When people bat for their caste, caste struggle will go on: H D Kumaraswamy
Ramanagara, May 18: Former Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy acknowledged on Thursday that the five 'guarantees' of the Congress "lured" people in the May 10 Assembly elections and not the 'Pancharatna' programme promised by his party Janata Dal (Secular).
Speaking about the demand from various communities that the chief minister should be from among them, Kumaraswamy said a chief minister should not belong to any one community but work to improve the lives of all 6.5 crore people of the state.
He also said he would like to see how the Congress would implement those schemes and the conditions attached to avail the benefits.
"The Pancharatna scheme we promised and the efforts I made day and night for six months to popularise them did not attract people. People might have been lured towards those small-small guarantee schemes of Rs 2,000 (Congress guarantee schemes)," Kumaraswamy told reporters here.
The Pancharatna scheme was a five-point programme related to education, health, housing, farmer welfare and employment.
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JD(S) won just 19 seats in the 224-member Assembly in the polls, compared to 37 in the previous elections in 2018.
Speaking about the success of the five 'guarantees' of the Congress, the JD(S) second-in-command said, "We have to see. Aren't those who prepared these schemes more experienced than me? They must have made some calculations."
The Congress has promised 200 units of free electricity to all households and Rs 2,000 to women heads of families every month, among other promises.
Referring to the poll outcome, Kumaraswamy said "such poor results" were not unexpected for his party. In 1999, former Prime Minister and the JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda lost from two places and the party won only 10 seats but five years later it bounced back with 58 seats.
"The same people who gave this mandate (this 2023 election) will ask for JD(S) in the coming days. Hence, I am hopeful," he added.
To a question about the results in JD(S) stronghold Mandya district where the party won only one out of seven seats, Kumaraswamy said the BJP wanted to "finish off" his party.
"As a part of it, a river of money was flown due to which we were defeated," he alleged.
Regarding the pontiffs of the dominant Vokkaliga community demanding that a Vokkaliga be made Chief Minister, the JD(S) leader said the seers might have said it out of love.
"They (seers) said it because they wanted someone from their community to become the chief minister. I won't call it wrong but one thing I would like to say is when people bat for their caste, caste struggle will go on. This is my opinion," Kumaraswamy said.
"A chief minister should not belong to one community. He should provide leadership that can improve the lives of 6.5 crore people," he added.
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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.
