CM Siddaramaiah, DCM DK Shivakumar hold meetings with party MLAs
Bengaluru, Aug 7: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy D K Shivakumar on Monday held marathon meeting with the ministers and MLAs of six districts with a view to strengthen the party base ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and to quell discontent.
The exercise will go on for a week, according to Shivakumar, who is also the Congress state president.
The meeting started at about 11 AM at the Chief Minister's offical residence Krishna' and went on till 7 PM, according to sources close to Siddaramaiah.
The Chief Minister and his deptuy spoke to the 31 ministers and legislators from six districts - Tumakuru, Yadgir, Chitradurga, Bagalkote, Ballari and Dharwad.
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Later, Shivakumar told reporters that he and the Chief Minister are reviewing each constituency and are asking the MLAs and ministers about the works to done in their respective constituencies.
During the meeting, the MLAs were asked to publicise the party manifesto, especially the five guarantees, he said.
"We are also giving them (MLAs) political guidance. We are telling them their responsibilities to implement the programmes and the way to reach out to the people. We are listening to their problems as well," Shivakumar said.
To a question on BJP's demand that their MLAs should also be invited in the meeting while reviewing their constutencies, Shivakumar said they will also be called later.
"They will also be invited for the meeting. Who said they will not be called? But we had made a promise to our MLAs in our Legislative Party meeting that they will be heard separately," he said.
Shivakumar, who holds the portfolio of Bengaluru development, alleged that the BJP made big budgetary provisions in their constituencies in the city while a meagre allocation was made in the constituencies, which were represented by the Congress.
"In Bengaluru city, the BJP got the works worth Rs 1,000 crore in their areas whereas in the constituencies represented by the Congress MLAs, the works worth Rs 170 crore were taken up. We have documents to support it," Shivakumar claimed.
"We (Congress) are doing what they (BJP) did. We are not doing something new. They have taught us a lesson. We are only following their path," he added.
The Congress has set a target of winning at least 20 out of 28 Lok Sabha seats from the state during the 2024 Parliamentary elections. In 2019 polls, the Congress won one seat and BJP bagged 25 seats.
The meeting also comes against the backdrop of 11 MLAs allegedly writing to Siddaramaiah complaining that 20 ministers were not cooperating and were not available for discussions on development works in their respective constituencies.
The ministers were unapproachable and one had to reach out to them through third persons, the purported letter said.
However, Kalaburagi Congress MLA B R Patil later clarified that the alleged letter was fake as he had never written any such missive.
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US VP JD Vance says Lebanon not part of ceasefire, calls it ‘misunderstanding’
Budapest/Washington: US Vice President J D Vance has said that Lebanon was never included in the ceasefire understanding with Iran, describing the confusion as a “legitimate misunderstanding”.
Speaking to reporters before departing from Hungary, Vance said, “I think the Iranians thought that the ceasefire included Lebanon and it just didn’t. We never made that promise.”
He stressed that the United States had not included Lebanon in the scope of the ceasefire at any stage.
His remarks come amid continued Israeli strikes in Lebanon, where more than 200 people were reported killed, even as ceasefire talks between Iran and the US move forward.
Vance said Israel had “offered … to check themselves a little bit in Lebanon because they want to make sure that our negotiation is successful”.
He warned that if Iran allows the situation in Lebanon to affect the negotiations, it could derail the talks.
“If Iran wants to let this negotiation fall apart in a conflict where they were getting hammered over Lebanon, which has nothing to do with them and which the United States never once said was part of the ceasefire, that’s ultimately their choice,” he said.
