BJP won’t succeed in destabilizing govt.: Siddaramaiah
‘No MLAs will resign’
Bengaluru, September 18: Former chief minister Siddaramaiah said that though the BJP leaders have been making brazen attempts to destabilize the coalition government in the state, their day dream of forming their own government would not come true.
Speaking to reporters at the Vidhana Soudha here on Tuesday, Siddaramaiah said that earlier also, the BJP had formed the government through ‘Operation Lotus’ means. Now, the shameless people have been doing the same thing. Neither the Congress-JDS coalition government nor the Congress has any differences. There was no confusion or dissatisfaction. It was just a media creation which is baseless and rumours, he said.
Parameshwar Naik, MB Patil, Bhima Naik, BC Patil and others were the aspirants of minister posts and they have placed their demands. But no one has said about leaving the party, he clarified.
Safe for five years
The Congress-JDS coalition government in the state would complete five years term. There was no doubt in it. As the MLAs have supported the government, it would not require anybody’s protection. All MLAs from the Congress were disciplined leaders and they were committed to the party stand. There were no problems in the party. When this was the situation, where was the question of solving the problem? He discussed with Minister Ramesh Jarkiholi and he would not leave the party, he said.
What’s wrong in holding meeting?
"What is wrong in conducting the meetings and using private cars by the ministers? Chief Minister H.D Kumaraswamy is also using his private car. There is no need to read much into the meetings of the CM", Ministers and MLAs, he said.
Cabinet expansion after Council poll
Election to the three positions of the Legislative Council was announced on October 3. So, the Cabinet expansion would be taken up after the Council poll. Six places were filled and the party high command would take a decision regarding this issue, he said.
They would go to New Delhi to discuss the selection of candidates for the Council election. Election would be held for three positions to be elected from the Assembly and remaining three, positions would be filled through nomination, he said.
Minister R.V Deshpande, Former ministers R.B Thimmapur, M.B Patil, MLAs Appaji Nadagouda, B.C Patil, Bhima Naik, Former MLA Ashok Pattan, MLC Ivan D’Souza and others were present.
“One cannot term small demands about their constituencies as differences. It is false that the MLAs will desert the party just for that reason. There is nothing wrong in MLAs asking ministerial berths. There is no need to give colour to the meeting of some MLAs with Jarkiholi brothers”.
- Siddaramaiah, Former CM
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Four astronauts return after historic lunar flyby, NASA now eyes landing on moon
Washington (PTI): Amid claps and cheers, four astronauts of NASA’s Artemis-II mission splashed down in the Pacific ocean after a historic flight to the moon – the first by humans in more than 50 years.
“The path to the moon is open but the work ahead is greater than the work behind,” Amit Kshatriya, Indian-origin NASA Associate Administrator told a press conference shortly after the Artemis-II crew returned to earth off the coast of San Diego at 8:07 eastern time on Friday.
The lunar flyby mission involving Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canada's Jeremy Hansen was the first journey to the moon since the Apollo 17 mission in December 1972 when Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt spent three days exploring the lunar surface.
Rick Henfling, the flight director, said the Artemis II astronauts are “happy and healthy and ready to come home to Houston.”
Artemis II was the first crewed mission to utilise NASA’s Space Launch System rocket and Orion crew module — demonstrating that the agency’s equipment can propel astronauts out of Earth’s orbit and bring them safely home.
"Yesterday, flight director Jeff Radigan said we had less than a degree of an angle to hit after a quarter of a million miles to the moon," Kshatriya told reporters.
"And their team hit it. This is not luck; that is 1,000 people doing their job," he said.
The mission flew 700,237 miles; its peak velocity was 24,664 m.p.h.; and the flight had an entry range of 1,957 miles but landed within one mile of its target, Henfling said.
NASA now aims to land humans on the moon where the space agency also plans to set up a habitat that would be the launchpad for future missions to Mars and beyond.
It was a triumphant homecoming for the crew of four whose record-breaking lunar flyby revealed not only swaths of the moon's far side never seen before by human eyes but a total solar eclipse.
They emerged from their bobbing capsule into the sunlight one by one.
Henfling said his team 'breathed a sigh of relief' once the side hatch opened on the Orion Integrity after it splashed down in the Pacific Ocean.
"We all breathed a sigh of relief once the hatch opened up, that's when we brought the team in," he said.
"We said a few words to the flight controllers, and then we turned around to the families and waved and gave them a thumbs up, and we all watched as each of their four astronauts got out of the spaceship and were hoisted up onto the helicopters. It was a great day," he added.
Henfling said his team felt "anxiety" as the four astronauts re-entered the Earth's atmosphere, but felt confident in all their training leading up the history-making lunar mission.
NASA said the Artemis III mission is "right around the corner" following its history-making journey around the moon.
"The next mission is right around the corner, and you know, we'll take the lessons learned from Artemis II," Henfling said.
"We learned a bunch on how to fly people in space, both from vehicle operations, but also from how to run a control room with a deep space mission. And when the time is right, we'll get back into specific training, and we've got a core group of about 30 flight directors, and they're all extremely capable.
"I think anybody who's assigned to that next mission is going to be as successful as us," Henfling said.
Amit Kshatriya is serving as the highest-ranking civil servant and a senior advisor to the administrator at NASA. He leads NASA's 10 centre directors, as well as the mission directorate associate administrators. He is also the agency’s chief operating officer.
Kshatriya previously served as the deputy associate administrator for the Moon to Mars Program in the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate (ESDMD) at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
LIVE: They are coming home.
— NASA (@NASA) April 10, 2026
Watch as the Artemis II crew returns to Earth, splashing down at around 8:07pm ET (0007 UTC April 11). https://t.co/n3vZE2rcFv
