Denying me ticket will have a bearing on 20-25 seats in K'taka: Shettar in veiled warning to BJP
Hubballi (PTI): In a rebellious tone, former Karnataka chief minister Jagadish Shettar, who was asked by the BJP high command to drop his candidature for the Assembly election from Hubli-Dharwad Central segment, has said denying him a ticket will have a bearing on at least 20 to 25 seats in the state.
Addressing reporters here, the senior BJP leader said he would wait for the party's decision on the ticket till Sunday to decide his next course of action.
The BJP has not yet released the list of candidates for 12 constituencies, including Hubli-Dharwad Central.
"I will wait till tomorrow and then I will decide my next course of action," Shettar told reporters here on Friday night.
When questioned about the impact on the BJP for treating senior party functionaries in such a manner, he said the ruling dispensation has to think about it.
"The party has to ensure that it should not have any negative impact. Even former CM B S Yediyurappa has said that if Shettar does not get a ticket, then it will have a bearing not in just one place...it will have an immediate effect in many constituencies in north Karnataka -- at least 20 to 25 constituencies," Shettar said.
"It will indeed have an effect across Karnataka but the immediate impact will be seen in 20 to 25 constituencies," he added.
As some of the Hubballi-Dharwad Municipal Corporation councillors offered to tender their resignation, the senior leader said he was grateful to them for showing their affection towards him.
"They (councillors) have expressed their displeasure. They are hurt. For them, it's enough now. Their feelings are hurt so they are expressing their anger by resigning from the municipal corporation," the former Karnataka Assembly speaker said.
Shettar added that that he will take note of the councillors' opinion and then decide the next step.
To a query that some top BJP functionaries were confident of Shettar getting the ticket, he said he was aware of such statements but he wanted "the result".
Shettar held a press conference on April 11 saying that he received a call from Delhi where a senior party functionary asked him to drop his candidature to make way for young people.
He said this was not acceptable to him and expressed his resolve to contest the election this time come what may.
The BJP has so far put out a list of 212 candidates for the Assembly election and has not yet announced the names of remaining 12 seats.
The 224-seat Assembly in Karnataka will go to polls on May 10 and the results are scheduled to come out on May 13.
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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.
