Pramod Madhwaraj should be defeated in polls: D K Shivakumar
Udupi, Jan 22: Karnataka PCC president D K Shivakumar on Sunday said former minister Pramod Madhwaraj, who switched to BJP leaving Congress, should be defeated from wherever he contests.
Addressing a Prajadwani convention organised by the party in Udupi, he said it was Congress who made Madhwaraj a minister in his first term as legislator. However, he deceived the party though no Congress worker went along with him.
If he contests elections again from any segment in Udupi, he should be defeated, Shivakumar told Congress workers.
He said Prajadwani yatra is being held to elicit opinion from the people about the problems they face. The party had majority of MLAs in the coastal districts. However, in the last elections, the party lost miserably and this should be corrected, he said.
He alleged that the ruling BJP has scant regard for people's issues and have not kept any promises they made in their manifesto. The senior Congress leader alleged that the BJP indulged in corrupt deals during the COVID-19 pandemic. The government had not bothered to care for the families of those who died of oxygen shortage during the pandemic, he charged.
Shivakumar said people of the State are badly in need of change and the results in the coming Assembly elections will prove this.
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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
