Cong-JD(S) government in Karnataka may fall before year-end: BJP leader
Hyderabad: Senior BJP leader P Muralidhar Rao Monday said his party would not try to destabilise the Congress-JD(S) government in Karnataka but indicated the coalition may fall before the year end.
The party general secretary in charge of Karnataka affairs said the BJP has maintained in the past year that the coalition government is not a stable one, it cannot survive and it would not last.
Rao, asked if the coalition government would last the calendar year 2019, told PTI here: "2019 itself may be a little longer; I don't know because things are not stable is the fact."
"New development has added to the problem", he said, obviously referring to the coalition worries that have been compounded by the BJP's spectacular performance, winning 25 of the 28 Lok Sabha seats in the state, leaving a mere one each to the Congress and JD(S).
The BJP-backed independent Sumalatha had also won.
The BJP had won 104 seats in the Assembly elections last year and added one more to its tally in the bypolls held along with recent Lok Sabha elections.
The ruling combine has 117 members -- 78 of the Congress, 37 of the JD(S), one of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and one Independent.
"Basically, the government has become delegitimate, people have rejected it. Technically, as a combined force, they (Congress-JD-S) may say they have majority. But mandate is different, majority is different; so you are robbed off legitimacy," Rao said.
"Why we (BJP) should destabilise (the government) when people are not accepting (the coalition)? They do not have people's support, so don't you think within Congress and JD(S) people (MLAs) will be eager to get out?", he said.
Rao said it is not the responsibility of the BJP to keep the government in Karnataka going. "If anybody (MLAs of the ruling coalition) comes out, should I not meet? I am not doing any special game (not destabilising)," he said.
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Family of injured driver in murder of Suvendu's aide seeks exemplary punishment
Kolkata (PTI): The family of Buddhabeb Bera, the driver injured in the shooting that killed BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari's close aide Chandranath Rath, demanded exemplary punishment for those responsible and urged the new government to ensure such incidents do not happen in West Bengal.
Rath was shot dead in Madhyamgram near Kolkata on Wednesday night, triggering a political storm in the state. Bera, who was driving the vehicle at the time of the attack, sustained gunshot wounds and is currently undergoing treatment at a private hospital.
Family members said they learned about the incident through television and immediately left for Kolkata.
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"We came to know from TV reports that my nephew had been shot. We still do not know who carried out the attack or why it happened," Buddhabeb's uncle Biswajit Bera said.
"Our only wish now is that he recovers and returns home safely," he added.
Buddhabeb, 25, hails from Majnaberia village in the Chandipur police station area in Purba Medinipur district.
According to family members, he mostly stays in Kolkata for work and visits home occasionally during weekends.
Besides his parents, his younger brother, sister-in-law and several relatives have also travelled to Kolkata following the incident.
Demanding strict action against the perpetrators, the uncle said, "We want the government to conduct a proper investigation and identify those directly involved in the crime. They should be given exemplary punishment so that such incidents do not happen again in West Bengal and no other family has to go through this grief."
A neighbour, Ranjana Ghorai, also sought stringent punishment for those behind the attack.
"In our neighbourhood, we call him Sona. We want exemplary punishment for the people responsible for this incident," she said.
Rath's family members have demanded life imprisonment for the accused, while Adhikari has called for capital punishment for those involved in the killing.
