North Karnataka may find solace in Siddaramaiah’s candidature
Whether one person should contest from two constituencies is a question that’s more pragmatic than being a simple query. The fact remains that the candidate knows he cannot represent two constituencies simultaneously. And the voters are also aware that he/she will finally resign from one place, in case the person manages to win from both.
In case the candidate is known for his work, the voters vote for him with the hope that he would represent their constituency. But in the instance of a victory in both places, the candidate will have to give up one seat for sure by way of resigning. This action will impose another election on the constituency. In the recent past, PM Narendra Modi had contested from two places. Now Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah has also chosen to contest from two constituencies. In fact, he would be contesting from three constituencies! His son Dr Yatheendra is contesting from Varuna constituency. And he will have to seek votes in his father’s name since not too many people are familiar with Yatheendra.
When and if people choose Yatheendra, it would be a mandate favouring his more famous father. The need to contest from two seats is an inevitable challenge that Siddaramaiah has to face now. Both JD(S) and BJP have been planning strategies to create a rift between Siddaramaiah and his party, Congress. If he has to be weakened, Siddaramaiah has to be extricated from the party. This serves another purpose of weakening the Congress too by creating leadership chaos. This desire is not just that of BJP and JD(S), but there are scores of people even within Congress who wish for this. The opposition parties know very well that Siddaramaiah brought a fresh lease of life into Congress with his leadership and tenure of being the CM of the state. There are not too many leaders in Congress who can reach commoners the way Siddaramaiah does. Hence if Siddaramaiah loses the Chamundeshwari seat, the Congress high command will keep him at a distance owing to his failure. This would mark the end of his political career. Vishwanath, Srinivas Prasad and other defectors from Congress have a single point agenda – that is to end Siddaramaiah’s political career. But if you ask them which other leader would they present to the state in case they manage to close Siddaramaiah’s political career, they do not have any answer.
Initially, Siddaramaiah was to contest only from Chamundeshwari. Having said that, Congress retracted its statement within two days of announcing this. Siddaramaiah cleared all the roadblocks to seeking a second seat to ensure victory from his party high command.
As a statesman and politician Siddaramaiah should be actively involved in Karnataka politics for a long time to come. Some people may feel vicarious pleasure by hoping to defeat him. But in today’s situation, we can hardly find a leader of his stature and vision to tackle poverty, to ensure the poor are empowered in the process. His understanding of economics coupled with socialism is a terrific combination.
It is very tough to imagine the House without Siddaramaiah’s presence. He is known for his straight talk which may appear rude to some people. But he was not corrupt and will never be corrupt in the future either. He has retained his individuality beyond the culture of Congress party. Hence, to escape the trap laid by his political opponents and their wish to end his career, the need to contest from two seats is not only inevitable to Siddaramaiah, but it is also the need of the Vidhana Sabha too!
Hence instead of wasting his political career being turning a martyr to the plot hatched by his opponents, it would be strategically intelligent to create Plan B and save his career from ending at once. The ones who accuse Siddaramaiah of having trained his eyes on Badami, state he has done so with the fear of losing in Chamundeshwari. However, if one is to ask them to mention why Siddaramaiah fears a failure in Chamundeshwari, they are unable to articulate and mention even a handful of reasons to support their claims.
It could still be understood if one feels Siddaramaiah may be rejected in Chamundeshwari for not having done enough for the development of the constituency or for having given bad administration. But if the fear of losing Chamundeshwari is due to the nexus reached by JD(S), BJP and some Congress leaders clandestinely, it cannot be called Siddaramaiah’s failure.
In fact, it is commendable that the CM has chosen a prominent city in North Karnataka to his rescue. If he gets elected from here, it could be good for the region too. North Karnataka might as well prosper better than before with him as their MLA.
People in North Karnataka are pretty upset with Bangalore centric focus of development. By selecting Badami as his alternate plan, Siddaramaiah has created a bridge between North and South of Karnataka. As a politician, he may be able to pay heed and understand the challenges of North Karnataka from close quarters. There couldn’t be a better person than Siddaramaiah to solve the problems relating to drought, and farmers from the area. In case he wins from both constituencies, he should retain his Badami seat and continue his work. This is the respect a south Karnataka politician can give to north Karnataka region.
