BJP copying Cong's guarantee schemes for election 'jumla': Mallikarjun Kharge
Bengaluru (PTI): Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday accused the BJP of copying his party's guarantee schemes and making similar announcements in poll-bound states as part of its election "jumla" (rhetoric).
Hitting out at the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he strongly defended the Karnataka Congress government's guarantee schemes, and said his party implements the promises made as it always works for the welfare of the people.
"I have responded to them in detail in Jharkhand and Maharashtra. Even now, I ask them to study our Karnataka (state) budget. About Rs 52,000 crore has been allocated for the five guarantee schemes in the budget, 47 per cent of which has already been spent... probably they have not seen the budget," Kharge claimed, while responding to a question on BJP leaders and Modi targeting state's guarantee schemes during their election campaign.
Without any proper budget (allocation), the BJP has now made several announcements, he said, adding, "taking clues from five guarantees that we announced in Karnataka, they made announcements in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat Rajasthan and other places...."
Speaking to reporters here, Kharge said the BJP is on a propaganda to bring a bad name to the Karnataka government to which no one should lend their ears.
"They have copied our (Congress) guarantees. We are at least implementing guarantee schemes promised. We had done it while in the Central government, we are doing it now in the states where we are in power."
The BJP and Modi have not fulfilled or implemented any of their guarantees, he said, referring to "announcements such as Rs 15 lakh to every bank account when black money repatriated from abroad", creating 2 crore jobs, hiking MSP on crops, bullet trains, among others.
"Everything is jumla. They speak things for the sake of elections, while Congress always works for the welfare of the people," he added.
Not willing to give any direct response to a question on the Waqf related controversy in Karnataka, the Congress chief said, "joint select committee is looking into it. I have no role in it, I can't speak....once the joint select committee report comes to the Parliament, we can speak on it."
Regarding doubts being expressed about the sanctity of the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) ahead of Maharashtra polls, Kharge said, "I don't want to speak on it repeatedly. We have a team on EVMs including leaders like Kapil Sibal, Abhishek Manu Singhvi. Many are working on it. Let's see."
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CJI's advice to aspirant: Join the bar, become a lawyer, don't hanker for judicial services post
New Delhi (PTI): She came to the Supreme Court seeking a re-evaluation of her paper in the examination for joining judicial services as a magistrate. What she got instead was a rejection — and a candid confession by the Chief Justice that he too had wanted to join the judicial services in his youth but was advised by a senior judge to become a lawyer instead.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi on Friday dismissed a plea filed by Prerna Gupta, the judicial services aspirant.
As Gupta pressed her case, the CJI intervened and said, "Let me share my personal story and I hope you will go happily as we cannot allow your petition."
He recounted his time as a final-year law student in 1984 when he wanted to become a judicial officer. As per requirement, he cleared the written test and was set to appear for an interview.
Judicial services is one of the two routes to become a judge after initially joining as a magistrate in lower court and thereafter rising through the ranks to become judge in a high court and possibly the Supreme Court.
The other route is to join the Bar, which means becoming a lawyer, and after building a reputation be picked from the Bar to become a judge at a senior level.
By the time the CJI's exam results came out, he had started practising at the Punjab and Haryana High Court when he was called for the interview.
The senior-most judge on the interview panel happened to be a judge before whom he had recently argued two significant matters.
"One of the matters was Sunita Rani vs Baldev Raj, where he had allowed my appeal in a matrimonial case and set aside the decree of divorce granted by the District Judge on the ground of schizophrenia," he noted.
Before the interview could take place, the judge called the young Surya Kant to his chamber and asked, 'Do you want to become a judicial officer?'
"I said 'yes.' He immediately said, 'Get out from (my) the chamber.'"
The courtroom fell silent as the CJI Justice described his initial heartbreak.
“I came out trembling. All my dreams were shattered. I thought he had snubbed me and that my career was over,” the CJI said.
However, the story took another turn the following day and the judge summoned him again, this time offering a piece of advice that would change the trajectory of his life.
“He said, ‘If you want to become (a judge), you are welcome. But my advice is, don’t become a judicial officer. The Bar is waiting for you,’” Justice Surya Kant recalled.
The CJI said he decided to skip his interview and didn't even tell his parents at first, fearing their disappointment, and instead chose to dedicate himself to his practice as an advocate.
“Now tell me did I make a bad right or bad decision,” the CJI asked and the litigant lawyer left the court with a smile on her face despite her case being dismissed.
Encouraging the petitioner to look toward the future rather than dwelling on the re-evaluation of a single paper, Justice Surya Kant said, "The Bar has much to offer."
