CM Siddaramaiah rules out change of guard as minister hosts dinner for him, cabinet colleagues
Bengaluru, Jan 3: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday said there is no change of guard in the offing in the state and also ruled out any cabinet reshuffle.
Rumours were rife about some major political developments in the state after Public Works Minister Satish Jarkiholi hosted a dinner for Siddaramaiah and his cabinet colleagues at his residence on Thursday.
There were also speculations that the state would get a new Congress state president replacing Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, who is holding the post for the past five years.
"What can I do if you speculate about our gathering over dinner as a meeting?" Siddaramaiah told reporters here.
ALSO READ: Min. Satish Jarkiholi hosts dinner for Karnataka CM, cabinet colleagues giving rise to speculations
When asked what the purpose was behind the gathering, Siddaramaiah said, "to have meals."
To the question whether the meeting was for a change of the chief minister or cabinet reshuffle, he said, "No. Those are all lies. No such change is happening."
A few ministers met Siddaramaiah at the dining table on Thursday night.
About 18 to 20 ministers and MLAs were present at the dinner, Congress sources said.
Since the event happened in the absence of Shivakumar, who was abroad, rumours started making round that the dinner was being hosted to discuss the next Congress president in Karnataka.
Shivakumar has been holding the Congress state president post since March, 2020.
The BJP MP and former Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar on Friday said there was a strong infighting in the Congress and this dinner party in the absence of Shivakumar was its reflection.
"While Shivakumar is trying to remove the chief minister, whose image has taken a beating due to the MUDA scam, the chief minister is now trying to cut down on Shivakumar's stature by removing him from the KPCC president's post," Shettar told reporters.
He said the infighting would finally lead to the fall of the government.
State Social Welfare Minister H C Mahadevappa dismissed these speculations, saying that it was just a dinner which he had attended.
"We just had our dinner. We did not discuss any politics," he said.
Shivakumar has been holding the Congress state president post since March, 2020. Under his leadership, the party stormed to power with 134 seats in 224-member Karnataka legislative Assembly in 2023.
The Congress also increased its tally in the Lok Sabha election in Karnataka from just one out of 28 seats in 2019 to nine in 2024. Further, the party swept in the assembly bypolls by winning all the three seats recently.
The party high command often considered Shivakumar as its troubleshooter.
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Talks with Iran ended after 21 hours without reaching agreement, says US Vice President Vance
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Islamabad (PTI): US Vice President JD Vance said on Sunday that the Islamabad Talks with Iran failed as the two sides could not bridge the gulf of differences despite hectic efforts spreading more than 21 hours.
Vance addressed a press conference here after “substantive discussions” in direct talks between the two sides -- the first since 1979 at this level --mediated by Pakistan.
“We have been at it now for 21 hours, and we have had a number of substantive discussions, that’s the good news,” Vance said.
“The bad news is that we have not reached an agreement,” he added.
“We have made very clear what our red lines are, what things we are willing to accommodate them on and what things we are not,” the US vice president said, adding that the Iranian delegation had “chosen not to accept our terms”.
He was asked to elaborate the main sticking points of what did the Iranians reject but he refused to go into specifics.
“I won’t go into all the details because I don’t want to negotiate in public after we negotiated for 21 hours in private. But the simple fact is that we need to see an affirmative commitment that they will not seek a nuclear weapon and that they will not seek the tools that would enable them to quickly achieve a nuclear weapon,” Vance said
He said stopping Iran from getting a "nuke" was the “core goal of the US president, and that’s what we have tried to achieve through these negotiations”.
Vance also praised Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir, terming them “incredible hosts”.
“Whatever shortcomings were in the negotiations were not because of Pakistanis, who did an amazing job and really tried to help us and the Iranians bridge the gap and get to a deal,” he said.
Separately, the spokesperson for Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Esmaeil Baqaei, in an X message also confirmed that the two sides failed to make a deal and “numerous messages and texts have been exchanged between the two sides".
“In the past 24 hours, discussions were held on various dimensions of the main negotiation topics, including the Strait of Hormuz, the nuclear issue, war reparations, lifting of sanctions, and the complete end to the war against Iran and in the region,” he wrote.
“The success of this diplomatic process depends on the seriousness and good faith of the opposing side, refraining from excessive demands and unlawful requests, and the acceptance of Iran’s legitimate rights and interests.”
Baqaei also expressed appreciation to the “government and the warm-hearted and noble people of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan for hosting the negotiations and their benevolent efforts in advancing this process”.
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