The slip between the cup and the lip
The current assembly election results were quite a surprise for many. The voters had not exhibited their inclination despite highly charged speeches by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and the popularity of Siddaramaiah. Adityanath, Modi, Amit Shah and other leaders from the north delivered highly charged speeches to the voters. This hadn’t borne any tangible results. Ananta Kumar Hegde, Prathap Simha and Shobha Karandlaje’s attempts to fan communal fires hadn’t borne any fruits. The voters kept their cards close to their chest. Though Sangh Parivar tried its best to start communal tension in Bantwal, it couldn’t be assumed that it could have its impact on the elections. Every political pundit thought Cong will emerge victorious from this.
But the results now show JD(S) is a decisive party with 38 seats, Cong has been reduced to 78 seats and BJP is at least 10 seats short of majority at 104 seats. But the percentage of votes is high in the favour of Congress which suffered a defeat. The sitting cabinet has suffered massive drubbing. This is a shocking verdict to Siddaramaiah and his friends. The main beneficiary in this is JD(S) which has secured enough number of seats to be able to negotiate a deal with any interested party to form the government.
The government led by Siddaramaiah wasn’t all that bad to be rejected by the government. This government had responded to people better than the BJP government led by Yeddyurappa. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had achieved a good hold over the matters relating to administration. There were hardly any corruption charges that could be proved, so much so that the people would reject it. On the other hand, the candidates within BJP weren’t too conducive for the people. Modi and Amit Shah travelled across the state and hypnotized people. Veerashaiva votes polled against Congress. Lingayat community did not stand by Siddaramaiah. JD(S) had, anyway, held Vokkaligas against Siddaramaiah. Upper class and caste votes, expectedly, went against Siddaramaiah. And some of his mistakes showed up to be big blunders and began to brew as discontentment within the party and among the voters too. In Varuna, Siddaramaiah showed he was for ‘dynasty’ politics by ensuring his son Yatheendra gets a ticket and posts victory. Though there was no tangible dissidence, it was difficult to sideline Siddaramaiah within the party for its leaders. The role of Congress in ensuring his defeat in Siddaramaiah in Chamundeshwari is as much as JD(S) too. If he had not chosen to contest from Badami where he emerged victorious from, his political journey would have come to a standstill today. However the difference of votes in victory, are big enough to provide any solace to the stature of a popular chief minister.
The opponents of BJP are interpreting its emergence as largest party in the current elections as victory based on money. BJP spent a lot of money from both state and centre. Central leadership had to do well in Karnataka because this is an indicator of 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Though there were enough ‘rich’ candidates in Congress, the fear of IT raids had tied their hands. Along with this, Congress leaders are expressing their suspicions about EVM functioning too. The difference in votes between the victorious and the ones who didn’t make the cut, has given them this feeling. But to say this after the results are declared, doesn’t really make sense. The cong leaders had to ensure this problem was sorted even before the elections started. Now they will have to approach the Election Commission over this matter along with other secular forces.
Yet, amidst the humiliating defeat, Cong has been able to find a way of staying on the side of the government by joining hands with JD(S) and ensuring Kumaraswamy becomes the CM. Any delay in this decision would have cost it dearly. But Cong lost no time to do this. This may allow Parameshwar to be Dy CM too. Devegowda and sons are happy that they could cut Siddaramaiah to size with this move. Many have had their cake and eaten it too in this deal. The fact that they have kept the communal forces away is a big achievement enough. They have to be congratulated for keeping Karnataka free of the communal mess as of now.
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SC cancels bail to wrestler Sushil Kumar in murder case, orders surrender in a week
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Wednesday cancelled bail to Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar in the murder case of former junior national wrestling champion Sagar Dhankar at the Chhatrasal Stadium in the national capital.
A bench of justices Sanjay Karol and Prashant Kumar Mishra set aside the March 4 order of the Delhi High Court granting bail to the wrestler.
The wrestler has been asked to surrender within a week.
The top court's order came on an appeal filed by Ashok Dhankar, father of Sagar Dhankar, challenging the order passed by the Delhi High Court granting bail to Kumar.
Kumar and others are accused of fatally assaulting Sagar Dhankar in May 2021 over an alleged property dispute.
Two of Sagar Dhankar's friends were also injured in the assault.
According to the postmortem report, the victim suffered cerebral damage from the impact of a blunt object.
Kumar was arrested in May 2021 and a sessions court had granted him a week's interim bail for his knee surgery on July 19, 2023.
The trial court in October 2022 framed IPC charges, including murder, criminal conspiracy, intimidation and rioting with a deadly weapon against Kumar aside from the Arms Act, among others.
The trial court noted that after being abducted and brought to the stadium, Sagar Dhankar was severely assaulted by several accused persons with baseball and hockey sticks.
