J&K unlikely to see normalcy: Owaisi
Hyderabad, June 19: The BJP's decision to pull out of the PDP-led Jammu and Kashmir government and the expected imposition of Governor's rule won't bring normalcy in the state, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi said on Tuesday.
"There will not be normalcy after Governor's rule is imposed... There will be further repression. The BJP's actual agenda is to scrap Article 370. No Kashmiri will approve of it," Owaisi told reporters here.
He said he had no sympathies for Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, who resigned after the BJP's announcement, and he saw no political future for her and the Peoples Democratic Party in the Kashmir Valley.
Owaisi alleged that the BJP took the decision to pull out after it realized that it is losing ground in Jammu. Arguing that the BJP could not run away from the responsibility as it was sharing power and had a Deputy Chief Minister and ministers, he said BJP was more responsible than PDP for the situation in the state as it failed to deliver, failed to provide governance, stop terror attacks on Army camps and check cross-border terrorism.
He also said that the BJP, as a partner in the government, made no serious attempt for a dialogue and no step was taken to fulfil the promises made in the agenda of the alliance.
Owaisi said BJP's main aim was to repeal Article 370. "The assassination of Shujaat Bukhari (Editor of Rising Kashmir newspaper) was a monumental tragedy and unfortunately it is being used and exploited to fulfil a policy which was started two years ago," he said.
Recalling that both BJP and PDP had termed formation of the coalition government a meeting of North and South Poles, he said: "The people of the country want to know what happened to the so-called meeting..."
Claiming that the ceasefire (of Ramadan) had resulted in the beginning of political activity on the ground, Owaisi said the BJP owes an explanation to the nation why it announced a ceasefire in a hurry and why it did not extend it.
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Karnataka Cabinet to meet again to discuss SC internal reservation during recruitment
Bengaluru (PTI): The Karnataka Cabinet has decided to meet again to discuss the issue of providing internal reservation among Scheduled Castes for direct recruitment in the government sector, as deliberations on the matter remained incomplete.
While no specific date for the next meeting has been announced, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister H K Patil told reporters it would be held "at the earliest" and reiterated the government's commitment to the issue.
The issue came up for discussion at the Cabinet meeting on Thursday, amid reports of rifts between SC(Right) and SC (Left) factions within the ruling Congress over providing internal reservation in the recruitment to 56,432 vacant posts.
"The government is committed to providing internal reservation. We will meet again for further discussion. The chief minister will decide when to meet at the earliest. It will be a Cabinet meeting and will be held as early as possible," Patil said.
He said, "We had a detailed discussion on this matter for some time, but it was incomplete because many ministers are yet to speak on this. The order already issued (for filling up vacancies) will not be disturbed, and about other things, we will discuss in the next meeting."
The state government decided to conduct recruitment for 56,432 vacant jobs based on the reservation order in force before December 28, 2022, (15 per cent for SCs and 3 per cent for STs), due to the stay on the enhanced quota and internal reservation, while continuing to pursue its case in court.
The previous BJP government had increased the reservation quota for SCs from 15 per cent to 17 per cent and for Scheduled Tribes from 3 per cent to 7 per cent, raising the state's total reservation to 56 per cent, exceeding the Supreme Court-mandated 50 per cent ceiling.
While this matter is still in court, the Congress government decided to provide internal reservation by slicing up the 17 per cent reservation matrix given to 101 scheduled castes, under three groups, with a formula of six, six, and five per cent respectively.
According to sources, the SC(Left)/Madiga community, which has fought for internal reservation for decades, opposes recruitment for 56,432 jobs without providing internal reservation.
The SC (Right)/Holeya community, however, favoured recruitment without providing internal reservation.
At the meeting, the Cabinet gave administrative approval for Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation to purchase 144 'BS-VI' urban transport diesel buses at an estimated cost of Rs 62 crores.
It also granted administrative approval for the purchase of hardware and software for implementing ICJS (Inter-operable Criminal Justice System) and IT services in the state under the Police Modernisation Project at an estimated cost of Rs 227.58 crores.
The Cabinet also asked the health minister to speak with officers, doctors and other staffers appointed on a permanent, contract, temporary, or outsourced basis in the health department, who have threatened to go on strike over their various demands.
Approval was also given for amendments to certain sections of the Karnataka Municipalities Act, 1964, and the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act, 1976, regarding advertisement charges under local bodies.
