Minister Zameer Ahmed Khan questions sanction of funds for minorities in BJP MLA's constituency
Bengaluru, Feb 19: Karnataka Housing and Minorities Welfare Minister B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan on Monday wondered why development funds for minorities should be sanctioned in a BJP MLA’s constituency who spoke ill of Muslims.
Khan’s statement in the Karnataka assembly led to a commotion as the BJP legislators said this was discriminatory and blocked government money for the welfare of minorities.
During the question hour, Shikaripura MLA B Y Vijayendra, who is also the BJP state president, asked Khan about the funds released for the development of minorities’ colonies.
He accused the government of releasing Rs 1,000 crore for the minorities when there was a severe drought in the state and farmers were waiting for support.
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Khan, who holds the Housing, Wakf and Minorities Welfare portfolio, said Chief Minister Siddaramaiah did not release Rs 1,000 crore but prepared an action plan of Rs 1,000 crore which was stretched for three years.
The grant allocated for the development of minorities’ colony in the budget is Rs 250 crore and an additional Rs 50 crore has been earmarked under the Panchayat Development Plan. All put together, it is only Rs 300 crore but only Rs 165 crore has been released, Khan explained.
He also pointed out the minorities have not been given even one per cent of the Rs. 3.71 lakh crore budget.
The Minister said the government has put the minority colonies into A, B and C categories based on the population
To this, BJP MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal said there are 1.2 lakh Muslims in Vijayapura constituency but no funds have been released.
Zameer said, “Should you be given grants? Do you want grants? After becoming MLA you said no Burqa-clad woman and no one with a beard should approach me. We will not do anything for Muslims. How can we give you grants?” The BJP MLAs retorted saying that being a minister he should not have said that.
This is the Government's fund and not Zameer Ahmed Khan’s money,” former minister Dr C N Ashwath Narayan said.
Former chief minister Basavaraj Bommai advised Khan to answer the political questions in a political manner outside the assembly and not inside the House.
“Don’t you want the minorities’ colony in Vijayapura to be developed when there is a huge Muslim population there? Will you be the protector of minorities by excluding 1.2 lakh minorities in Yatnal’s constituency,” Bommai said.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
