This election is not about you: Rahul Gandhi hits out at PM in poll-bound Karnataka
Turuvekere (PTI): Hitting out at the Prime Minister over his charge that he was "abused 91 times", Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday said Narendra Modi should understand that the Karnataka election was not about him.
Asking the Prime Minister to speak about the BJP government's work and future programmes for Karnataka, instead of talking about himself, the former AICC president took a dig at Modi's statement about verbal abuses hurled at him.
"You (Modi) come to campaign in Karnataka for elections, but don't speak about Karnataka. You speak about yourself. You have to say what you did in Karnataka for the past three years. You also have to speak in your speeches about what you will be doing in the next five years, what will do for youth, education, health and to fight corruption," Gandhi said.
Addressing a public meeting here in Tumakuru district, Gandhi said, "This election is not about you, it is about Karnataka's people and its future. You say Congress abused you 91 times, but you never speak about what you did for Karnataka. In your next speech, you speak about what you did and what you will do in the next five years."
Modi on Saturday targeted the Congress over its party president M Mallikarjun Kharge's 'venomous snake' barb at him and said till now the party and its leaders had hurled various types of abuses at him 91 times.
Claiming that when he comes to Karnataka and gives speeches he speaks about his party leaders like Siddaramaiah and D K Shivakumar and about their work, Gandhi said, "We take the names of all our leaders. You (Modi) come here and don't even take the name of your Chief Minister (Basavaraj Bommai) and (B S) Yediyurappa (former CM). Your speeches are all about Narendra Modi."
"Try taking names of Bommai and Yediyurappa too one or two times, they will feel happy," he said.
Stating that this election was about Karnataka's people, youth and mothers and sisters, Gandhi said, "This election is not about one person, not about Narendra Modi. Prime Minister has to understand this."
AICC General Secretary K C Venugopal and state Congress leaders were present at the public meeting.
Gandhi during his speech highlighted Congress's poll guarantees' 200 units of free power to all households (Gruha Jyoti), Rs 2,000 monthly assistance to the woman head of every family (Gruha Lakshmi), 10 kg of rice free to every member of a BPL household (Anna Bhagya), Rs 3,000 every month for graduate youth and Rs 1,500 for diploma holders (both in the age group of 18-25) for two years (YuvaNidhi), and free travel for women in public transport buses (Sakhi).
Accusing the BJP of rampant corruption in Karnataka in the past three years and "taking 40 per cent commission in all kinds of work done by the government", Gandhi said that instead of doing work of public good, "they looted from the pockets of the common man and poor".
"It is not that the Prime Minister is not aware of this corruption and 40 per cent commission. He is aware of everything...so my question to PM is despite knowing about this loot for the last three years, did you take any action? You did not. Why? You should answer this to the people of Karnataka," he said.
He also urged the Prime Minister to answer what he did to get Karnataka its right share of tax money, how he helped the state during floods, and how he tried to resolve the inter-state water dispute between Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra.
Urging the people to ensure that the BJP, which is "involved in 40 per cent corruption", would get only 40 seats, Gandhi appealed to them to give Congress at least 150 seats, so that "they (BJP) don't buy MLAs and bring down the democratically-elected government".
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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.
