People decide candidates' fate: Siddaramaiah slams BJP chief's remark in campaign speech
Bengaluru: Senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah has slammed BJP National President JP Nadda for asking the people of Karnataka during a rally to vote for BJP ‘so that the state is not deprived of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s blessings’, saying that Modi was not God to bless anyone.
Posting a media report on Nadda’s speech, Siddaramaiah tweeted on Wednesday, “In democracy, people decide the fate of the candidates & the elected representatives can serve them. @narendramodi is not God to bless anyone…. I condemn the statement of @JPNadda about @narendramodi 's blessings on Karnataka. Looks like he needs lessons on democracy…. All states are equal & have same rights according to the constitution. There is no space for dictatorship in democracy.”
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The Congress leader added in Kannada, “If your statement that the people of Karnataka should not be deprived of @narendramodi's blessings is a threat, I condemn it. If this shows your ignorance, I pray that God blesses you with wisdom @JPNadda.”
Several other Congress leaders, including General Secretary Jairam Ramesh, Priyank Kharge and party spokesperson Supriya Shrinate, took to Twitter, to criticize the BJP president, accusing him of threatening and insulting Kannadigas.
Calling PM Modi a ‘narcissist’ and sharing a video clip of Nadda’s speech, Priyank Kharge tweeted that Karnataka had witnessed a lot of development work well before Modi took charge as the Prime Minister and that Modi’s blessings were not needed for the state to develop and prosper.
Citing a string of instances of development in the state, Kharge tweeted, “Do you think that Kannadigas lived in Stone Age before Modi became PM? We didn’t have a language or thriving culture, we didn’t have food, clothes, shelter or electricity? There were no roads, drains, no schools, no universities or no dams. We were all jobless?... Even before Modi ji blessed us with Make in India we built ITI, BEL, HMT, BHEL, Mangalore Refinery, Mysore lamps and other major & small scale industries We built NAL, HAL where planes and helicopters are being manufactured, we built ISRO & we are sending satellites to space… We were the IT Capital of India before a megalomaniac became the PM & @JPNadda ji many people from North India come looking for jobs & funding their startups here. Even before PM said #AtmaNirbharBharat, we had built many dams in Karnataka. Have you built any dams?”
Jairam Ramesh criticized Nadda for ‘excessive devotion’, tweeting in Hindi, “There should be a limit to devotion too, Nadda ji. Why are you threatening and scaring the people of Karnataka? With the blessings of the people of Karnataka, a Congress government is going to be formed.”
Expressing her fury at Nadda’s words to the people of Karnataka, Supriya Shrinate tweeted, “So when all else fails in Karnataka - BJP resorts to open threats? How dare does BJP President @JPNadda threaten the people of Karnataka by saying that they will be devoid of Modi’s blessings if they don’t vote for BJP? In a democracy does the PM bless people or does he discharge his constitutional duties? People are not at the mercy of Modi, they have rights under the constitution. And one of them is to vote freely for whoever they wish to vote for - and no power on earth can take that right away… Don’t be so drunk on power Mr Nadda and certainly don’t undermine Karnataka and the wonderful self respecting people of the state. You must apologise.”
ಪ್ರಜಾಪ್ರಭುತ್ವದಲ್ಲಿ ಜನರೇ ಜನಾರ್ಧನರು, ಆಶೀರ್ವಾದ ನೀಡಲು @narendramodi ಅವರು ದೇವರಲ್ಲ,
— Siddaramaiah (@siddaramaiah) April 19, 2023
ಜನರ ಸೇವೆ ಮಾಡಲು ಜನರಿಂದ ಆಯ್ಕೆಯಾಗಿರುವ ಪ್ರತಿನಿಧಿ ಎನ್ನುವುದು ನೆನಪಿರಲಿ @JPNadda ಅವರೇ. 1/3 pic.twitter.com/QmFcfWEnCh
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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.
