As BJP prepares for foot march over 'MUDA' scam, two party leaders strike discordant note
Bengaluru, Jul 30: As the BJP prepares for a foot march over the alleged Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) site allotment scam seeking to corner the Congress government and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, two party leaders have struck a discordant note much to its discomfiture.
BJP MLAs Basangouda Patil Yatnal and Ramesh Jarkiholi have sought approval from the party's central leadership to organise a "parallel march" to put the government on the mat by highlighting the alleged financial irregularities in the Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation Ltd.
In fact, the two legislators have been openly critical of the party state President B Y Vijayendra accusing him of indulging in "adjustment politics" and trying to keep the party in his clutches along with his father and veteran party leader B S Yediyurappa.
The opposition BJP and JD(S) have decided to hold a foot march from Bengaluru to Mysuru from August 3 to 10 in protest against the alleged fraudulent allotment of sites to land losers by MUDA, including to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's wife Parvathi, and demanding his resignation.
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The parallel march, sought to be spearheaded by the two BJP leaders, is proposed from Ballari to Bengaluru, with a major focus on financial irregularities in the state-run corporation, along with MUDA scam and alleged diversion of SC/ST funds by the government to its five guarantee schemes, sources said.
"Vijayendra is (organising) a protest march against the MUDA, he has to reveal whether this fight is to ensure Siddaramaiah steps down to make D K Shivakumar the Chief Minister. Vijayendra is doing the 'padayatre' (foot march) as per the orders of D K Shivakumar to make Siddaramaiah step down. There is adjustment politics in this. As a mark of gratitude to Shivakumar, Vijayendra is organising this 'padayatre'," Yatnal alleged.
The Valmiki Corporation scam is a "big one,"; the money that should have gone to the welfare of the ST community has been misused, he said. "On the other hand in the MUDA scam a Dalit's land has been taken away. So on all the issues we are fighting, our fight is against Congress' corruption, without any adjustment politics."
Yatnal further said after getting approval from the party he, Ramesh Jarkiholi and others will decide on undertaking the 'padayatre.'
Stating that their 'padayatre' will be under collective leadership, Jarkiholi said: "...(Valmiki Corporation scam) is an important issue, MUDA is personal (issue involving CM). Community (ST) funds have been completely misused (in Valmiki Corporation scam)."
"Also SC/ST funds have been used for guarantee schemes (by this government). Let the MUDA issue also be taken up, but SC/ST funds are more important and our request is that we have to fight regarding it," he said.
"We request the party to make a historic decision to bring the party out from the clutches of father and son (Yediyurappa and Vijayendra), and their blackmail," Jarkiholi said.
The illegal money transfer issue, involving the state-run corporation, came to the fore, after its accounts superintendent, Chandrasekharan P, died by suicide on May 26, leaving behind a note.
The note revealed the unauthorised transfer of Rs 187 crore belonging to the corporation from its bank account, and from that, Rs 88.62 crore was illegally moved to various accounts allegedly belonging to "well-known" IT companies and a Hyderabad-based cooperative bank among others.
Following allegations against him in connection with the scam, Scheduled Tribes Welfare Minister B Nagendra tendered his resignation on June 6. He is currently under judicial custody after his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate, which is probing the scam.
In the MUDA scam, it is alleged that compensatory sites were allotted to Siddaramaiah's wife in an upmarket area in Mysuru, which had higher property value as compared to the location of her land which had been "acquired" by the MUDA.
The MUDA had allotted plots to Parvathi under a 50:50 ratio scheme in lieu of 3.16 acres of her land, where MUDA developed a residential layout.
Under the controversial scheme, MUDA allotted 50 per cent of developed land to the land losers in lieu of undeveloped land acquired from them for forming residential layouts.
BJP leaders have claimed that the MUDA "scam" is of the magnitude of Rs 4000 crore to Rs 5,000 crore.
According to some reports, not everyone in JD(S) is happy about the 'padayatre', as a few of its leaders have expressed apprehensions to the party leadership including to Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy about the possibility of BJP trying to steal limelight through this march in the old Mysuru region (south Karnataka), which has traditionally been the regional party's stronghold.
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Netanyahu recommends his Cabinet approve Hezbollah cease-fire proposal
Beirut, Nov 26: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that he would recommend his cabinet adopt a United States-brokered ceasefire agreement with Lebanon's Hezbollah, as Israeli warplanes struck across Lebanon, killing at least 23 people.
The Israeli military also issued a flurry of evacuation warnings — a sign it was aiming to inflict punishment on Hezbollah down to the final moments before any ceasefire takes hold. For the first time in the conflict, Israeli ground troops reached parts of Lebanon's Litani River, a focal point of the emerging deal.
In a televised statement, Netanyahu said he would present the ceasefire to Cabinet ministers later on Tuesday, setting the stage for an end to nearly 14 months of fighting.
Netanyahu said the vote was expected later Tuesday. It was not immediately clear when the ceasefire would go into effect, and the exact terms of the deal were not released. The deal does not affect Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza, which shows no signs of ending.
