Yeddyurappa says no mid-term polls; asks coalition govt to quit if they can't govern state
Bengaluru, June 22: Ruling out any mid-term polls, Karnataka BJP President B S Yeddyurappa Saturday said the Congress-JD(S) coalition government would not survive for long because of internal differences and asked it to quit if they were not able to govern the state.
"I have already said this clearly as the state president.
We are 105 MLAs.
There are more than 20 disgruntled (MLAs) in Congress-JD(S). If you don't have the capability to run the administration, resign," Yeddyurappa said.
Speaking to reporters here, he said voters of the state would not agree for another election, 13 months after the assembly polls.
"Taking such decisions with selfish motives is not right.
Resign and go home, we will run the administration- I have already said this...
According to me, this government will not survive for long if you look at their infighting," he added.
Yeddyurappa's statement comes a day after former Prime Minister and JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda Friday said there was no doubt there would be mid-term polls to the state assembly.
Gowda had also said he did not know how long the Congress-JD(S) government, headed by his son H D Kumaraswamy, would continue and it was in the hands of the senior coalition partner.
State BJP in-charge Muralidhar Rao said the coalition government was against the mandate of the people and freeing Karnataka from it was his party's agenda and programme.
"We have to complete the incomplete work in Karnataka.
After winning 105 seats, we are not in government. Those with 38 seats are running the government.
This is a mockery of the public mandate...this government is against the mandate of the people, it is against the interests of Karnataka," he said, addressing party workers.
"BJP will leave no stone unturned to free Karnataka at the earliest from this government. This is our agenda, our programme," he added.
There is growing discomfort within the ruling alliance after the rout in the Lok Sabha polls.
Congress and JD(S) that had faced the polls in alliance managed to win one seat each, while BJP won 25 seats.
The saffron party supported independent candidate Sumalatha Ambareesh won in Mandya.
Coalition leaders fear that using disgruntlement within as an opportunity, BJP may try to topple the government by 'poaching' its MLAs, who are unhappy with the government and are miffed over not getting Ministerial posts.
Yeddyurappa also hit out at Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy’s "Grama Vastavaiya" (overnight stay in villages) programme to make the administration more effective, terming it as a "political circus".
"After doing one day of Grama Vastavya and making false promises, citing rains there as a reason, he has come back via Hyderabad, without doing today's Grama Vastavaiya.This is a kind of political circus," he said.
Kumaraswamy was scheduled to hold his Grama Vastavya at Herur village in Kalaburagi rural taluk on Saturday, but it was postponed due to heavy rains that lashed the district on Friday evening.
He had done his Grama Vastavya at Chandaraki village in Yadgir district on Friday.
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Trump says EU has until July 4 to approve last year's trade deal or it will face higher tariffs
Washington (AP): President Donald Trump has said in a social media post that goods from the European Union would face higher tariff rates if the 27-member bloc fails to approve last year's trade framework by July 4.
The announcement on Thursday appeared to be a deadline extension after the president said last Friday that EU autos would face a higher 25 per cent tariff starting this week. Trump made the updated announcement after what he described as a "great call" with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Still, the US president was displeased that the European Parliament had yet to finalize the trade arrangement reached last year, which was further complicated in February by the US Supreme Court ruling that Trump lacked the legal authority to declare an economic emergency to impose the initial tariffs used to pressure the EU into talks.
"A promise was made that the EU would deliver their side of the Deal and, as per Agreement, cut their Tariffs to ZERO!" Trump posted. "I agreed to give her until our Country's 250th Birthday or, unfortunately, their Tariffs would immediately jump to much higher levels."
It was unclear from the post whether Trump was implying that the tariff rates would jump on all EU goods or the increase would only apply to autos.
His latest statement indicates he might be backing away from his earlier threat on EU autos by giving the European Parliament several more weeks to approve the agreement.
Under the original terms of the framework, the US would charge a 15 per cent tax on most goods imported from the EU.
But since the Supreme Court ruling, the administration has levied a 10 per cent tariff while investigating trade imbalances and national security issues, aiming to put in new tariffs to make up for lost revenues.
