Black chapter in history of democracy, says Mayawati on Karnataka developments
Lucknow: BSP president Mayawati on Wednesday said the manner in which the JD(S)-Congress government in Karnataka has been pulled down will go down in the history of democracy as a "black chapter".
Mayawati, who on Tuesday night expelled its lone party MLA in Karnataka hours after Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy lost the trust vote in the state assembly, said in a tweet, "The manner in which BJP kept all constitutional norms aside and used money and power to pull down Opposition-led government in Karnataka will be registered in the history of democracy as a black chapter."
"Any amount of condemnation of such an act is not enough," Mayawati said.
On Tuesday, the Kumaraswamy government collapsed after losing the confidence motion, garnering 99 votes against 105 to the BJP. The coalition needed 103 votes to win the trust vote as 20 MLAs Congress-JDS (17), BSP (1), Independents (2) skipped proceedings, reducing the effective strength of the House to 205.
Kumaraswamy later submitted his resignation to the Karnataka governor, capping an intense power struggle triggered by a raft of resignations by rebel MLAs. He has been asked by the governor to continues as caretaker CM until his successor takes over.
Mayawati expelled her lone MLA in the state for skipping the trust vote.
She said in a tweet that the absence of Bahujan Samaj Party legislator N Mahesh during the trust vote and he violating the directives of the party high command to support the Congress-JD(S) coalition amounts to indiscipline.
"The party has taken in very seriously, and hence Mahesh has been expelled from the party with immediate effect," she added.
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US VP JD Vance says Lebanon not part of ceasefire, calls it ‘misunderstanding’
Budapest/Washington: US Vice President J D Vance has said that Lebanon was never included in the ceasefire understanding with Iran, describing the confusion as a “legitimate misunderstanding”.
Speaking to reporters before departing from Hungary, Vance said, “I think the Iranians thought that the ceasefire included Lebanon and it just didn’t. We never made that promise.”
He stressed that the United States had not included Lebanon in the scope of the ceasefire at any stage.
His remarks come amid continued Israeli strikes in Lebanon, where more than 200 people were reported killed, even as ceasefire talks between Iran and the US move forward.
Vance said Israel had “offered … to check themselves a little bit in Lebanon because they want to make sure that our negotiation is successful”.
He warned that if Iran allows the situation in Lebanon to affect the negotiations, it could derail the talks.
“If Iran wants to let this negotiation fall apart in a conflict where they were getting hammered over Lebanon, which has nothing to do with them and which the United States never once said was part of the ceasefire, that’s ultimately their choice,” he said.
