“BJP had nothing to do with resignation of 17 disqualified MLAs", says CM BSY
Bengaluru, Nov 4: Distancing himself from the charge that the BJP was behind the resignation of the 17 disqualified MLAs, Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Monday said the party had nothing to do with it and they were free to take whatever steps they wished to do so.
He was reacting to Opposition Congress leader Siddaramaiah's allegation that the saffron party was behind engineering the defections of the rebel legislators and destabilising the then coalition Congress-JD(S) government.
Siddaramaiah had demanded that Yediyurappa quit his post, as also party president Amit Shah.
"We have no connection with the resignation of the 17 disqualified MLAs. Further, what they want to do is left to them," Yediyurappa told reporters in Bengaluru.
A purported audio clipping of Yediyurappa expressing anguish against leaders at a recent party meeting in Hubballi over their opposition to giving tickets to disqualified Congress-JD(S) MLAs for the December 5 assembly bypolls in 15 assembly constituencies had surfaced on Friday.
In the audio, he is heard saying that the rebel Congress-JD(S) MLAs, who were later disqualified, were kept in Mumbai during the final days of the coalition government under BJP national President Amit Shah's watch.
He had hit out at party leaders for lack of support in "saving" the BJP government and not recognizing their "sacrifice", behind party coming to power.
The Chief Minister alleged that Siddaramaiah had doctored the audio clipping in a bid to create 'confusion' among people.
"Just see to what extent he has gone! He says Union Home Minister Amit Shah too has to resign. He should be ashamed of saying so," the Chief Minister said.
He recalled Siddaramaiah's objectionable remark in Dharmasthala on August 31, apparently directed at the Janata Dal (Secular), his party's ally in the previous coalition government.
Asked why the JD(S) leaders were blaming him for the collapse of the Congress-JD(S) coalition government, he had used the Kannada adage, literally translating to "Incapable of dancing, a prostitute called the dance floor uneven".
The Congress-JD(S) alliance government collapsed on July 22 after the confidence motion moved by the then-Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy was defeated in the state Assembly.
"When you were responsible for their resignation, how suitable it for your stature to level baseless charges against BJP?" asked Yediyurappa.
Challenging the leader of opposition to face the December 5 bypolls to 15 out of 17 seats represented by disqualified MLAs, he said it was entirely upto them to decide what they wished to do.
"Who will give them ticket whether we, you or the JD(S) or will they contest as independent candidates, it is their choice to contest wherever they want to contest.How I am related to it?" Yediyurappa asked.
At Belagavi, Siddaramaiah dismissed the charge that the Congress had doctored the audio clipping and pointed out that the Chief Minister himself had admitted that it was his voice in it.
He demanded to know who were there in the core committee meeting and who recorded the statement.
"Either Nalin Kumar Kateel, Laxman Savadi or Basavaraj Bommai's son might have done it. After recording it, who released it to TV channels? Who brought out the truth? They only released it. Now they are blaming others," Siddaramaiah said.
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Bondi Beach shooting suspect conducted firearms training with his father, Australian police say
Melbourne (AP): A man accused of killing 15 people at Sydney's Bondi Beach conducted firearms training in an area of New South Wales state outside of Sydney with his father, Australian police documents released on Monday allege.
The men recorded a video about their justification for the meticulously planned attack, according to a police statement of facts that was made public following Naveed Akram's video court appearance Monday from a Sydney hospital where he has been treated for an abdominal injury.
Officers wounded Akram at the scene of the Dec. 14 shooting and killed his father, 50-year-old Sajid Akram.
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The New South Wales state government confirmed Naveed Akram was transferred on Monday from a hospital to a prison. Neither facility was identified by authorities.
The statement alleges the 24-year-old and his father began their attack by throwing four improvised explosive devices toward a crowd celebrating an annual Jewish event at Bondi Beach, but the devices failed to explode.
Police described the devices as three aluminium pipe bombs and a tennis ball bomb containing an explosive, black powder and steel ball bearings. None detonated, but police described them as “viable” IEDs.
Authorities have charged Akram with 59 offences, including 15 counts of murder, 40 counts of causing harm with intent to murder in relation to the wounded survivors and one count of committing a terrorist act.
The antisemitic attack at the start of the eight-day Hanukkah celebration was Australia's worst mass shooting since a lone gunman killed 35 people in Tasmania state in 1996.
The New South Wales government introduced draft laws to Parliament on Monday that Premier Chris Minns said would become the toughest in Australia.
The new restrictions would include making Australian citizenship a condition of qualifying for a firearms license. That would have excluded Sajid Akram, who was an Indian citizen with a permanent resident visa.
Sajid Akram also legally owned six rifles and shotguns. A new legal limit for recreational shooters would be a maximum of four guns.
Police said a video found on Naveed Akram's phone shows him with his father "reciting their political and religious views and appear to summarise their justification for the Bondi terrorist attack.”
The men are seen in the video “condemning the acts of Zionists” while they also “adhere to a religiously motivated ideology linked to the Islamic State,” police said.
Video shot in October shows them “firing shotguns and moving in a tactical manner” on grassland surrounded by trees, police said.
“There is evidence that the Accused and his father meticulously planned this terrorist attack for many months,” police allege.
