Cong, BJP MLAs spar in K'taka Assembly over PM's promise of Rs 15 lakh into every bank account
Bengaluru(PTI): The Karnataka Legislative Assembly on Thursday witnessed a heated verbal exchange between treasury and opposition sides, with BJP demanding the ruling Congress to provide proof for their allegation that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised to credit Rs 15 lakh to every person's bank account.
The issue came up during Navalgund Congress MLA Konareddy's intervention during the motion of thanks to the Governor's address in the Assembly.
"They (BJP) have criticised our (Congress) guarantees schemes. We stand by our guarantees, as our government is taking measures to fulfill it, but you had given a guarantee of crediting Rs 15 lakh to every bank account, but you did not credit that money to even a single bank account. You had also promised 2 lakh jobs to youth, but could not do it. You had also promised to double the farmers income," Konareddy said.
Senior BJP leader Basangouda Patil Yatnal objected to this, and asked Konareddy to give at least one evidence or a video clip to prove that the Prime Minister had promised to credit Rs 15 lakh to every bank account.
"Why is he (Konareddy) speaking bogus and false things? What the PM had spoken then was regarding the black money deposited by certain rich people and politicians in foreign bank accounts, by looting this country, and getting them back. Let him (MLA) show at least one video clipping of the Modi's speech where he has promised to deposit Rs 15 lakh in every bank account. I will quit from politics. No one should make such irresponsible statements," he said.
"The Prime Minister has never spoken about crediting Rs 15 lakh to every bank account and Congress was purposely spreading lies against the BJP government and PM," he added.
This led to heated arguments between members of the treasury and opposition benches. During the run-up to the general elections of 2014, BJP and Modi had claimed to bring back the black money stashed in foreign bank accounts by corrupt citizens.
Yatnal further said, if the Prime Minister had in case made such a statement, he was ready to apologise, but the truth is that such a promise was never made and unnecessarily speaking about Rs 15 lakh has become a "job" for Congress people.
As the heated debate continued, Speaker U T Khader tried to calm down MLAs of both sides.
Energy Minister K J George questioned BJP -- PM had promised to get black money from Swiss bank, has the money come?
Yatnal responding to this asked, the PM had spoken about bringing black money, but did he ever say that he will credit Rs 15 lakh to every bank account? "You Congress had promised the guarantees are free to everyone, but now put conditions."
BJP MLA B Y Vijayendra too urged Congress members to prove with evidence that the Prime Minister had promised to credit Rs 15 lakh to bank accounts, or their remarks should be expunged by the Chair. "Unnecessarily, repeatedly making such false statements is not right."
Minister K N Rajanna and Congress MLA Abbayya Prasad said the whole country knows that the PM had made such a promise and has not fulfilled it.
Chaos broke out in the Assembly as BJP members continued to demand for evidence, even as Congress members repeatedly asserted that the PM had made such a promise.
Speaker Khader after repeated attempts, managed to bring the tempers down and continued with the business of the House.
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Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
