News of the Day In Karnataka, BJP may stake claim to form govt today

The collapse of the coalition government in Karnataka on Tuesday sets the stage for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to stake claim to power in the southern state and likely marks the return of 76-year-old Lingayat strongman BS Yeddyurappa to the chief minister’s chair for the fourth time.

All eyes are now on governor Vajubhai Vala, who accepted chief minister HD Kumaraswamy’s resignation late on Tuesday and asked him to lead a caretaker government.

In the 225-member assembly, the BJP is the single largest party with 105 legislators. Yeddyurappa said he will meet Vala to stake claim after consulting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah.

“We are going to have a legislature party meet now,” he told reporters in Bengaluru on Tuesday night.

Senior BJP leader R Ashoka said the party is likely to meet the governor to form the next government on Wednesday.

Union Minister Pralhad Joshi said the BJP will stake claim to form the government after taking guidance from the central leadership. “We are going to stake the claim to form the government but the formalities will be decided after taking guidance from the national leaders,” Joshi told reporters in New Delhi.

Former Lok Sabha secretary general PDT Acharya said the BJP will have to prove its majority in the House. “As of now, they don’t have the majority,” he said, pointing out that the party held only 105 seats and the majority mark in the full House was 113.

The fate of the 15 rebel legislators – 12 from the Congress and three from the Janata Dal (Secular) – also continues to be uncertain. Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar is yet to take a final call on accepting their resignation letters, and disqualification petitions pending against them.

The matter of the resignation of the rebel MLAs is also pending before the Supreme Court and both the Congress and JD(S) legislature parties have impleaded themselves in the matter. The Supreme Court is also hearing the petition of the independents on Wednesday and all players in Karnataka will be keenly watching its outcome.

A question mark also hangs over speaker Kumar. Unless he resigns in the next few days, the BJP may have to prove its majority in a trust vote presided over by Kumar. According to the rules, the speaker can be removed either by losing her seat or by a resolution passed by the majority of the assembly – that too after giving a 14-day notice.

Acharya said if the resignation of the rebel lawmakers is accepted, the Election Commission will hold by-elections for their respective constituencies.

Yeddyurappa has been the chief minister in 2007, 2008, and for three days in 2018, but has never finished a full term.

News of the Day

‘President does not make things up’: Trump’s Chief Economic Advisor on Kashmir issue

President Donald Trump “does not make up things”, a top presidential advisor said on Tuesday when asked about a question on his stunning claim that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had asked him to meditate on the Kashmir issue, remarks which have been strongly refuted by India.

It is “a very rude question,” Trump’s Chief Economic Advisor Larry Kudlow told reporters at the White House when a journalist following up on the president’s remarks asked if it was made up.

“The President does not make anything up. That’s a very rude question in my opinion. I am going to stay out of that. It’s outside of my lane. It’s for Mr (National Security Advisor John) Bolton, Mr (Secretary of State Mike) Pompeo and President, so I am not going to comment on that. President does not make things up,” Kudlow said.

However, former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns, who played a key role in India-US civil nuclear deal during the Bush Administration, said, “This is embarrassing, to say the least, for President Trump. His claim that PM Modi asked him to mediate the Kashmir conflict denied categorically by Delhi. This is what happens in diplomacy when you make things up.” A day earlier, Trump offered to be the “mediator” between India and Pakistan on the Kashmir issue as he met Prime Minister Imran Khan at the White House.

Trump, who is known to make inaccurate statements, claimed that Prime Minister Modi asked him to mediate on Kashmir when they met in Osaka, Japan on the sidelines of the G20 Summit last month.

India has not been engaging with Pakistan since an attack on the Air Force base at Pathankot in January of 2016 by Pakistan-based terrorists, maintaining that talks and terror cannot go together.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar refuted that Prime Minister Modi ever made that request.

“I would like to categorically assure the House that no such request has been made by the Prime Minister to the US President. I repeat, no such request was made by the Prime Minister to the US President,” he said in a statement to the Parliament.

Source – Hindustan Times

News of the Day 24 July 2019

shivam