Hotline between India, China would save time: Sitharaman
Chennai, June 8: Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday said a hotline between the decision makers of India and China would enable sorting out of the problems at the ground level faster.
Referring to the China-India border stand-off that went on for about 72 days last year over the Chinese construction of a road in Doklam, she called for forums that ensure greater interaction, while noting the hotline will cut time in reaching the empowered decision makers during a crisis.
The minister was speaking at a seminar on Trends and Transformations in China's Geo-Politics, Strategy, Society and Business here organised by the Chennai Centre for China Studies and National Maritime Foundations.
Emphasizing that there was increased engagement with China, Sitharaman said India's participation in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation gives both nations an opportunity to engage further.
She said engagement between the leaders of the two nations would benefit the countries in the long run and vigorous engagement is possible even at informal meetings.
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'Scams, kickbacks and favoritism have become order of the day' in Karnataka: BJP
New Delhi(PTI): The BJP on Friday said the Congress government in Karnataka may not last long with corruption and appeasement politics becoming the “order of the day” in the state.
This came after the Karnataka State Contractors Association (KSCA) on Thursday claimed that "unseen hands and brokers" were active in the offices of Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar and two other senior Cabinet Ministers, alleging that the menace of commission in the state was now more than the previous BJP government.
Responding to the allegations, the deputy chief minister on Friday suggested that if anyone has demanded commission from the contractors to pay their bills, then they should file a complaint with the Lokayukta.
“In Karnataka, corruption is at its peak in an organised manner,” BJP national spokesperson Pratyush Kanth told a press conference at party headquarters here, reacting to the development.
“You have institutionalised corruption. Only big contracts are getting their bills cleared. The medium and the small ones are struggling,” he said.
Kanth said the Congress had promised “so many things” during the state assembly polls but “scams, kickbacks and favoritism have become order of the day” under the party’s rule in the state.
While the crisis of “water and electricity bills” continues in Karnataka, the road taxes on new vehicles and bus fares have gone up, he said.
“The common people are bleeding there…This corrupt government is not going to last long. This project of Rahul Gandhi to ensure corruption all over KA is not going to have the light of the day,” he added.
Citing recent remarks reportedly made by Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s Economic Advisor Basavaraj Rayareddy, the BJP spokesperson said people in power, who run the state, are now saying that the state has become number one in corruption.
“Even the revenue minister of Karnataka had (earlier) gone on record to say that there is a lot of corruption in his department…This is very disturbing because Karnataka has to be the ‘khata khat model’ of Rahul Gandhi,” he said, taking a swipe at the Congress leader.
Rayareddy, who was reported to have recently said at an event that Karnataka is number one in corruption, later clarified that his remarks were misquoted and taken out of context.
