A responsible opposition party: Much needed today
Having defeated every conspiracy planned by the BJP to collapse the Cong-JD(S) coalition, the government has been successful in presenting its first budget. Normally opposition parties cause embarrassment to ruling parties by exposing their lacunae and lack of good administration. The opposition parties must show their efficiency in the first few months after they sit in their position. Unfortunately, when we look at the last few months in Karnataka, the opposition party is trying to turn resorts into assembly house and is attempting to weaken the government.
BJP tried to create unrest with its ‘operation Kamala’ instead of the failure of administration if any, in the session. Yeddyurappa and his team insisted that the coalition government did not have majority and it should be allowed to present the budget. They even ensured a few days of session were lost with this ruckus. But One wouldn’t ever understand how they were claiming that the government had lost its numbers.
MLAs have not gone in groups to the Governor to claim they had withdrawn support. Even if that happens, vote of trust needs to be proved on the floor of the house. There have been no developments amounting to this step, even by the BJP. Some MLAs are in Mumbai and are expressing their displeasure about the government, and that they are in touch with the BJP should lead to the fall of a government? This is the biggest mockery of democracy.
After all this, it’s not the government that needs to resign but the BJP leaders who are claiming to form the government every fortnight or so. They need to quit their posts. They are indulging in horse trading in daylight which is against the spirit of constitution. Only an immature politician can claim the government has lost its support with the assurance that MLAs can be “bought”. Two days of session lost is a big loss for the state. BJP owes people an explanation on this.
Along with this, CM Kumaraswamy has released audio recording of Yeddyurappa’s ‘horse trading’ attempt in the session on Friday. Such an audio was released even before the government was formed and BSY was speaking to a JD(S) leader offering him a price for detracting. The recent audio only proves Yeddyurappa’s efforts have not stopped after all this, and he is still hopeful of collapsing a government. Though the BJP leaders are trying to sweep this under the carpet saying the voice is not that of Yeddyurappa, it does not quite seem like a mimic of his voice since he has openly made such efforts in the last few months.
A BJP leader who was victim of this horse trading had even held a press conference on this. Now this audio needs to be vetted to understand whether this is fake or original. And if indeed the horse trading is on, the culprits engaging in this have to be arrested and their financial statuses should be investigated into. Since centre has BJP government, this seems to be impossible as of now. But the horse trading has surely affected the administration. Hence JD(S) and Congress MLAs who are often seen in BJP camp trying to blackmail, have to be acted upon. The sale happens only when there’s something to be sold. If buying is a crime, selling too is one. Hence the MLAs have to be controlled as a primary step.
This horse trading has affected the image of BJP and especially of BSY. His claims of ‘government is weak, and we’ll be in the chair soon’ are weakening the already battered BJP. Party insiders say the leaders within BJP are prompting him to act this way so that his image suffers a beating. This way, he is projected like a power hungry leader. Operation Kamala is creating a tentative insecurity to the government and the government has to spend time taming the MLAs from going to BJP over carrying out developmental works.
More attempts of Operation Kamala will also mean there’d be more corruption within the government. To buy MLAs or to retain them, both parties will have to spend a lot of money. This may put the government into the hands of corrupt. Having lost the race to form the government, BJP should behave like a responsible opposition party and perform its duty. It should work towards the welfare of the people by exposing any inefficiencies in governance and administration by the government. Else, in this petty fight for power, a voter will be the biggest loser.
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Maharashtra Dy CM Ajit Pawar, four others killed in plane crash
Baramati (PTI): Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and four other persons on board an aircraft were killed after it crashed near the Baramati airport in Maharashtra’s Pune district on Wednesday.
The 66-year-old leader’s death has not only left a vacuum in the BJP-led state coalition government, but also cast a shadow on the future of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), which he headed.
His uncle and NCP founder Sharad Pawar said the plane crash was an accident which shouldn't be politicised.
The "black box" (comprising the Flight Data Recorder and Cockpit Voice Recorder) from the aircraft, will be analysed after recovery to determine the cause of the accident, an official said.
Ajit Pawar had taken off from Mumbai in the morning to address four rallies in the day in Pune district for the February 5 zilla parishad elections.
The others killed in the tragedy were Captain Sumit Kapoor, who had a flying experience of 15,000 hours, co-pilot Capt. Shambhavi Pathak with 1,500 hours of flying, Personal Security Officer (PSO) Vidip Jadhav and flight attendant Pinky Mali.
The government released a statement detailing the sequence of events that led to the crash and Pawar's death.
