BJP expels ex-MLA for contesting as rebel in Basavakalyan
Bengaluru: Karnataka BJP on Saturday expelled former MLA Mallikarjun Khuba for contesting as an independent against the party's candidate Sharanu Salagar in the Basavakalyan Assembly segment where a bypoll is underway.
"By contesting as a rebel candidate against the BJP's official candidate Sharanu Salagar, you (Khuba) have violated the party discipline. Despite attempts by the party till the last moment you did not withdraw from the fray," an expulsion order by BJP's state disciplinary committee president Lingaraj Patil said.
"So you have been expelled from the primary membership of the BJP for a period of six years for anti-party activities," it said.
Kuba had not withdrawn his nomination as an independent candidate despite attempts by Housing Minister V Somanna, Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai and district in-charge Minister Prabhu Chauhan, among others, to pacify him.
Kuba was a two-time MLA from the constituency in 2004 and 2013. From JD(S), he had subsequently joined the BJP and lost to B Narayan Rao of the Congress in 2018 Assembly polls.
By-polls to Basavakalyan Assembly seat is necessitated following the death of Narayan Rao due to COVID-19 in September last.
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'Rear-guard action': BJP over Mamata accepting sports minister's resignation after Messi event
New Delhi (PTI): The BJP on Tuesday alleged that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's accepting Aroop Biswas' resignation as the state sports minister is nothing but a "rear-guard action" to douse public anger over the mismanagement of football icon Lionel Messi's event last week.
BJP co-in-charge for West Bengal Amit Malviya alleged that this is also an "open confession" that the Messi event fiasco was not accidental but a government-manufactured disaster, borne out of the poor governance of Banerjee, her ministers and the state bureaucracy.
Banerjee on Tuesday accepted Biswas' resignation as the sports minister in the wake of the controversy over the mismanagement of football icon Messi's event last week, a senior leader of the ruling TMC said.
Biswas, who had written to the chief minister seeking to be relieved of his responsibilities as sports minister, will continue as a cabinet minister, retaining charge of the power department.
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Reacting to the development, Malviya said in a post on X, "TMC Sports Minister Aroop Biswas resigns after the Messi fiasco and Mamata Banerjee accepts it in record time."
"Do not mistake this for accountability; this is nothing but a rear-guard action to douse public anger. anger! This is not 'Raj Dharma'," he added.
The BJP leader alleged that the incident was the outcome of "loot" of common people which is "so synonymous" with the TMC.
The incident was also the outcome of the "shameless VIP culture that TMC thrives on and deep-rooted cronyism promoted by Banerjee," he charged.
Malviya further alleged that Biswas' resignation exposes a "collective failure of Mamata Banerjee, her partisan bureaucracy, and her crony cabinet".
"This is a symbolic sacrifice, a political hoax, soon to be buried under layers of bureaucracy, with no justice, no accountability, and no remorse," the BJP leader said, adding, "No resignation will bring back the time lost, the money wasted, or the stolen chance for football lovers to witness Messi in Kolkata."
