BJP names Kota Shrinivas Poojari as Leader of Opposition in Legislative Council
Bengaluru (PTI): The Karnataka BJP on Monday announced the appointment of senior party MLC and former Minister Kota Shrinivas Poojari as the Leader of Opposition in the state Legislative Council, and MLA Arvind Bellad as Deputy Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly.
The BJP also has also appointed its MLCs Sunil Vallyapure and N Ravikumar respectively as the Deputy Leader of Opposition and its Chief Whip respectively in the legislative council -- the upper house; while party MLA Doddanagouda G Patil has been named as the Chief Whip in the lower house of the state legislature.
In a press release announcing these appointments, state BJP President B Y Vijayendra said, "appointments have been made as per the directions of party national President J P Nadda." After the Assembly polls in May in which Congress swept to power, the BJP participated in two legislature sessions -- in July and earlier this December -- without appointments to these key posts, which had drawn large-scale criticism from ruling Congress and some sections of the society.
In fact, the post of legislature party leader or leader of Opposition in the Assembly too was vacant till November, until R Ashoka was appointed, ahead of the legislature session earlier this month.
After the appointment of Ashoka as the LoP and Vijayendra as the party's state unit president in November, which led to some amount of disgruntlement in the BJP, there was a lot of speculation within the party, as to who will occupy other key legislature posts -- for which appointments were made today-- amid large number of aspirants and lobbying.
Poojari, who hails from Billava community and has a Sangh Parivar background, has already served as both leader of the house and opposition leader in the Legislative Council.
The appointment of Bellad and Patil as Deputy Leader of Opposition and chief whip in the Legislative Assembly respectively is significant considering that both hail from the north Karnataka region, as there was open disgruntlement in the state BJP, about the region not being given enough representation, after Ashoka and Vijayendra were given posts.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Security scare at Delhi Assembly as SUV breaks through iron gate; 3 held, vehicle seized
New Delhi (PTI): In a major security breach at the Delhi Assembly, a masked man drove an SUV through one of the boundary gates, placed a flower bouquet outside the Speaker's office, and fled, triggering a high alert on Monday afternoon. Police later detained three people, including the driver, and seized the vehicle from north Delhi.
Multiple police teams, along with a bomb disposal squad, rushed to the site and conducted a thorough sweep of the area to rule out any threat, a police officer said.
The car, bearing an Uttar Pradesh registration number, entered the Assembly premises after breaking through Gate No. 2 at around 2 pm, officials said.
Since it is not the main gate, security is relatively less around it when the House is not in session, according to sources.
"The driver proceeded towards the office of Assembly Speaker Vijender Gupta and placed a flower bouquet near the porch before rushing out in his vehicle," said a Delhi Secretariat official.
The incident raised "serious" security concerns, with authorities treating it as a potential "security breach", he said.
Special Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Ravindra Yadav reached the site soon after the incident and supervised the investigation.
Yadav said police checked CCTV camera footage in and around the area to reconstruct the sequence of events. Police teams were formed to track down the vehicle and its occupants, and alerts were flashed to adjoining states, with details of the suspected car shared with local police units.
Later, police apprehended three people, including the driver.
"Three people have been detained. The car was recovered, and the accused were caught in north Delhi," a police officer said.
Meanwhile, forensic experts examined the flower bouquet that was allegedly kept inside the assembly premises. The bomb disposal squad and dog squad conducted a thorough sweep of the area to rule out any explosive threat.
The incident comes close on the heels of bomb threats received by the Assembly during the recently concluded budget session.
