Maharashtra developments opportunist politics, says Kumaraswamy
Bengaluru: Former Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy on Saturday termed the ongoing developments in Maharashtra as opportunist politics and said no one in countrys politics, including him, has morality left in them and can discuss about it. During the recently concluded Maharashtra polls, NCP had continuously fought against the BJP, Kumaraswamy pointed out.
"Government is being formed with the NCP that had worked against the BJP. No one in this countrys politics have morality left in them and no one can discuss about morality, including me, he said.
Speaking to reporters here, he said So every one is doing opportunist politics...it is opportunist politics that is happening in the country."
In Bihar, Nitish Kumar joined hands with Lalu Prasad Yadav during the assembly polls and got clear majority but later he sided with BJP, Kumaraswamy said.
"So with these kinds of political developments, in my opinion there is no use in discussing about them, he added.
BJP's Devendra Fadnavis and NCP leader Ajit Pawar took oath as the Maharashtra chief minister and deputy chief minister respectively on Saturday, an unexpected development a day after Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray emerged as the Sena-NCP-Congress' consensus candidate for the top post.
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar, however, said it was his nephew Ajit Pawar's own decision, and not that of the party, to support the BJP to form the government.
Ajit Pawars political move to join hands with BJP to form a government is seen as a repetition of what Kumaraswamy did 13 years ago in Karnataka.
In 2006, Kumaraswamy had rebelled and walked out of the Congress-JD(S) coalition led by Dharm Singh with 46 MLAs, against the wish of his father and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, citing threat to the party, and formed the government with the BJP, becoming the chief minister during his very first term as MLA.
The current Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa was his deputy then. Under a rotational chief ministership arrangement, he helmed the state for 20 months.
When the BJP's turn for chief ministership came, he reneged on the arrangement and brought down the Yeddyurappa government within seven days.
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Trump returns from China; terms meeting with Xi as 'G-2'
Washington (PTI): US President Donald Trump returned from a visit to China, describing his discussions with President Xi Jinping as a meeting of leaders of "two great countries".
Trump landed at the Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on the outskirts of the US capital on Friday evening, claiming to have struck important trade deals, including one for China's purchase of 200 aircraft from Boeing, with a promise for another 750, as well as agreements benefiting the American agriculture sector.
The US President reached here after a brief refuelling stop at Anchorage in Alaska.
“It’s the two great countries. I call it the G-2. This is the G-2. I think it’ll go down as a very important moment in history,” Trump told Fox News in an interview after meeting Xi on Thursday.
The Washington Post reported that Trump’s remarks put China on an equal footing with the US, exactly what Xi had aimed to achieve with the visit.
“Over two days of meetings here, the carefully choreographed pageantry and the reciprocal gestures of friendship and respect between the world’s two most powerful men displayed a geopolitical dynamic that the Chinese have long craved and Americans had resisted," the Post said.
Trump told Fox News that the relationship with Xi was important and suggested that China may not resort to any aggressive moves over Taiwan, at least till he is in office.
“It’s not a takeover. They just don’t want to see this place — we’ll call it a place because nobody knows how to define it — but they don’t want to see it go independent,” Trump said.
“I don’t think they’ll do anything when I’m here. When I’m not here. I think they might, to be honest with you,” Trump said.
"I want them to cool down. I want China to cool down," he said.
"We're not looking to have wars, and if you kept it the way it is, I think China's going to be OK with that," he added.
The US President said he had invited Xi for a visit to Washington in September.
“Xi has done something Chinese leaders have been working toward for decades — bringing an American president to Beijing as an undisputed peer,” said Julian Gewirtz, who served as China director on the National Security Council under President Joe Biden.
“Xi used the opulent optics of the visit to make clear to the world that China and the United States are the two dominant, equally matched superpowers. There is no going back.”
Trump’s friendly statements toward Xi and the Chinese people were being amplified in China’s state-controlled media, sending the message that “we’re getting along better with the Americans,” John Delury, a senior Fellow at the Asia Society, was quoted as saying by The New York Times.
It was understandable that Trump wanted to be polite to Xi, but that the American president’s gushing approach “weakens Trump and the US”, R. Nicholas Burns, the ambassador to China during the Biden administration, was quoted as saying in The New York Times.
“Xi did not hesitate to warn Trump over Taiwan. Trump should not hesitate to be frank about our concerns, too,” he said.
Trump and Xi are expected to meet at least three times this year.
The US President has invited Xi to the White House in September.
Trump may travel to Shenzhen in China for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in November. And Xi could come to the G-20 summit in December in Miami.
“This is a summit again that was heavier on symbolism than it was on substance — focus on managing problems, not on solving the problems that exist between the US and China,” said Rush Doshi, former National Security Council deputy senior director for China and Taiwan in the Biden administration.
“The way that both leaders talked about the future indicates that this is going to be part of a process that will play out this year,” said Kurt Campbell, former deputy secretary of State in the Biden administration.
