Rahul terms Yeddyurappa's swearing-in 'mockery of Constitution'
New Delhi, May 17: Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Thursday termed the swearing-in of BJP leader B.S. Yeddyurappa as Karnataka Chief Minister a 'mockery' of Constitution after his party failed to garner a majority in the state assembly.
Yeddyurappa took oath as the Chief Minister in Bengaluru on Thursday hours after the Supreme Court declined to stay his swearing-in ceremony.
"The BJP's irrational insistence that it will form a government in Karnataka, even though it clearly does not have the numbers, is to make a mockery of our Constitution," Gandhi said on Twitter.
"This morning, while the Bharatiya Janata Party celebrates its hollow victory, India will mourn the defeat of democracy," he added.
Governor Vajubhai Vala administered the oath of office and secrecy to Yeddyurappa at 9 a.m. at the Raj Bhavan amid tight security.
Earlier, a three-judge bench of the apex court rejected a joint writ petition of the Congress and the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) to stall the swearing-in at a special pre-dawn hearing.
Although the top court said the swearing-in was subject to the final outcome of the matter before it and posted the case for further hearing at 10.30 a.m. on Friday.
It also sought the letter Yeddyurappa wrote to the Governor on Wednesday informing him his election as the Bharatiya Janata Party's legislature party leader in Karnataka.
On Thursday, Congress leader and former Finance Minister P.Chidambaram tweeted saying Yedyurappa's letter to the Governor will 'seal his fate'.
"Yedyurappa's letter to the Governor will seal his fate. There is no mention of a number bigger than 104. The Governor's invitation does not mention any number at all!" he wrote on the site.
"I salute the Supreme Court. If I were Yeddyurappa, I will not take oath until the hearing at 10.30 am on Friday," he added.
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India harbouring big and bold dreams in space sector: Shubhanshu Shukla
Kolkata (PTI): Air Force Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, the first Indian astronaut to go to the International Space Station, on Wednesday said the country is harbouring “big and bold dreams”, foraying into human spaceflight after a hiatus of 41 years.
Shukla was the first Indian to visit the International Space Station as part of the Axiom-4 mission. He returned to India from the US on August 17, 2025, after the 18-day mission.
The space is a “great place to be”, marked by deep peace and an “amazing view” that becomes more captivating with time, he said, interacting with schoolchildren at an event organised by the Indian Centre for Space Physics here.
“The longer you stay, the more you enjoy it,” Shukla said, adding on a lighter note that he “actually kind of did not want to come back”.
Shukla said the hands-on experience in space was very different from what he had learnt during training.
He said the future of India’s space science was “very bright”, with the country harbouring “very big and bold dreams”.
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Shukla described his ISS flight, undertaken with support from the US, as a crucial “stepping stone” towards realising India’s ‘Vision Gaganyaan’.
“The experience gained is a national asset. It is already being used by internal committees and design teams to ensure ongoing missions are on the right track,” he said.
Shukla said the country’s space ambitions include the Gaganyaan human spaceflight programme, the Bharatiya Station (India’s own space station), and eventually a human landing on the Moon.
While the Moon mission is targeted for 2040, he said these projects are already in the pipeline, and the field will evolve at a “very rapid pace” over the next 10-20 years.
He told the students that though these targets are challenging, they are “achievable by people like you”, urging them to take ownership of India’s aspirations.
The sector will generate “a lot of employment opportunities” as India expands its human spaceflight capabilities, he noted.
Echoing the iconic words of India’s first astronaut Rakesh Sharma, Shukla said that from orbit, “India is still the best in the world”.
Shukla also asserted that the achievement was not his alone, but that of the entire country.
“The youth of India are extremely talented. They must stay focused, remain curious and work hard. It is their responsibility to help build a developed India by 2047,” he said.
Highlighting a shift from Sharma’s era, Shukla said India is now developing a full-fledged astronaut ecosystem.
With Gaganyaan and future missions, children in India will be able to not only dream of becoming astronauts, but also achieving it within the country, he said.
“Space missions help a village kid believe he can go to space someday. When you send one person to space, you lift million hopes. That is why such programmes must continue... The sky is not the limit,” Shukla said.
“Scientists must prepare for systems that will last 20-30 years, while ensuring they can integrate technologies that will emerge a decade from now,” he said.
Shukla added that he looked forward to more space missions, and was keen to undertake a space walk, which will require him to "train for another two years".
