"Will be the happiest person if Kharge is made Karnataka CM": BJP MP Umesh Jadhav
Bengaluru, Jul 13: As Congress and JDS leaders in Karnataka made hectic efforts to mollify its rebel legislators and save the coalition government, a BJP MP Saturday said he would be the happiest person if arch rival Mallikarjun Kharge is made Chief Minister.
"I will welcome it. If a Dalit becomes chief minister, I will be the happiest person," said BJP MP Umesh Jadhav who defeated Kharge in the Lok Sabha election from Gulbarga.
His statement comes against the backdrop of the political imbroglio in the State following the resignation of 16 disgruntled coalition MLAs and speculation that some of them want somebody else as chief minister other than H D Kumaraswamy to resolve the crisis.
A section of dalit leaders in the Congress were reportedly clamouring to be made the CM from one among them.
The BJP MP also maintained that it was not he but the people of Gulbarga who defeated Kharge.
Senior Congress leader and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had recently lashed out at the BJP for not inducting a Dalit MP from Karnataka in the Union Cabinet, saying "upliftment" of the community will not happen just by "talking big."
Retaliating, the Karnataka BJP had asked him to make veteran party leader Mallikarjun Kharge, who lost in the Lok Sabha polls, the Chief Minister,if he really cared for Dalits.
People are also aware that it was Siddaramaiah who prevented G Parameshwara (now Deputy Chief Minister) from becoming the Chief Minister as he was a Dalit, the party alleged.
Asked about the current political developments in Karnataka, Jadhav told reporters at Kempegowda International Airport here he has come for the admission of his son at a college and expressed ignorance about the political uncertainty.
The MP said he was focusing only on the development of Gulbarga from where he got elected.
Jadhav was the first disgruntled Congress MLA to quit the party and join the BJP.
As a Congress MLA, he had aligned with rebel Congress MLAs Ramesh Jarkiholi, Mahesh Kumathalli and B Nagendra.
The Congress had even sought their disqualification for ignoring the party whip to attend the budget session but Jadhav resigned from the party, joined BJP, contested the Lok Sabha election and defeated Kharge.
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NIA registers case to probe recovery of 79 crude bombs in poll-bound West Bengal
New Delhi (PTI): The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Sunday registered a case to probe recovery of 79 crude bombs in poll-bound West Bengal, officials said.
The move came following a directive by the Union Home Ministry in this regard, they said.
In pursuance to the home ministry's order, the anti-terror agency on Sunday registered a case, which was originally filed at Uttar Kashi police station, Bhangar division, Kolkata on Saturday, and took up the investigation, an NIA spokesperson said in a late night statement.
"The case pertains to recovery of 79 crude bombs and other incriminating materials by Kolkata police, which were being stored at a spot, thereby endangering human life and property," the spokesperson said.
Earlier in the day, the Election Commission had directed the West Bengal Police to launch a special drive to arrest those involved in illegal manufacturing of crude bombs in the poll-bound state, an official said.
It asserted that all cases related to the making of any such explosive would be probed by the National Investigation Agency, the official said.
The directive came after the police recovered a large number of crude bombs from the house of a person, allegedly a TMC worker, at Bhangar in South 24 Parganas district, days ahead of the second and final phase of the assembly polls in the state.
The explosives were recovered during a search at the residence of Rafikul Islam following specific inputs, the official said.
The poll panel also issued a warning to senior police officers across the state over any lapse in maintaining law and order before the April 29 polling.
The first phase of the assembly elections in West Bengal was held on April 23, while the second phase will take place on April 29. Votes will be counted on May 4.
A record 93.19 per cent turnout has been recorded in the first round of polling. Bhangar will vote in the second phase.
