LS poll rout; Kumaraswamy calls informal cabinet meet Friday
Bengaluru, May 23: With the Congress-JDS alliance in Karnataka facing a humiliating defeat in the Lok Sabha polls, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy has called an "informal" cabinet meeting on Friday.
The Chief Minister has also convened a JDS legislature party meeting to review the results, party sources said.
"An informal cabinet meeting has been called tomorrow, May 24, 2019 at 12:30 PM, at cabinet hall in Vidhana Soudha (the state secretariat)," an official intimation sent out to Ministers said.
At the meeting, the Chief Minister, along with his cabinet colleagues from both parties, are likely to discuss the Lok Sabha poll outcome and the way ahead for the coalition, sources said.
As the Congress-JDS government completed one year Thursday, it is on the edge with the Lok Sabha results widely expected to have a bearing on its stability.
The meeting gains significance in the backdrop of both Congress and JD(S) facing a humiliating defeat in the Lok Sabha polls by winning just one seat each, indicating that the alliance between the two parties has not worked.
Though coalition leaders decided to jointly fight the polls and reached a seat sharing agreement of 21 and seven seats for Congress and JD(S) respectively,it was not something grass root level workers of both parties were okay with, especially in old Mysuru region, where they are arch rivals.
BJP had contested 27 of 28 seats and supported independent candidate Sumalatha Ambareesh in Mandya.
According to sources, despite efforts by both parties to pacify their cadres and ensure transfer of votes to each other, the alliance did not work in constituencies of old Mysuru region, that has had implications on the poll outcome and in turn may affect the stability of the government.
Voices have started emerging in the Congress to end the alliance, holding the partnership with JD(S) as the reason for the party's poor performance in the Lok Sabha polls.
The alliance also fears disgruntlement within and possible attempts by the BJP to "poach" its MLAs, aimed at destabilising the government.
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Bogota (Colombia) (PTI): An explosive device killed 13 people travelling on a bus in southwestern Colombia on Saturday, an attack the country's army chief described as a “terrorist act" that also left at least 38 injured as violence linked to drug trafficking in the region escalates.
Octavio Guzman, the governor of the region of Cauca, said on X that the device was set off while the bus was travelling along the Panamerican Highway in the municipality of Cajibio. Five children were among the injured, Cauca Health Secretary Carolina Camargo told Noticias Caracol, a TV news program.
Gen. Hugo Lopez, commander of Colombia's Armed Forces, told a news conference that it was a “terrorist act" and blamed the network of a man known as “Ivan Mordisco” — one of Colombia's most wanted figures — and the Jaime Martínez faction. Both are dissidents of the now-defunct Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia that operate in the region.
Neither Ivan Mordisco nor the Jaime Martínez faction abide by the peace agreement signed with the state in 2016.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro condemned the attack on X.
“Those who carried out the attack and killed seven civilians — and wounded 17 others — in Cajibío — many of them Indigenous people — are terrorists, fascists, and drug traffickers,” he wrote.
The attack is the latest in a spate of explosions that have attempted to target public infrastructure. At least 26 incidents have taken place in the past two days in southwestern Colombia, which Lopez said have only affected civilians.
They included a shooting at a police station in the rural area of Jamundi, and an attack on a Civil Aviation radar facility in El Tambo, where authorities took down three explosives-laden drones earlier on Saturday. No one was hurt.
On Friday, two vehicles rigged with explosives were detonated near military units in Cali and Palmira, causing material damage.
The escalation of violence in that region — a territory contested by illegal armed groups linked to drug trafficking — prompted the mobilisation of high-ranking officials on Saturday. Led by Defence Minister Pedro Sanchez, the delegation that includes regional governors and local authorities, was meeting in Palmira when the deadly explosion occurred.
“These criminals seek to instil fear, but we will respond with firmness,” Sanchez said on X.
Meanwhile, Francisca Toro, governor of Valle del Cauca, has called upon the national government to provide “immediate support.” In a message on X, Toro called for a reinforcement of public security forces, enhanced intelligence operations and “decisive actions” against crime in the face of a “terrorist-level escalation.”
According to authorities, Cauca and Valle del Cauca serve as a critical hub for illicit activities of illegal armed groups vying for control over sea and river access routes leading to the port of Buenaventura — a key transit point used to traffic drugs to Central America and Europe.
The government has also offered a reward of more than 1 million dollars for information leading to the capture of “Marlon,” who is identified as the leader of the region's dissident group. On Friday, local authorities offered more than USD 14,000 for information leading to the identification and location of those behind the attacks in Cali and Palmira.
