Karnataka: Congress meeting to decide opposition leader sees many claimants to post
Bengaluru, Oct 6: Factionalism in the Karnataka unit of the Congress came to the fore on Sunday with a meeting convened by senior party leader Madhusudan Mistry to decide the leader of the opposition seeing many contenders staking claim for the post.
The meeting in a private hotel to decide on who would be the leader of the opposition saw many contenders staking claim for the coveted post, Congress sources told PTI.
With just four days left for the three-day assembly session starting from October 10, Congress, the principal opposition party has not yet decided its leader in the Assembly to take on the ruling BJP.
Besides former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who was the Congress Legislative Party leader during the tenure of the erstwhile Congress-JD(S) coalition government, former minister H K Patil and former deputy Chief Minister Dr G Parameshwara were among those who laid claim for the post, the sources said.
While some legislators backed Siddaramaiah as the opposition leader, others objected to it, especially former Lok Sabha member K H Muniyappa.
After the meeting Patil told reporters that Mistry had a discussion with the leaders on selecting the Congress leader in the Assembly as well as strengthening the organisation and internal democracy.
"He (Mistry) sought the opinions of all the individuals separately.
Mistry was the in charge of the Karnataka Congress. He understands the prevailing situation in the state. He will submit a report to our party president Sonia Gandhi," Patil said.
Patil said whatever decision the senior leadership takes would be binding on all party leaders in Karnataka.
Muniyappa said he had given suggestions to Mistry that are in the best interest of the party.
Asked whether long time Congress workers would be given preference, Muniyappa took a dig at Siddaramaiah, who joined the party from JD(S), asking how was he expected to respond when a 'newcomer' was made chief minister.
Siddaramaiah was previously with the JD(S) and joined the Congress after he was expelled from the party.
Muniyappa's differences with the former Chief Minister widened recently when the two had a bitter verbal spat at a recent meeting.
A former union minister, Muniyappa reportedly accused Siddaramaiah of hatching a conspiracy to defeat him in the recent Lok Sabha election from Kolar.
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AI, IndiGo, SpiceJet seek ATF price relief; say airline industry on verge of 'stopping operations'
Mumbai (PTI): Air India, IndiGo and SpiceJet have told the government that the country's airline industry is under extreme stress and on the verge of "stopping operations", as they sought revision in ATF pricing and financial support.
The West Asia turmoil has pushed up oil prices, and airspace restrictions have increased airlines' operating costs, especially on long-haul routes. Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) accounts for around 40 per cent of a carrier's operational expenses.
Against this backdrop, the Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA) has written to the civil aviation ministry, seeking steps to extend the same fuel pricing mechanism uniformly across both domestic and international operations as was done in the past with the establishment of the crack band.
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With an unprecedented rise in jet fuel prices and exorbitant crack/differential between crude and ATF, the federation said the operation of airlines is being challenged in totality.
"... any ad hoc pricing (domestic vs international) and/or irrational increase in the price of ATF will result in unsurmountable losses for airlines and will lead to grounding of aircraft, resulting in cancellation of flights," the federation, which represents Air India, IndiGo and SpiceJet, said.
"In order to survive, sustain and continue operation, we request your urgent intervention for immediate and meaningful financial support to tide over the current situation," it said in a letter on April 26.
Also, the airlines have sought temporary deferment of excise duty on ATF, which is at 11 per cent.
"With the abnormal increase in ATF prices from the pre-crisis period, adding rupee depreciation to the increased prices, the 11 per cent excise duty also increases manifold for the airlines and adds to the ATF price as a big impact on airlines," they said.
Last month, the government limited the hike in ATF price to Rs 15 per litre for domestic operations, but for international operations, the price rose by Rs 73 per litre.
The airlines said the situation has practically made international operations, along with domestic operations, completely unviable and resulted in significant losses for the aviation sector in April.
Seeking urgent intervention on the current ATF ad hoc pricing, FIA said the current situation is creating a severe imbalance in domestic and international operations and rendering airline networks unviable and unsustainable.
"The airline industry in India is under extreme stress and is on the verge of closing down or of stopping its operations."
The federation has pitched for a transparent pricing framework under the crack band mechanism (USD 12–22/BBL) that was implemented in October 2022, saying there was a fair and reasonable margin for Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs).
According to FIA, the country's largest aviation hub Delhi has the second-highest value-added tax (VAT) of 25 per cent on jet fuel, while the highest rate is 29 per cent levied in Tamil Nadu.
"The other major aviation cities, viz. Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Kolkata range between 16 per cent and 20 per cent. These 6 cities cover more than 50 per cent of airlines' operations within India," the federation said.
