BJP takes serious note of 3 legislators attending Cong dinner, to seek explanation
Belagavi (K'taka) (PTI): Karnataka BJP President B Y Vijayendra on Thursday termed as a "serious matter" three of his party legislators attending a dinner hosted by the Congress after its Legislature Party meeting here and said he would seek explanation from them.
State Congress President and Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar said the legislators did not participate in any meeting, but only attended the dinner on Wednesday night, on his invitation.
The three are: MLAs -- S T Somashekar and Shivaram Hebbar -- and MLC H Vishwanath.
The three legislators, who are former Ministers, attending the dinner raised eyebrows and added to speculations that they might be contemplating to join the ruling Congress ahead of 2024 Lok Sabha polls. They had made no secret of their disenchantment with the BJP and its internal affairs, ever since the party lost the May Assembly polls.
The three were among the 17 Congress-JD(S) legislators who defected to BJP in 2019, which had led to the collapse of the H D Kumaraswamy-led government and paved the way for BJP to come to power. Somashekar and Hebbar were Ministers in the previous BJP government.
While Somashekar and Hebbar had jumped ship to BJP from Congress. Vishwanath, originally a Congressman, was in JD(S) as its state chief, when he defected to BJP in 2019.
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"Morning I got information about it. I will talk to them today itself, I will discuss what their intention is....it is a serious matter, I will discuss with them today itself," Vijayendra told reporters here.
Shivakumar said: "I had separately hosted a dinner, for which certain other party leaders were also invited, so they (Somashekar, Hebbar), also Vishwanath, and others, about ten people had come."
Speaking to reporters here, he said: "why will they come to the Congress legislature party meeting ? They are not our party legislators. They did not come to the legislature party meeting, they had only come for dinner."
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Bihar hooch tragedy toll rises to nine as three more persons die
Motihari (PTI): The toll in the hooch tragedy in Bihar's East Champaran district rose to nine on Sunday after three more people who had consumed spurious liquor died, officials said.
The first death was reported on Thursday, they said.
A total of 15 people have been arrested in connection with the deaths in the Turkauliya and Raghunathpur areas of Motihari, District Magistrate Saurabh Jorwal said.
A case of murder has already been registered on the basis of complaints filed by the family members of the deceased, police said.
Jorwal said one person is still in the hospital and his condition is reported to be critical.
"Seven persons have already been discharged after treatment," he told PTI.
"The bodies of the deceased have been sent for post-mortem examination. The exact cause of the deaths can only be known after the reports arrive," he said.
The SHO of Turkauliya police station has already been suspended on charge of dereliction of duty, and a special investigation team has been constituted to probe the incident, officials said.
The deaths have led to a political slugfest in the state, where the sale and consumption of alcohol has been banned since 2016.
