Stage set for Council Chairman election; Basavaraj Horatti and Naseer Ahmed file nominations
Bengaluru: The stage is set for the February 9 election to the post of Karnataka Legislative Council Chairman, with JD(S) MLC Basavaraj Horatti, supported by BJP and Congress' Naseer Ahmed filing their nominations on Monday.
According to the official notification, today was the date for filing of nominations.
Horatti, flanked by BJP and JD(S) MLCs, including Ministers Kota Srinivas Poojary and MTB Nagaraj, filed his papers before the Council Secretary, while Ahmed was accompanied by Congress legislators.
The election was necessitated following the resignation of Congress' K Prathapachandra Shetty as the Chairman on February 4 to pre empt a no-confidence motion against him by the ruling BJP, and JD(S) extending support to it.
Though Horatti is most certain to win as the numbers are clearly on his side, the opposition Congress, with the aim of ensuring a contest, has fielded Ahmed.
During the Council Deputy Chairman election too, Congress has fielded its candidate and had said it was with an intention to "expose" the JD(S) and its secular credentials.
Both BJP and JD(S) have joined hands for the Council Chairman and Deputy Chairman's posts.
As per the arrangement, BJP MLC M K Pranesh was on January 29 elected as the Deputy Chairman with the backing of JD(S), and now the ruling party will return the favour by supporting the regional party nominee, Horatti.
BJP sources said the party agreed to support Horatti as Chairman instead of seeking the post for itself in return for JD(S)' support in its move to oust Shetty and ensure passage of certain key bills.
The earlier move by both parties in December to remove Shetty as Chairman did not succeed as their notice of no- confidence was rejected on technical grounds.
The House had witnessed high drama that day with BJP-JDS and Congress members hurling abuses and pushing each other.
Amid the ruckus on December 15, the then Deputy Chairman Dharme Gowda, who is now no more, was even pulled down from the Chair.
Currently the ruling BJP is the single largest party in the Council with 31 seats, followed by Congress with 29, JD(S) 13, one independent and one vacant (due to death of Dharme Gowda).
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
MP boat tragedy: Death toll climbs to 13; body of last missing person recovered
Jabalpur (PTI): The bodies of a five-year-old boy and his uncle were recovered from Bargi Dam in Madhya Pradesh's Jabalpur district on Sunday morning, raising the death toll in the cruise boat tragedy to 13, police said.
The boat, around 20 years old and operated by the state tourism department, capsized during a storm on Thursday evening.
"The bodies of Mayuram (5) and his uncle Kamraj (around 50), an employee of the Ordnance Factory in Khamaria, were found floating and were fished out of the dam," Bargi Sub Divisional Officer of Police Anjul Ayank Mishra told PTI over the phone.
ALSO READ: Passenger held after opening emergency exit on taxiing flight at Chennai airport
All 13 missing persons identified have now been accounted for, he said, adding the bodies were sent to a government hospital for postmortem.
Teams comprising around 20 Army divers airlifted from Agra, along with personnel from the National Disaster Response Force, State Disaster Response Force and local divers, were involved in the search operation, the police said.
Of the 41 identified passengers on board the vessel, 28 were rescued after the incident, according to the police.
The CCTV footage near the boarding point showed 43 people heading towards the boat, though the identities of 41 passengers have been confirmed so far, they said.
The state government on Friday ordered a probe into the incident and dismissed three crew members. It also banned the operation of similar vessels in the state.
