BJP govt making frustrated attempts to scuttle padayatra fearing political gain to Cong:Siddaramaiah
Ramanagara, Jan 11: Fearing political gain for the Congress from the 'padayatra', the ruling BJP is making "frustrated attempts" to scuttle it, former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said on Tuesday, as their march demanding implementation of the Mekedatu project across the Cauvery river, entered its third day.
Asserting that they will go ahead with the padayatra as planned, the Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly, who rejoined the march today after recovering from fever, accused the BJP government of colluding with neighbouring Tamil Nadu, in delaying the implementation of Mekedatu project, and there by were betraying the people of the state.
FIRs have been registered against nearly 30 Congress leaders including Siddaramaiah, Congress' state president D K Shivakumar, Bengaluru Rural MP D K Suresh, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, among others for taking part in padayatra, defying COVID-19 curbs and prohibitory orders.
"They have booked cases against 30 of us and they may book more cases. We will not fear cases, if they feel they can scare us by filing cases, we can call this BJP government a foolish government...we will fight it legally," Siddaramaiah said.
Speaking to reporters here, he questioned why cases have not been booked against BJP leaders like MLAs Subhash Guttedar, M P Renukacharya, Union Minister Shobha Karandlaje and others, who took part in events gathering large number of people, in violation of COVID rules.
Pointing at Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and Ministers too had recently attended swearing-in of newly elected MLCs at Vidhana Souydha's banquet hall, where 3,000-4,000 people were present, and no case was booked, Siddaramaiah alleged that the BJP government's intention is very clear, which is to scuttle Congress' padayatra.
"They don't want this march to be successful, they don't want people to be aware. They feel this will cause political gain for Congress and for this reason they are trying to thwart it...it is a frustrated attempt by the BJP government," he said, accusing the ruling party of favouring Tamil Nadu, with an intention to increase the party base in that state.
"Will you collude with Tamil Nadu and betray Karnataka and its people? We will not allow it, we will make your conspiracy public," he said, adding that the padayatra is in the interest of the people and there is no prestige issue in this.
As part of their 10-day long padayatra demanding for implementation of Mekedatu project, to which Tamil Nadu is opposed to, the Congress leaders and workers continued their march for the third day today, and will be covering a distance of about 14.3 km from Kanakapura to Chikkenahalli.
Further alleging conspiracy to somehow stop the march, the Congress Legislature Party leader said, "Our DK (Shivakumar) is like a rock, despite walking for two days nothing has happened to him, but it seems like the government planned to give COVID positive report to him to stop the march."
"We will not stop our padayatra and will complete it as planned," he declared and said that Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and the ruling BJP are scared because people are voluntarily joining the march. "They think about our Ballari padayatra and are unable to sleep as they fear repeat of sorts."
Congress had organised a successful march from Bengaluru to Ballari against illegal mining in 2010, which is seen as one among the major contributors for the party coming to power in 2013 assembly polls.
Defending their march, amid pandemic, Siddaramaiah said, "cases are surging in Maharashtra, Delhi too, is padayatra happening there?"
Cases are not spreading because of padayatra, it is increasing naturally, as there is a third wave, he added.
He also hit out at Home Minister Araga Jnanendra for his statement that the Congress will be responsible if a lockdown like situation arises, by calling it "irresponsible", and said, BJP will be responsible for it, due to their inability to manage the situation, and not following curbs themselves.
Reiterating his charge that BJP government is delaying implementation of Mekedatu project initiated by the Congress government, Siddaramaiah said, "When we were in power there was a BJP government at the centre, but now BJP is at power both at the state and the centre, why have you not been able to get environmental clearance and start the project?"
He also called on the Congress workers to follow COVID rules like using masks, sanitizers, and maintaining social distance during the padayatra.
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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.
