Siddaramaiah rejects allegations of his govt funding Cong for Bihar polls
Mangaluru (PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday rejected opposition BJP's allegation that the Congress government in the state was funding its party, in the upcoming Bihar polls.
Also, defending his government's decision making "prior permission" mandatory for private organisations to use public premises for their activities, the chief minister rejected that the move was only aimed at restricting RSS activities, and asserted that it was continuation of the decision taken by the earlier BJP regime.
He also clarified that the government's order mandating prior permission, does not mean that the permission has to be given, and that any such decision will depend on the law and order situation locally.
"We have not given even a 5 paise to any state election from Karnataka, we are not giving to Bihar also," Siddaramaiah said in response to a question.
Speaking to reporters here, in response to a question on BJP's allegations, he said, "They (BJP) were doing it, now they are accusing us of it."
He was reacting to BJP MPs B Y Raghavanedra and Jagadish Shettar's allegation that the Siddaramaiah-led government was involved in fundraising for the Congress party for the Bihar elections, a practice they claimed has led to increase in corruption in the state.
Bihar polls will be held over two phases on November 6 and 11. The votes will be counted on November 14.
"In 2013, the BJP government, when Jagadish Shettar was the CM, had issued an order through the education department, why did they do it? We have continued what they have done," he said.
To a question on BJP's circular not making any reference to any organisation such as RSS, Siddaramaiah said, "We too have not mentioned the name of any organisation (in our order). It is applicable to any organisation. We have not mentioned the RSS name."
The state government on Saturday had issued an order making "prior permission" mandatory for any private organisations, associations or a group of persons to use government property or premises for their activities.
While the government order does not specifically name RSS, the provisions of the order are said to be aimed at impacting the activities of the Hindu right wing organisation, including its route marches.
The order is based on a Cabinet decision on Thursday, prompted by Panchayat Raj and IT/BT Minister Priyank Kharge's letter to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah seeking a ban on RSS' activities in public places.
The Congress government is citing the 2013 circular by the education department, issued under the then BJP administration-led by Shettar, restricting the use of school premises and attached playgrounds for educational purposes only, to defend its order.
The circular was issued in response to a permission sought to organise a private event on the premises of the Fort High School at Chamarajpet in Bengaluru.
To a question on permission not being granted by authorities, despite seeking permissions as per the government order, the CM said, "the order says that prior permission has to be taken. There is nothing that the permission has to be given. It will depend upon the law and order situation."
Authorities in Chittapur, the home constituency of Minister Priyank Kharge, had denied permission for the RSS route march on Sunday, citing the possibility of disruption of peace and law and order.
The Tahsildar of Chittapur had cited that the Bhim Army organisation has also informed, through a letter, that they too will conduct a route march on the same route on October 19.
The Karnataka High Court on Sunday hearing RSS petition asked its representatives to file a fresh application seeking permission to hold its route march in Chittapur on November 2.
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Screenwriter Salim Khan on ventilator support and stable, say doctors
Mumbai (PTI): Veteran screenwriter Salim Khan suffered a brain haemorrhage which has been tackled, is on ventilator support as a safeguard and stable, doctors treating him said on Wednesday, a day after he was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital here.
The 90-year-old, one half of the celebrated Salim-Javed duo which scripted films such as "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don" with Javed Akhtar, is in the ICU and recovery might take some time given his age.
"His blood pressure was high for which we treated him and we had to put him on a ventilator because we wanted to do certain investigations. Now the ventilator was put as a safeguard so that his situation doesn't get worse. So it is not that he is critical," Dr Jalil Parkar told reporters.
"We did the investigations that were required and today we have done a small procedure on him, I will not go into the details. The procedure done is called DSA (digital subtraction angiography). The procedure has been accomplished, he is fine and stable and shifted back to ICU. By tomorrow, we hope to get him off the ventilator. All in all, he is doing quite well," he added.
Asked whether he suffered a brain haemorrhage, the doctor said, "Unko thoda haemorrhage hua tha, which we’ve tackled. No surgery is required.
As concern over Khan's health mounted, his children, including superstar Salman Khan and Arbaaz Khan, daughter Alvira, and sons-in-law Atul Agnihotri and Aayush Sharma, have been seen outside the hospital along with other well-wishers. His long-time partner Akhtar was also seen coming out of the hospital.
Khan, a household name in the 70s and 80s, turned 90 on November 24 last year. It was the day Dharmendra, the star of many of his films, including "Sholay", "Seeta aur Geeta" and "Yaadon Ki Baraat", passed away.
Hailing from an affluent family in Indore, Khan arrived in Mumbai in his 20s with dreams of stardom. He was good looking and confident he would make a mark in the industry as an actor. But that did not happen. And then, after struggling for close to a decade and getting confined to small roles in films, he changed lanes.
He worked as an assistant to Abrar Alvi and soon met Akhtar to form one of Hindi cinema's most formidable writing partnerships. They worked together on two dozen movies with most of them achieving blockbuster status.
Other than "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don", Khan and Akhtar also penned "Trishul", "Zanjeer", "Seeta Aur Geeta", "Haathi Mere Saathi", "Yaadon Ki Baarat" and "Mr India".
