Congress seeks Karnataka govt's dismissal; CM 'quoted out of context': BJP
Bengaluru, Nov 2: The Congress on Saturday demanded dismissal of the BJP government in Karnataka following leak of an audio clipping in which Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa purportedly can be heard mentioning the disqualification of rebel Congress-JDS MLAs and alleged involvement of the saffron party's central leadership.
The BJP, however, said the chief minister was quoted "out of context."
The row erupted just as the BJP government has completed 100 days in office after it was sworn in on July 26 following the collapse of the Congress-JDS government with the defeat of the motion of confidence moved by the then chief minister H D Kumaraswamy in the assembly by 99-105 votes.
In the clipping that has gone viral, Yediyurappa reportedly is heard saying the dissident Congress-JD(S) MLAs, who were later disqualified, were kept in Mumbai during the final days of the coalition government under the watch of BJP president Amit Shah.
The Congress also urged the President of India to remove Home minister Amit Shah from the Union Cabinet based on the clipping.
The Congress leaders led by Opposition leader and former chief minister Siddaramaiah and state Congress chief Dinesh Gundu Rao met Governor Vajubhai Vala and submitted a memorandum to this effect.
"We met the governor and demanded that the Yediyurappa government be dismissed.
We have petitioned that the same should be conveyed to the President of India and Amit Shah should be dismissed from the cabinet," Siddaramaiah told reporters after meeting Vala.
Siddaramaiah claimed in the clipping aired by news channels Yediyurappa has stated that Amit Shah had kept all the disqualified MLAs in Mumbai and engineered the defection.
"The clipping makes it very clear that BJP indulged in anti-constitutional activities. Home Minister Amit Shah was behind pulling down the government unconstitutionally, hoarding the MLAs in Mumbai by luring them.
We are not saying this but chief minister B S Yediyurappa himself has admitted it," the former chief minister alleged.
Yediyurappa also purportedly can be heard expressing anguish at a recent party meeting in Hubballi over some leaders' opposition to giving tickets to disqualified Congress-JD(S) MLAs for the December 5 bypolls to 15 assembly constituencies.
In the audio tape, he also reportedly hits out at party leaders for lack of support in "saving" the BJP government and not recognising the "sacrifice" of the disqualified MLAs, because of whom they could come to power.
Reacting to the row, the BJP said the Chief Minister was quoted out of context.
"Nobody knows in what context the chief minister had said. He has been quoted out of context," BJP spokesperson Go Madhusudan told PTI.
Such statements hold no good in any court of law as evidence, the BJP leader added.
Wading into the controversy, JDS leader and former chief minister Kumaraswamy said the BJP as a party stood exposed by the clipping as Yediyurappa himself has "revealed the truth."
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
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.
ALSO READ: 4 of family charred to death in fire at house in Howrah
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.
