Cong attacks BJP for 'brazen attempt' to destabilise Karnataka govt
Bengaluru, Jan 16: The Congress Wednesday slammed the BJP for its "brazen attempt" to destabilise the party's coalition government with JDS in Karnataka.
A political crisis is brewing in the state, where two Independent MLAs Tuesday withdrew support to the seven-month-old ministry amid trading of poaching charges by the ruling coalition and BJP.
The BJP's Karnataka MLAs have been camping at a resort in Haryana in an "effort to thwart any poaching attempt" by the ruling JDS-Congress coalition.
"The entire confusion has been created by the BJP. Was that really required? They did it brazenly throwing morality and ethics to the wind. It is shameful and disgusting," Karnataka Congress President Dinesh Gundu Rao said.
Blaming prime minister Narendra Modi and BJP national president Amit Shah for the current political crisis is Karnataka, Rao said the party under their aegis has become "anti-constitutional."
"The topic for discussion should not be the stability of our government but what BJP has reduced to under Modi and Amit Shah. The BJP today has become an anti-constitutional party.
"It is misusing the government machinery to threaten the MLAs and their rivals," he alleged.
Allaying fears over the stability of the Congress-JDS dispensation, Rao said, "All our MLAs are intact and nobody is going anywhere. They are all with us together."
The party has taken measures to address whatever grievances some people have but all the MLAs are very much in the party and nobody is going away, he added.
After two MLAs-- R Shankar and H Nagesh-- withdrew their support to the government Tuesday, rumour mill has been agog that the government's fall was imminent as many other Congress MLAs may follow suit and resign from their respective constituencies.
Despite claims that all the MLAs were with the party, Ramesh Jarkiholi and Umesh Jadhav remained incommunicado.
Congress spokesperson Subhash Agarwal said these two MLAs may not be in touch at this moment but they were very much in the party.
"Our party is stable. Those two MLAs withdrawing support is of no consequence. Numbers are in our favour and there is no threat to the government," he said.
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Lebanon appoints new representative for talks with Israel, rejects linkage to Iran
Beirut: Lebanon’s has moved to underline its independent position in ongoing regional developments, amid attempts to link the country to the broader conflict involving Iran, the United States and Israel.
President Joseph Aoun, while announcing the appointment of former US ambassador Simon Karam as Lebanon’s representative in talks with Israel, made it clear that Karam would be the sole representative for Lebanon and that there would be no substitute.
The move comes in response to what the Lebanese officials see as efforts by Iran to tie Lebanon’s situation to the wider regional conflict. Iran had indicated that there would be no ceasefire involving the US, Israel and Iran unless it also included a ceasefire in Lebanon.
Some groups, including Hezbollah and its supporters, had expressed support for linking the situations, citing concerns that the Lebanese government has limited leverage in negotiations with Israel. Lebanon is not formally a party to the conflict, and its army is considered weak.
However, others, including Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, have opposed this approach. They view Iran’s stance as an attempt to influence Lebanon’s internal affairs and see it as undermining the country’s sovereignty.
Officials backing the government’s position say the move is aimed at reaffirming Lebanon’s sovereignty and ensuring that decisions about peace and ceasefire within the country are not dictated externally.
They also see it as a safeguard, so that any breakdown in talks between the US, Israel and Iran does not automatically lead to renewed conflict in Lebanon.
