Gorakhpur made BJP realise even this can happen: Rajnath
New Delhi: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday said the loss in Uttar Pradesh by-polls made the the BJP realise that "even this can happen" but "it will not happen again".
The minister's statement came days after the Bharatiya Janata Party suffered a double jolt as it was trounced in the Uttar Pradesh Lok Sabha by-polls for the Gorakhpur and Phulpur and in Bihar's Araria.
"Ho gaya, aage nahin hoga. Humein pata chala ki aisa bhi ho sakta hain (It happened, will not happen again. We realised even this can also happen)," the minister said, addressing the CNN News18 Rising India Summit.
Gorakhpur was held by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for five consecutive terms, while Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya was Phulpur's elected Lok Sabha representative.
Commenting on Congress President Rahul Gandhi's statement that the country was rising against the BJP, Rajnath Singh said: "He is our opposition leader and will keep saying things but only time will tell against whom the country is rising."
On being asked if he harboured the dream of being Prime Minister one day, he said he was not "over ambitious".
"I'm not over ambitious. But yes, if one is given the opportunity, they must fulfil it. Our Prime Minister is doing a very good job."
Asked whether the interference by Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar in the Ram Janmabhoomi issue was right, Rajnath Singh said: "We cannot stop him from mediating in the issue. As far as the government is concerned, the matter is sub-judice."
Replying to a question if the Jawaharlal Nehru University was creating problem in the internal security, the Minister said he didn't think so.
"If anyone is misusing the JNU for political gains, it should be checked. If any party is doing politics by politicising any university, it should not be done."
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Waqf row: Karnataka govt warns action against officials issuing eviction notice to farmers
Bengaluru (PTI): The Karnataka government has warned that disciplinary action will be taken against those officials who change the land mutation records and serve eviction notices to farmers under the Waqf Act.
In a letter, the Revenue Department Principal Secretary Rajender Kumar Kataria reminded all regional commissioners and deputy commissioners in the districts that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah recently had a meeting following complaints about certain land properties being made in favour of the Karnataka Board of Waqfs.
In the meeting it was decided that all the directions issued previously by any government office or authority to change the mutation records has been withdrawn, the letter said.
It added that all the notices served in the past have also been withdrawn and no action should be taken against the farmers who are cultivating on the said land.
On the directions of the chief minister, the previous letters and the latest reminders served on November 7 to the farmers and land owners have been withdraw, the letter said.
"The officials who served reminder-2 despite the chief minister's direction will face appropriate disciplinary action," Kataria said in his letter.
He said he has been instructed to strictly implement the chief minister's direction.
The fresh direction was issued in poll-bound Karnataka, where bypolls to three crucial assembly segments are due on November 13.
Some farmers in Honwad village in Vijayapura in north Karnataka had alleged last month that they were served eviction notices as the Waqf Board claimed rights over it.
Subsequently, complaints started in pouring in from some other parts of the state.
BJP leader Tejasvi Surya on October 25 alleged that Karnataka Waqf Minister B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan directed the deputy commissioners and revenue officials to register lands in favour of the Waqf Board within 15 days, which resulted in confusion.
On Surya's request, the Chairman of the Joint Committee of Parliament on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, Jagdambika Pal visited Karnataka on November 7 and met farmers in Hubballi, Vijayapura and Belagavi districts who had alleged that their lands were marked as Waqf properties.
