoods. During the course of hearing, it came to light that the police do not have noise meters or any other device to check noise levels. However, the advocate representing the RWAs contended that after the case came to court, there has been a drop in noise levels due to surprise checks conducted by the police. The court contended that the police continue these checks.  The court was further told that a four-digit toll free number will be made available to report noise pollution anonymously. Additionally, the counsel for BBMP told the court that the civic body has also started issuing notices to establishments causing noise pollution. This came up after the same bench had pulled up Bengaluru police last month over their 'casual approach' to inspecting pubs in the Indiranagar area for noise levels. This, after police had filed a report to the court regarding the sound levels of these establishments, which the court described as “nothing but an eyewash”. The court also asked if it should summon the city Police Commissioner on the issue. “Not a bona fide approach at all. If this is the approach of the police, then we will direct the Police Commissioner to personally appear before the court ...,” the court had said.
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'Parting gift': HD Kumaraswamy announces waiver on non-institutional loans for landless

Politics
The scheme will be a one-time informal debt settlement opportunity for all landless farmers and labourers
Caretaker-Chief Minister of Karnataka HD Kumaraswamy on Wednesday announced that the state’s Debt Relief Act for landless farmers and labourers introduced by his government has got the President’s assent. “After I took the oath, my government decided to waive off farmer loans, then we planned to bring in this all-encompassing non-institutional debt relief law. I wanted to bring such an act that will help landless labourers and farmers. We sent the proposal to the President for approval. He has now signed it. This is my parting gift to the people. I have told officials to educate people on this,” Kumaraswamy told reporters. “I wanted to introduce the same kind of law that was introduced by the late Devraj Urs to help people of weaker sections. I am very grateful to the President for accepting this Bill. Already the GO has been issued. I am very happy for this even when I am vacating my office as I have been able to help the weaker sections,” he added.   This law will help the landless and minor landowners who were not covered in the state’s farm loan waiver and were harassed by pawnbrokers, traditional moneylenders. This bill was part of the promises mentioned in the poll manifesto of the JD(S) in the run-up to the Karnataka Assembly elections in May 2018.  The CM said that all persons having such institutional debts should submit with whatever evidence they have to the Assistant Commissioner (Revenue Department) concerned within 90 days’ time. “Under this Act, people will get a one-time settlement for all their debt. My appeal is to the media to communicate this to the people. All debt which has been taken until yesterday will be waived off in a one-time settlement,” Kumaraswamy added. The CM also said that he met the top officers of all departments earlier in the day and thanked them for their cooperation during his tenure. He said, “I have advised them that the current political instability may continue for the next government as well. Several developments may take place and there is more responsibility on our officers than elected representatives. I requested them to take care of the problems faced by the common man and issues related to development of the state.”
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BS Yeddyurappa awaits central leadership’s nod to stake claim for power in Karnataka

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