KPCC forms 'fact-finding' panel into party's dismal show in LS and assembly polls
Bengaluru: After the drubbing in the Lok Sabha polls, the Congress' Karnataka unit Monday formed a "fact-finding committee" to find the reasons for the party's poor show in both parliamentary and 2018 assembly elections.
The five-member committee is headed by the state PCC vice-president and former legislative council chairman V R Sudarshan and former minister Basavaraj Rayareddy.
The committee would travel to every district, conduct assembly constituency-wise meetings and contact party leaders from booth to state level, find reasons for the party's defeat and gather suggestions from them about organising the party for the future, the Karnataka pradesh congress committee said in a release.
It said the committee would submit a comprehensive report to the KPCC president, adding that it would dwell onreasons for the congress candidates defeat and opinion in the minds of the people regarding the party.
The congress, which fought the Lok Sabha polls in alliance with the JD(S, has won only one of 21 seats it had contested. The JD(S) too won in one out of seven seats in which it was in the fray.
Steamrolling the ruling Congress-JDS alliance, the BJP had scored a resounding win by bagging 25 of the total 27 Lok Sabha seats it had contested, while an independent candidate supported by the party had won in Mandya.
This was said to be worst ever performance by the Congress in Karnataka and a record of sorts by BJP for which the state emerged as the bright spot in the South with other neighbouring states bucking the "Modi magic".
The Congress, which was seeking to come back to power inKarnataka under Siddaramaiah's leadership, had managed to win only 77 seats in the 2018 assembly polls, while the BJP emerged as the single largest party with 104 MLAs.
The JD(S) had won 37 seats.
The BJP added to its tally by wresting the Chincholi seat from the Congress in the May 19 bypolls, while the Congress won in Kundgol.
In the 224-member Karnataka assembly, the BJP now has 105 MLAs, Congress-78, JD(S)-37, BSP (1), independent (1) (both currently supporting the ruling alliance), KPJP (1) and Speaker.
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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
