Basavaraj Bommai will complete term, no change in CM face: Yediyurappa
Bengaluru (PTI): Rejecting speculations that the Karnataka Chief Minister would be replaced ahead of assembly polls next year, state BJP strongman B S Yediyurappa on Wednesday said Basavaraj Bommai will complete the term and no such discussions about a change has taken place in the party.
The former chief minister also said the party leadership will decide on the next state BJP president, once the incumbent Nalin Kumar Kateel's term is over, and that he and other state leaders will tour Karnataka with an aim to come back to power in the 2023 assembly polls.
"There is no truth in it. There is no question of changes when it is seven to eight months for election. Basavaraj Bommai will continue as the Chief Minister. Such unnecessary reports in the media are not right, I appeal to you to stop it," Yediyurappa said in response to a question on Congress' tweets regarding replacement of the CM.
Speaking to reporters here, he said no one in the party is discussing changing the CM and there is no need for it.
"Even if someone has said something in this regard, there is no such change," he said in response, when told that an ex-BJP MLA has indicated about replacement of the CM.
Bommai, who took over from Yediyurappa as Chief Minister, completed one year in office on July 28. He is currently under home isolation after testing positive for COVID-19.
The Congress in a series of tweets has been speculating about Chief Minister Bommai being replaced and has even called him a "puppet CM".
There has been some buzz on and off within the state BJP in recent times, regarding some kind of an overhaul including at the top level, especially after the recent visit of Union Home Minister Amit Shah to the state.
Former BJP MLA B Suresh Gowda's recent statement indicating some changes that the high command will take a call on replacing the chief minister and other matters in the interest of the party and to win the elections in future, had added to the speculations.
Clarifying that Shah discussed with him about the political developments and other issues when both met last week here, Yediyurappa said there was no discussion regarding leadership change and that question did not arise at all.
"I'm 100 per cent confident that Bommai will continue and complete the next eight month period as Chief Minister," he said, adding that the CM at the earliest after consulting the national leadership will decide on cabinet expansion and other matters.
Regarding the new state party president, the veteran BJP leader said naturally once the term of the current president is completed, change will happen, and the high command will decide.
The incumbent state president Kateel's term is ending by August 20.
To a question on any discussion with Shah regarding his recent announcement about vacating his Shikaripura assembly seat in favour of his son, Yediyurappa said, "I have openly said that B Y Vijayendra (Yediyurappa's son) should contest from there. Ultimately, the central leadership will take a decision and we will abide by it."
Asked about former chief minister Jagadish Shettar meeting him, Yediyurappa said, "He is a senior leader and former CM, he had come to discuss political developments on getting to know that I'm going out of town."
Yediyurappa, who is travelling to Mantralaya, a pilgrim village located in Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh, said, after coming back he along with other leaders will begin travelling together across Karnataka, and will see to it that Congress doesn't come to power and BJP once again forms the government in the state.
Hitting out at Congress leaders Siddaramaiah and D K Shivakumar without naming them, he said, "Some people are under illusion about becoming chief minister, there is no opportunity for it. It is certain that a BJP person will become the CM. BJP will make 100 per cent efforts to come back to power and win more than 130-135 seats."
"We have the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah and we are 100 per cent sure about the BJP returning to power," he added.
Earlier in the day, senior BJP leader and Revenue Minister R Ashoka challenged the Congress to name its CM candidate for the 2023 assembly polls as he accused the opposition party of unnecessarily raking up the issue of Karnataka Chief Minister replacement to cover up the rift within.
Ruling out CM Bommai's replacement, Ashoka said BJP's top leadership including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah have already said that the election will be under Bommai's leadership and the party will abide by it.
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Los Angeles county wildfires could be costliest in US history, early estimates say
Los Angeles, Jan 11: The wildfires that erupted this week across Los Angeles County are still raging, but already are projected to be among the costliest natural disasters in US history.
The devastating blazes have killed at least 11 people and incinerated more than 12,000 structures since Tuesday, laying waste to entire neighbourhoods once home to multimillion-dollar properties.
While it's still too early for an accurate tally of the financial toll, the losses so far likely make the wildfires the costliest ever in the US, according to various estimates.
A preliminary estimate by AccuWeather put the damage and economic losses so far between USD 135 billion and USD 150 billion. By comparison, AccuWeather estimated the damage and economic losses caused by Hurricane Helene, which tore across six southeastern states last fall, at USD 225 billion to USD 250 billion.
“This will be the costliest wildfire in California modern history and also very likely the costliest wildfire in US modern history, because of the fires occurring in the densely populated areas around Los Angeles with some of the highest-valued real estate in the country,” said Jonathan Porter, the private firm's chief meteorologist.
AccuWeather factors in a multitude of variables in its estimates, including damage to homes, businesses, infrastructure and vehicles, as well as immediate and long-term health care costs, lost wages and supply chain interruptions.
The insurance broker Aon PLC also said Friday that the LA County wildfires will likely end up being the costliest in US history, although it did not issue an estimate. Aon ranks a wildfire known as the Camp Fire in Paradise, California, in 2018 as the costliest in US history up to now at USD 12.5 billion, adjusted for inflation. The Camp Fire killed 85 people and destroyed about 11,000 homes.
The LA County wildfires, which were fuelled by hurricane-force Santa Ana winds and an extreme drought, remained largely uncontained Saturday. That means the final tally of losses from the blazes is likely to increase, perhaps substantially.
“To put this into perspective, the total damage and economic loss from this wildfire disaster could reach nearly 4 per cent of the annual GDP of the state of California,” AccuWeather's Porter said.
In a report Friday, Moody's also concluded that the wildfires would prove to be the costliest in US history, specifically because they have ripped through densely populated areas with higher-end properties.
While the state is no stranger to major wildfires, they have generally been concentrated in inland areas that are not densely populated. That's led to less destruction per acre, and in damage to less expensive homes, Moody's noted.
That's far from the case this time, with one of the largest conflagrations destroying thousands of properties across the Pacific Palisades and Malibu, home to many Hollywood stars and executives with multimillion-dollar properties. Already, numerous celebrities have lost homes to the fires.
“The scale and intensity of the blazes, combined with their geographic footprint, suggest a staggering price tag, both in terms of the human cost and the economic toll,” Moody's analysts wrote. The report did not include a preliminary cost estimate of the wildfire damage.
It could be several months before a concrete tally of the financial losses from the wildfires will be possible.
“We're in the very early stages of this disaster,” Porter said.
