BJP's central leadership pleased with Bommai's performance: Arun Singh
'to be CM candidate in poll-bound Karnataka'
Bengaluru, Oct 16: The BJP's central leadership is pleased with the performance of Basavaraj Bommai, the party's in-charge for Karnataka Arun Singh said on Sunday, and made it clear that he will be its Chief Ministerial candidate in the poll-bound State.
"They are very happy with Bommai, the kind of work he is doing," the party national General Secretary told PTI in an interview.
Singh was asked about the assessment of the party's central leadership on the performance of the Chief Minister Bommai, the role of BJP strongman B S Yediyurappa, the party's prospects in the Assembly elections, just a few months away, and whether it would project a Chief Ministerial candidate.
He said the BJP would create "history" in Karnataka by exceeding its own target of winning 150 Assembly seats of the total 224, as he highlighted the welfare and development schemes of the Modi and Bommai governments.
Singh said the ruling party would fight the polls under the leadership of Bommai and guidance of Yediyurappa, a four-time Chief Minister and currently a member of the party's central parliamentary board.
"Bommai is the Chief Minister. We are going to contest the elections when he is the Chief Minister. He is the Chief Ministerial candidate. There is no doubt," Singh said.
Describing Bommai, who replaced Yediyurappa as Chief Minister in July last year, as a simple, down-to-earth and polite man, Singh pointed to the former being referred to as "common man's CM" and said he has been drawing good response in public meetings.
"People of Karnataka feel he (Bommai) is like them", he said.
Yediyurappa is the "tallest" leader in Karnataka, and the BJP has his "guidance": Yediyurappa is touring the State to energise the party's cadre and is seeking votes to win 150 seats. "It's a big thing", Singh said.
On what the party is doing to deepen its base in Old Mysuru region (comprising districts such as Mandya, Ramanagara and Hassan), the traditional strongholds of the Congress and JD(S), he said the BJP has increased its tally multifold in the Gram Panchayat elections there.
"Our strength has increased considerably (in the region)," he said. "We will do 'chamatkar' (miracle) in Old Mysuru region this time."
He claimed that many leaders from the Congress and JD(S) in the Old Mysuru region, and 'Kalyana Karnataka' region (which includes districts like Bidar, Raichur and Kalaburagi) are going to join his party as they know that it's going to be the BJP that will form the government and "the future is with the BJP."
Singh sought to ridicule the Congress for setting itself a target of winning 150 seats in the State.
"They have been saying so (setting ambitious targets) in Goa, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Manipur (before the last Assembly elections). They are wiped out. In Goa, out of 11 Congress MLAs, eight have left. 'Quit Congress Abhiyaan' is going on in the country."
The Rajya Sabha member termed the Rahul Gandhi-led 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' a "flop yatra".
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SC dismisses pleas seeking review of 2023 verdict declining legal sanction to same-sex marriage
New Delhi, Jan 9: The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed a batch of pleas seeking to review its October 2023 verdict declining legal sanction to same-sex marriage.
A five-judge bench of Justices B R Gavai, Surya Kant, B V Nagarathna, P S Narasimha and Dipankar Datta took up about 13 petitions related to the matter in chambers and dismissed them.
"We do not find any error apparent on the face of the record. We further find that the view expressed in both the judgements is in accordance with law and as such, no interference is warranted. Accordingly, the review petitions are dismissed," the bench said.
It said the judges have carefully gone through the judgements delivered by Justice (since retired) S Ravindra Bhat speaking for himself and for Justice (since retired) Hima Kohli as well as the concurring opinion expressed by Justice Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha, constituting the majority view.
The bench also rejected a prayer made in the review petitions for hearing in an open court.
According to practice, the review pleas are considered in chambers by the judges.
The new bench was constituted after Justice Sanjiv Khanna, the present CJI, recused from hearing the review petitions on July 10, 2024.
Notably, Justice P S Narasimha is the only member of the original Constitution bench comprising five judges which delivered the verdict, as former CJI D Y Chandrachud and Justices S K Kaul, Ravindra Bhat and Hima Kohli have retired.
A five-judge Constitution bench led by then CJI Chandrachud on October 17, 2024, refused to accord legal backing to same-sex marriages and held there was "no unqualified right" to marriage with the exception of those recognised by law.
The apex court, however, made a strong pitch for the rights of LGBTQIA++ persons so that they didn't face discrimination in accessing goods and services available to others, safe houses known as "garima greh" in all districts for shelter to members of the community facing harassment and violence, and dedicated hotlines in case of trouble.
In its judgement, the bench held transpersons in heterosexual relationships had the freedom and entitlement to marry under the existing statutory provisions.
It said an entitlement to legal recognition of the right to union, akin to marriage or civil union, or conferring legal status to the relationship could be only done through an "enacted law".
The five-judge Constitution bench delivered four separate verdicts on a batch of 21 petitions seeking legal sanction for same-sex marriages.
All five judges were unanimous in refusing the legal recognition to same-sex marriage under the Special Marriage Act and observed it was within Parliament's ambit to change the law for validating such a union.
While former CJI Chandrachud wrote a separate 247-page verdict, Justice Kaul penned a 17-page judgement where he broadly agreed with the former's views.
Justice Bhat, who authored an 89-page judgement for himself and Justice Kohli, disagreed with certain conclusions arrived at by the former CJI, including on applicability of adoption rules for such couples.
Justice Narasimha in his 13-page verdict was in complete agreement with the reasoning and conclusion of Justice Bhat.
The judges were unanimous in holding that queerness was a natural phenomenon and not an "urban or elite" notion.
In his judgement, the former CJI recorded Solicitor General Tushar Mehta's assurance of forming a committee chaired by the cabinet secretary to define and elucidate the scope of entitlements of such couples in a union.
The LGBTQIA++ rights activists, who won a major legal battle in 2018 in the Supreme Court, which decriminalised consensual gay sex, moved the apex court seeking validation of same-sex marriages and consequential reliefs such as rights to adoption, enrolment as parents in schools, opening of bank accounts and availing succession and insurance benefits.
Some of the petitioners sought the apex court to use its plenary power besides the "prestige and moral authority" to push the society to acknowledge such a union and ensure LGBTQIA++ persons led a "dignified" life like heterosexuals.
