Union Minister Pralhad Joshi alleges 'horse trading' of Congress MLAs amid Karnataka power tussle
Hubballi (PTI): Union Minister Pralhad Joshi on Saturday claimed that "horse trading" of Congress MLAs is underway in Karnataka amid the alleged power tussle between Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy DK Shivakumar.
He also claimed Shivakumar's visit to jailed MLAs Vinay Kulkarni and KC Veerendra, also known as Puppy, in Bengaluru Central Prison was aimed at securing their support.
"There is infighting in Congress. Siddaramaiah does not want to leave the CM’s position, and Shivakumar does not want Siddaramaiah to continue as CM," Joshi told reporters here.
"Because of such a situation, both the camps are trying to purchase MLAs. You might have seen that Shivakumar has gone to jail to meet the MLAs to seek their support and pay whatever their price is," he added.
Accordgin to Joshi, the situation has reached a point where "horse trading" of Congress MLAs is going on. The administration in Karnataka "has collapsed due to the ongoing power tussle."
"The state is witnessing misadministration as there is no one to address issues arising from excess rains and poor road infrastructure," the union minister claimed.
He also criticised Bengaluru police, once on par with Delhi and Mumbai, saying "daylight robberies are now common", without elaborating much.
"Because of political instability, lack of direction, guidance, and control over bureaucracy, the administration has totally collapsed. It is in doldrums," Joshi alleged.
On Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi regarding a maize price crash due to the alleged import of 17.94 lakh metric tonnes, Joshi said the figures were false.
"The CM has spoken about the import of 17.94 lakh tonnes of maize. People are giving false information. It is most unfortunate that the chief minister is sharing figures without taking proper inputs. Last time, during the sugarcane agitation, he did the same, and when I responded, he had no answers," the union minister said.
Two years ago, he said, 9.5 lakh MT was imported due to low sugarcane production.
"This time, no import has happened. Between 50,000 tonnes and one lakh tonnes were imported because India also exports maize. There is no import happening this time. When we are exporting more and importing less, so it is all bogus things he (CM) is telling," he claimed.
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SWR announces special trains for passengers stranded by large-scale IndiGo cancellations
Bengaluru (PTI): The South Western Railway on Saturday announced a series of special trains, in coordination with Central, South Eastern and Southern Railways, to clear stranded passengers following large-scale IndiGo flight cancellations across the country.
The special services will operate between December 6 and 10 on high-demand routes, including Bengaluru–Chennai, Bengaluru–Pune, Yesvantpur–Hazrat Nizamuddin, Shalimar–Yelahanka and Ernakulam–Yelahanka, officials said.
According to an official statement, SWR will run Train No. 06255/06256 between Chennai Egmore and KSR Bengaluru, 06257/06258 between Bengaluru and MGR Chennai Central, 06259/06260 between Yesvantpur and Hazrat Nizamuddin, and 06263/06264 between Bengaluru and Pune.
ALSO READ: Indigo flights chaos: SCR to run special trains to clear passenger rush
Central Railway will operate Train No. 01413/01414 between Pune and Bengaluru, while South Eastern Railway will run Train No. 08073/08074 between Shalimar and Yelahanka. Southern Railway will operate Train No. 06147/06148 between Ernakulam and Yelahanka, the statement said.
Railways has advised passengers to check updated timings on its official channels and arrive early at stations.
For at least five days in a row, IndiGo flight operations have been significantly disrupted, with a large number of cancellations and delays causing hardships to thousands of passengers. In many cases, baggage has been misplaced.
