CM Siddaramaiah collected Rs 300 cr from ministers to fund Bihar polls, alleges BJP’s Sriramulu
Bengaluru/Chitradurga (PTI): Senior BJP leader B Sriramulu on Wednesday accused Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah of collecting Rs 300 crore from state ministers to fund the Congress party's campaign in the Bihar Assembly polls, allegedly to "save his chair".
He claimed that the amount was raised during a recent dinner meeting hosted by the chief minister for his cabinet colleagues.
"Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's chair is probably shaking. He is going to Delhi on November 15. He is making efforts to save his chair. We will have to see what revolution happens after November 15," he told reporters in Chitradurga.
There are speculations about a change in leadership when the Congress government completes half its five-year term next month, which some are calling a 'November revolution'.
"Collections have started from ministers as the Bihar polls have been announced. The CM wants to send a good amount of funds (to the party) for the Bihar polls through this collection, in order to save his chair," he claimed.
"For the sake of the Bihar polls, Ministers were called for dinner and Rs 300 crore was collected from them by Siddaramaiah. Congress is not in power in most states, so by collecting Rs 300 crore from Karnataka, Siddaramaiah has become a 'Kalpavruksha' and 'Kamadhenu' (wish-fulfilling divine tree and cow) for the Congress," he added.
Bihar will vote in two phases on November 6 and 11, and counting of votes will be held on November 14.
Hitting back, Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar took a swipe at Sriramulu, saying the funds the BJP leader had given to the Congress were being sent for the Bihar elections. "Sriramulu has given funds to the Congress party; we have sent the same funds (for the Bihar polls)," he quipped while speaking to media in Bengaluru.
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Screenwriter Salim Khan on ventilator support and stable, say doctors
Mumbai (PTI): Veteran screenwriter Salim Khan suffered a brain haemorrhage which has been tackled, is on ventilator support as a safeguard and stable, doctors treating him said on Wednesday, a day after he was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital here.
The 90-year-old, one half of the celebrated Salim-Javed duo which scripted films such as "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don" with Javed Akhtar, is in the ICU and recovery might take some time given his age.
"His blood pressure was high for which we treated him and we had to put him on a ventilator because we wanted to do certain investigations. Now the ventilator was put as a safeguard so that his situation doesn't get worse. So it is not that he is critical," Dr Jalil Parkar told reporters.
"We did the investigations that were required and today we have done a small procedure on him, I will not go into the details. The procedure done is called DSA (digital subtraction angiography). The procedure has been accomplished, he is fine and stable and shifted back to ICU. By tomorrow, we hope to get him off the ventilator. All in all, he is doing quite well," he added.
Asked whether he suffered a brain haemorrhage, the doctor said, "Unko thoda haemorrhage hua tha, which we’ve tackled. No surgery is required.
As concern over Khan's health mounted, his children, including superstar Salman Khan and Arbaaz Khan, daughter Alvira, and sons-in-law Atul Agnihotri and Aayush Sharma, have been seen outside the hospital along with other well-wishers. His long-time partner Akhtar was also seen coming out of the hospital.
Khan, a household name in the 70s and 80s, turned 90 on November 24 last year. It was the day Dharmendra, the star of many of his films, including "Sholay", "Seeta aur Geeta" and "Yaadon Ki Baraat", passed away.
Hailing from an affluent family in Indore, Khan arrived in Mumbai in his 20s with dreams of stardom. He was good looking and confident he would make a mark in the industry as an actor. But that did not happen. And then, after struggling for close to a decade and getting confined to small roles in films, he changed lanes.
He worked as an assistant to Abrar Alvi and soon met Akhtar to form one of Hindi cinema's most formidable writing partnerships. They worked together on two dozen movies with most of them achieving blockbuster status.
Other than "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don", Khan and Akhtar also penned "Trishul", "Zanjeer", "Seeta Aur Geeta", "Haathi Mere Saathi", "Yaadon Ki Baarat" and "Mr India".