The aircraft, a Learjet, was cleared for landing in Baramati on Wednesday morning after a go-around due to poor visibility, but having finally received a clearance it did not give any read-back' to the ATC, and moments later burst into flames on the edge of the runway.
In aviation parlance, a go-around is a standard procedure where a pilot discontinues a landing attempt and initiates a climb to fly another approach. It is used when a landing cannot be completed safely due to factors like poor weather, an unstable approach, or traffic on the runway. It is a proactive safety measure rather than an emergency.
A readback is a crucial safety procedure where a pilot repeats back the essential parts of a message or instruction received from Air Traffic Control (ATC). It acts as a "closed-loop" communication system, ensuring that the controller's instructions were heard and understood correctly by the flight crew.
The 16-year-old chartered aircraft, operated by VSR Ventures Pvt Ltd, crashed while attempting a second landing approach at Baramati airport which is an uncontrolled airfield where traffic information is typically provided by instructors and pilots from local flying training organisations.
V K Singh, owner of VSR Ventures, said the pilot apparently could not see the runway and carried out a "missed approach", a standardised procedure in such cases.
Terrifying eyewitness accounts have emerged from the site of the aircraft crash as residents near the Baramati airport described a scene of chaos as the plane appeared to lose control before erupting into a series of big explosions.
An eyewitness described watching the aircraft circle the airport, noting it appeared 'a bit unstable' before its final approach. According to her, the plane 'hit the ground hard and exploded' upon impact, with the blast being heard in homes throughout the area.
Later, the Civil Aviation Ministry, quoting the person manning the Air Traffic Control at Baramati, issued a statement about the sequence of events indicating that the flight encountered visibility issues during its landing attempt despite reports of calm weather.
The statement said that at 8.18 am, the aircraft first established contact with Baramati air traffic control after being released by the Pune approach at 30 nautical miles (around 55 km) inbound to Baramati.
The crew was advised to descend at their discretion under Visual Meteorological conditions and were also informed that winds were calm and visibility was approximately 3,000 metres.
Upon reaching the final approach for the runway, the crew reported that the runway was not in sight and initiated a go-around to reposition for a second attempt on the runway.
After initially stating the runway was still not visible, the crew reported "runway in sight" just seconds later and the ATC cleared the aircraft to land at 8.43 am.
However, the crew did not provide the mandatory readback of this final clearance and at 8.44 am, exactly one minute after the last communication, ATC personnel observed flames erupting near the threshold of the runway.
Emergency services reached the scene immediately following the explosion and the wreckage was located on the left side of the runway.
The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) is currently analysing why the crew struggled to maintain visual contact with the runway despite the reported 3,000-metre visibility.
According to eyewitnesses, the force of the explosion was so great that parts of the aircraft were hurled through the air, landing near residential structures. "The plane tilted before coming down. We saw the explosion and it was frightening," an eyewitness said.
Another eyewitness reported that the aircraft appeared to be losing control from an altitude of approximately 100 feet above the runway.
"The way the plane was coming down, we felt it was going to crash... As we rushed towards it, we saw flames, followed by four to five consecutive blasts, which prevented us from going anywhere near the aircraft".
Pramod Madurikar, a witness at the scene, said the victims were identified shortly after the crash and were shifted to ambulances. Fire brigade personnel reached the spot shortly.
The aircraft was trying to land amid poor visibility, Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu told reporters in Pune.
VSR Ventures’ fleet includes seven Learjet 45 aircraft (including the one involved in the crash), five Embraer 135BJ aircraft, four King Air B200 aircraft and one Pilatus PC-12 aircraft, the statement said.
Superintendent of Police, Sandip Singh Gill, said that after the crash, there was a fire. "People onboard were immediately taken to the hospital," he said.
Ajit Pawar is survived by wife Sunetra, a member of the Rajya Sabha and two sons, Parth and Jay.
His Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) had contested the recent municipal corporation elections in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad in alliance with his uncle Sharad Pawar’s NCP (SP).
President Droupadi Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and several other leaders expressed grief over Pawar's demise.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who reached Baramati and met Ajit Pawar’s family members, described the NCP leader’s tragic death as unbelievable, and said he had lost a good friend.
Maharashtra government declared a three-day state mourning till January 30, during which the national flag will be flown at half-mast on all buildings.
Ajit Pawar’s last rites will be held with full state honours on Thursday in Baramati.
Modi and Shah are expected to attend the funeral, which will be held at Vidya Pratishthan ground at 11 am, the Nationalist Congress Party said.