The evacuation warnings covered many areas, including parts of Beirut that previously have not been targeted. The warnings, coupled with fear that Israel was ratcheting up attacks before a ceasefire, sent residents fleeing. Traffic was gridlocked, and some cars had mattresses tied to them. Dozens of people, some wearing their pajamas, gathered in a central square, huddling under blankets or standing around fires as Israeli drones buzzed loudly overhead.
Hezbollah, meanwhile, kept up its rocket fire, triggering air raid sirens across northern Israel.
Lebanese officials have said Hezbollah also supports the deal. If approved by all sides, the deal would be a major step toward ending the Israel-Hezbollah war that has inflamed tensions across the region and raised fears of an even wider conflict between Israel and Hezbollah's patron, Iran.
The deal calls for a two-month initial halt in fighting and would require Hezbollah to end its armed presence in a broad swath of southern Lebanon, while Israeli troops would return to their side of the border. Thousands of Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers would deploy in the south, and an international panel headed by the United States would monitor all sides' compliance.
But implementation remains a major question mark. Israel has demanded the right to act should Hezbollah violate its obligations. Lebanese officials have rejected writing that into the proposal. Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz insisted on Tuesday that the military would strike Hezbollah if the U.N. peacekeeping force, known as UNIFIL, doesn't provide “effective enforcement” of the deal.
“If you don't act, we will act, and with great force,” Katz said, speaking with UN special envoy Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert.
The European Union's top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said Tuesday that Israel's security concerns had been addressed in the deal also brokered by France.
“There is not an excuse for not implementing a ceasefire. Otherwise, Lebanon will fall apart,” Borrell told reporters in Italy on the sidelines of a Group of Seven meeting. He said France would participate on the ceasefire implementation committee at Lebanon's request.
Bombardment of Beirut's southern suburbs continues
Even as Israeli, US, Lebanese and international officials have expressed growing optimism over a ceasefire, Israel has continued its campaign in Lebanon, which it says aims to cripple Hezbollah's military capabilities.
An Israeli strike on Tuesday levelled a residential building in the central Beirut district of Basta — the second time in recent days warplanes have hit the crowded area near the city's downtown. At least seven people were killed and 37 wounded, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry.
Three people were killed in a separate strike in Beirut and three in a strike on a Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon. Lebanese state media said another 10 people were killed in the eastern Baalbek province. Israel says it targets Hezbollah fighters and their infrastructure.
Earlier, Israeli jets struck at least six buildings in Beirut's southern suburbs. One strike slammed near the country's only airport, sending plumes of smoke into the sky. The airport has continued to function despite its location on the Mediterranean coast next to the densely populated suburbs where many of Hezbollah's operations are based.
Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee issued evacuation warnings for 20 buildings in the suburbs, as well as a warning for the southern town of Naqoura where UNIFIL is headquartered.
UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti told The Associated Press that peacekeepers will not evacuate.
Other strikes hit in the southern city of Tyre, where the Israeli military said it killed a local Hezbollah commander.
The Israeli military also said its ground troops clashed with Hezbollah forces and destroyed rocket launchers in the Slouqi area on the eastern end of the Litani River, a few kilometres from the Israeli border.
Previous ceasefire hopes were dashed
Under the ceasefire deal, Hezbollah would be required to move its forces north of the Litani, which in some places is about 30 kilometers (20 miles) north of the border.
A ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, the strongest Iranian-backed force in the region, would likely significantly calm regional tensions that have led to fears of a direct, all-out war between Israel and Iran. It's not clear how the ceasefire will affect the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Hezbollah had long insisted that it would not agree to a ceasefire until the war in Gaza ends, but it dropped that condition.
Hezbollah began firing into northern Israel, saying it was showing support for the Palestinians, a day after Hamas carried out its Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel, triggering the Gaza war. Israel returned fire on Hezbollah, and the two sides have been exchanging barrages ever since.
Israel escalated its campaign of bombardment in mid-September and later sent troops into Lebanon, vowing to put an end to Hezbollah fire so tens of thousands of evacuated Israelis could return to their homes.
More than 3,760 people have been killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon the past 13 months, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The bombardment has driven 1.2 million people from their homes. Israel says it has killed more than 2,000 Hezbollah members.
Hezbollah fire has forced some 50,000 Israelis to evacuate in the country's north, and its rockets have reached as far south in Israel as Tel Aviv. At least 75 people have been killed, more than half of them civilians. More than 50 Israeli soldiers have died in the ground offensive in Lebanon.
After previous hopes for a ceasefire were dashed, U.S. officials cautioned that negotiations were not yet complete and noted there could be last-minute hitches that delay or destroy an agreement.
“Nothing is done until everything is done,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby said.
While the ceasefire proposal is expected to be approved if Netanyahu brings it to a vote in his security Cabinet, one hard-line member, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, said he would oppose it. He said on X that a deal with Lebanon would be a “big mistake” and a “missed historic opportunity to eradicate Hezbollah.”
