Congress, JD-S shift MLAs to Hyderabad to prevent 'poaching'
Bengaluru, May 18: An embattled Congress and JD-S have shifted their newly-elected MLAs to Hyderabad from here to prevent the BJP from poaching them ahead of the crucial floor test in the new Assembly, officials said on Friday.
"We have shifted 36 of our legislators in a bus to Hyderabad to prevent the Bharatiya Janata Party from poaching them to defect," Janata Dal-Secular spokesman Ramesh Babu told here.
JD-S state President H.D. Kumaraswamy, however, returned to Bengaluru, clarified Babu.
The Congress also shifted its MLAs to Hyderabad in a separate luxury bus to prevent the BJP from approaching them.
Party leader D.K. Shivakumar told reporters here that the priority for the party was to keep its legislators safe.
"Our priority is to keep all our MLAs safe and intact. There is a lot of pressure on their families. So some of the legislators have been shifted to Hyderabad, while some have stayed back in Bengaluru," Shivakumar said.
The Congress leader, however, refused to specify how many legislators were shifted to Hyderabad in neighbouring Telangana.
In the May 12 Assembly election in 222 segments, the BJP won 104, Congress 78 and JD-S 37.
As Kumaraswamy won from both Channapatna and Ramanagara assembly segments, the party effectively has 37 votes, including one vote from its Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) ally, as the JD-S state president can vote for one seat.
As the BJP is eight short of the 112-halfway mark for a simple majority to win the trust vote, Congress and JD-S which have formed a post-poll alliance, fear their MLAs would be poached to defect the confidence motion.
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Gujarat man held for impersonating govt official, duping people with forged letters
Ahmedabad (PTI): The Ahmedabad police have arrested a 29-year-old man who allegedly posed as a senior revenue official and used fake letters claiming to be from various government departments to cheat people, an official said on Sunday.
Mehul Shah, an engineer who manages two schools at Vankaner in Gujarat’s Morbi district, is accused of making lakhs of rupees with bogus documents and false claims, said inspector (crime branch) JK Makwana.
Shah had forged an appointment letter from the Ahmedabad district education officer (DEO) to offer a computer operator’s job in a government office to a complainant’s son. He also introduced himself as a trustee of a school and did not pay a man Rs 7 lakh due to him over the painting of a school building, the official said.
“Despite holding no official position in the state or central government, he used fake work permits and NOCs to cheat people of lakhs of rupees,” the police official said.
One complainant alleged that Shah identified himself as a top revenue department official and produced a fake letter from the chairman of the “department of science and research development” to make him install a siren and curtain in a hired vehicle but did not pay for the job, he said.
Bogus letters claiming to be from the Union Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ahmedabad DEO were used by the accused to cheat the complainants, the police official said.
Police have recovered from his possession fake identity cards and letters with headings like “bharat gaurav ratna shri samman council”, “chairman of department of science and research development”, “health and family welfare department”, and “road and building department”.
“The FIR is based on complaints by three victims. We appeal to the people to come forward and submit their complaints if they have been cheated by Shah in any way,” Makwana said.