Whether Congress wins this election with majority or loses, Siddaramaiah should not lose this elections. There are many such people like Siddaramaiah in other parties too. All of them should win and enter the house this time. There was a time when a deserving candidate stood for elections, other parties would refuse to get their candidates into the fray. The most deserving candidate would win the election with ease. Every party would cooperate with that intention of bringing the best minds into the House. But today, in a rather ironic manner, the forces that have Dalit movement background seem to have come together against Siddaramaiah. This opportunistic politics ca never deliver good results to the society.
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Actress sexual assault: Court says Prosecution 'miserably' failed to prove conspiracy against Dileep
Kochi (PTI): The prosecution had "miserably" failed to prove the conspiracy charge against Dileep in the sensational 2017 actress sexual assault case, a local court has observed while citing inconsistencies and lack of sufficient evidence against the Malayalam star.
The full judgement of Ernakulam District and Principal Sessions Court Judge Honey M Varghese was released late on Friday, and has revealed the judge also pointing out at unsustainable arguments put forth by the prosecution.
"The prosecution miserably failed to prove the conspiracy between accused No.1 (Pulsar Suni) and accused No.8 (Dileep) in executing the offence against the victim," the court held.
It examined in detail, the prosecution's allegation that Dileep had hired the prime accused to sexually assault the survivor and record visuals, including close-up footage of a gold ring she was wearing, to establish her identity.
On page 1130 of the judgment, under paragraph 703, the court framed the issue as whether the prosecution's contention that NS Sunil (Pulsar Suni) recorded visuals of the gold ring worn by the victim at the time of the occurrence, so as to clearly disclose her identity, was sustainable.
The prosecution contended Dileep and Suni had planned the recording so that the actress' identity would be unmistakable, with the video of the gold ring intended to convince Dileep that the visuals were genuine.
However, the court noted that this contention was not stated in the first charge sheet and was introduced only in the second one.
As part of this claim, a gold ring was seized after the victim produced it before the police.
The court observed that multiple statements of the victim were recorded from February 18, 2017, following the incident, and that she first raised allegations against Dileep only on June 3, 2017.
Even on that day, nothing was mentioned about filming of the ring as claimed by the prosecution, the court said.
The prosecution failed to explain why the victim did not disclose this fact at the earliest available opportunities.
It further noted that although the victim had viewed the sexual assault visuals twice, she did not mention any specific recording of the gold ring on those occasions, which remained unexplained.
The court also examined the approvers' statements.
One approver told the magistrate that Dileep had instructed Pulsar Suni to record the victim's wedding ring.
The court observed that no such wedding ring was available with her at that time.
During the trial, the approver changed his version, the court said.
The Special Public Prosecutor put a leading question to the approver on whether Dileep had instructed the recording of the ring, after which he deposed that the instruction was to record it to prove the victim's identity.
The court observed that the approver changed his account to corroborate the victim's evidence.
When the same question was put to another approver, he repeated the claim during the trial but admitted he had never stated this fact before the investigating officer.
The court noted that the second approver even went to the extent of claiming Dileep had instructed the execution of the crime as the victim's engagement was over.
This showed that the evidence of the second approver regarding the shooting of the ring was untrue, as her engagement had taken place after the crime.
The court further observed that the visuals themselves clearly revealed the victim's identity and that there was no need to capture images of the ring to establish identity.
In paragraph 887, the court examined the alleged motive behind the crime and noted that in the first charge sheet, the prosecution had claimed that accused persons 1 to 6 had kidnapped the victim with the common intention of capturing nude visuals to extort money by threatening to circulate them and there was no mention about Dileep's role in it.
The court also rejected the prosecution's claim that the accused had been planning the assault on Dileep's instructions since 2013, noting that the allegation was not supported by reliable evidence.
It similarly ruled out the claim that Suni attempted to sexually assault the victim in Goa in January 2017, stating that witness statements showed no such misconduct when he served as the driver of the vehicle used by the actress there.
The court also discussed various controversies that followed Dileep's arrest and the evidence relied upon by the prosecution, ultimately finding that the case had not been proved.
Pronouning its verdict on the sensational case on December 8, the court acquitted Dileep and three others.
Later, the court sentenced six accused, including the prime accused Suni, to 20 years' rigorous imprisonment.
The assault on the multilingual actress, after the accused allegedly forced their way into her car and held it under their control for two hours on February 17, 2017, had shocked Kerala.
Pulsar Suni sexually assaulted the actress and video recorded the act with the help of the other convicted persons in the moving car.
