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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Police arrested Kejriwal's aide at same time his anticipatory bail plea was being heard: Atishi
New Delhi (PTI): Delhi Minister Atishi alleged on Saturday that the city police arrested Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's aide Bibhav Kumar at the same time his anticipatory bail plea was being heard in court.
Kumar was arrested on Saturday in connection with the alleged assault on AAP Rajya Sabha member Swati Maliwal, officials said.
He was picked up from the chief minister's residence by a Delhi Police team around noon, a senior officer said.
Addressing a press conference, Atishi said Kumar had filed a plea for anticipatory bail before the Tis Hazari court.
Kumar was picked up for questioning by the Delhi Police around 11 am. As soon as he was taken for questioning, news channels started saying he had been arrested, she claimed.
"This shows the BJP's conspiracy. Their intention is to disturb our election campaign and Arvind Kejriwal," she said.
Atishi said the Tis Hazari court considered Kumar's matter urgent and agreed to hear his plea on Saturday itself.
"The court commenced hearing on his plea at 3:55 pm and within 20 minutes, the Delhi Police arrested him at the Civil Lines police station. As soon as his lawyers began arguments, the police learnt that their case is weak and Kumar would get relief. So they arrested Kumar," she claimed.
Atishi alleged that when the court was dictating its order on the matter at 4:55 pm, the Delhi Police lawyer appeared through videoconferencing and said Kumar had already been arrested.
Kumar's anticipatory bail plea has become "infructuous" as he has been arrested, the court observed.
The chief minister's aide, accused of assaulting Maliwal on May 13 at Kejriwal's residence, was arrested two days after an FIR was registered against him at the Civil Lines police station.
Additional Sessions Judge Sushil Anuj Tyagi, while dictating the order to the court staff on the anticipatory bail plea, noted that Additional Public Prosecutor Atul Kumar Srivastava appeared through videoconferencing around 4:45 pm and informed the court that Kumar had already been arrested.
Atishi said, "Even they knew that their case was weak and if the case was heard, Bibhav Kumar would get bail. That is why tomorrow (Sunday) Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will lead all AAP leaders and to the BJP headquarters and court arrest."
Kejriwal said he and other AAP leaders would go to the BJP headquarters on Sunday "so that the prime minister can send anyone he wants to jail".
The BJP is saying they would send AAP MP Raghav Chadha and Delhi ministers Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj to jail, he claimed at a press briefing, hours after Kumar was arrested.
