BJP-led Karnataka govt will fall on its own after Dec 5 bypolls: Veerappa Moily
New Delhi: The BJP government in Karnataka, surviving with a "wafer-thin majority", will fall after the December 5 bypolls to 15 Assembly segments, senior Congress leader M Veerappa Moily said here on Thursday.
In an interview to PTI, Moily said, "The people of Karnataka are fed up with the misrule, maladministration and inefficiency of (Chief Minister BS) Yediyurappa and after the December 5 bypolls, this government, surviving with a wafer-thin majority, will fall on its own."
In the 224-member Karnataka Assembly, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has 105 MLAs and is supported by one Independent legislator.
The opposition has 101 members -- Congress 66, Janata Dal (Secular) 34 and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) one. There are 17 vacancies, of which 15 seats are going to polls.
The election in the Maski and Rajarajeshwari Nagar segments has been deferred in view of petitions pending in the Karnataka High Court relating to the 2018 state Assembly polls.
Moily, a former Karnataka chief minister, said "as per the ground reports" he received, the Congress could win in 13 of the 15 seats in the bypolls, enough to "unseat Yediyurappa".
The Congress leader added that the time had come for Yediyurappa to vacate the chief minister's chair as "in the history of the state", he had not seen an inefficient CM like him.
"He was not even able to prevail upon the Centre to release adequate funds for undertaking flood relief works as Karnataka witnessed two spells of heavy rains, affecting a vast number of people and their properties," Moily said.
While the state government had sought around Rs 38,000 crore, the BJP regime at the Centre released only Rs 1,200 crore as interim relief.
"This is Yediyurappa's ability to convince the Centre and get funds. The relief works have come to a standstill in various districts due to a paucity of funds, further inconveniencing the people," Moily said.
In the floods following an intensive south-west monsoon, 91 people were killed and seven lakh displaced as their dwellings were either washed out or damaged. A total of 103 talukas in 22 districts were affected in the southern state.
Asked about JD(S) chief H D Deve Gowda's recent statement that his party will no longer have a tie-up with the Congress, Moily said he would not attach much significance to such statements.
"Deve Gowda has been saying this since the May 2018 Assembly polls," the former Union minister said.
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Two held for 'firing' at BJP leader's house in Bengal
Kolkata (PTI): A day before the counting of votes for the West Bengal assembly elections, two persons were arrested on Sunday for allegedly being involved in a firing incident outside the residence of a BJP leader in North 24 Parganas district, police said.
BJP leader Kundan Singh lodged a police complaint, alleging that a few gunmen fired at his house in the Noapara constituency around Saturday midnight.
Based on the CCTV footage, the two accused were apprehended, a senior officer said.
BJP's Noapara candidate Arjun Singh, in a post on social media, claimed that around 12.05 am, two armed miscreants arrived on a motorcycle at the residence of Kundan Singh, a BJP functionary and secretary of the Barrackpore organisational district, with an "intent to kill him".
According to the BJP leader, the accused are residents of Garulia and are known criminals.
Their names as offenders had been submitted to the Election Commission, he said.
The police officer did not specify whether the two arrested persons were the same individuals named by Arjun Singh.
According to the complaint, one round of firing took place outside Kundan Singh's house, triggering panic in the area.
The BJP candidate also questioned the role of the police, claiming that one of the accused had been detained by the police on the polling day but was later released in the evening.
The Noapara assembly seat went to the polls on April 29.
Several BJP leaders alleged that attempts were being made to create an atmosphere of fear ahead of the counting and weaken the organisation of the opposition parties.
The counting of votes will take place on May 4. Polling for the West Bengal assembly elections was held on April 23 and April 29.
The BJP urged the Election Commission to intervene immediately to ensure peaceful counting.
TMC candidate Somnath Shyam rubbished Arjun Singh’s allegation, claiming that the BJP nominee had orchestrated the firing incident to divert attention from imminent defeat.
“Arjun Singh knows all the gangsters in the Barrackpore belt. Everyone knows about his links with the underworld. Let the police investigate the incident,” Shyam said.
