Cong, BJP MLAs spar in K'taka Assembly over PM's promise of Rs 15 lakh into every bank account
Bengaluru(PTI): The Karnataka Legislative Assembly on Thursday witnessed a heated verbal exchange between treasury and opposition sides, with BJP demanding the ruling Congress to provide proof for their allegation that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised to credit Rs 15 lakh to every person's bank account.
The issue came up during Navalgund Congress MLA Konareddy's intervention during the motion of thanks to the Governor's address in the Assembly.
"They (BJP) have criticised our (Congress) guarantees schemes. We stand by our guarantees, as our government is taking measures to fulfill it, but you had given a guarantee of crediting Rs 15 lakh to every bank account, but you did not credit that money to even a single bank account. You had also promised 2 lakh jobs to youth, but could not do it. You had also promised to double the farmers income," Konareddy said.
Senior BJP leader Basangouda Patil Yatnal objected to this, and asked Konareddy to give at least one evidence or a video clip to prove that the Prime Minister had promised to credit Rs 15 lakh to every bank account.
"Why is he (Konareddy) speaking bogus and false things? What the PM had spoken then was regarding the black money deposited by certain rich people and politicians in foreign bank accounts, by looting this country, and getting them back. Let him (MLA) show at least one video clipping of the Modi's speech where he has promised to deposit Rs 15 lakh in every bank account. I will quit from politics. No one should make such irresponsible statements," he said.
"The Prime Minister has never spoken about crediting Rs 15 lakh to every bank account and Congress was purposely spreading lies against the BJP government and PM," he added.
This led to heated arguments between members of the treasury and opposition benches. During the run-up to the general elections of 2014, BJP and Modi had claimed to bring back the black money stashed in foreign bank accounts by corrupt citizens.
Yatnal further said, if the Prime Minister had in case made such a statement, he was ready to apologise, but the truth is that such a promise was never made and unnecessarily speaking about Rs 15 lakh has become a "job" for Congress people.
As the heated debate continued, Speaker U T Khader tried to calm down MLAs of both sides.
Energy Minister K J George questioned BJP -- PM had promised to get black money from Swiss bank, has the money come?
Yatnal responding to this asked, the PM had spoken about bringing black money, but did he ever say that he will credit Rs 15 lakh to every bank account? "You Congress had promised the guarantees are free to everyone, but now put conditions."
BJP MLA B Y Vijayendra too urged Congress members to prove with evidence that the Prime Minister had promised to credit Rs 15 lakh to bank accounts, or their remarks should be expunged by the Chair. "Unnecessarily, repeatedly making such false statements is not right."
Minister K N Rajanna and Congress MLA Abbayya Prasad said the whole country knows that the PM had made such a promise and has not fulfilled it.
Chaos broke out in the Assembly as BJP members continued to demand for evidence, even as Congress members repeatedly asserted that the PM had made such a promise.
Speaker Khader after repeated attempts, managed to bring the tempers down and continued with the business of the House.
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Israel launches first airstrike on Lebanon since ceasefire, accusing Hezbollah of breaching truce
Beirut, Nov 28: The Israeli military on Thursday said its warplanes fired on southern Lebanon after detecting Hezbollah activity at a rocket storage facility, the first Israeli airstrike a day after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took hold.
There was no immediate word on casualties from Israel's aerial attack, which came hours after the Israeli military said it fired on people trying to return to certain areas in southern Lebanon. Israel said they were violating the ceasefire agreement, without providing details. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said two people were wounded.
The back-to-back incidents stirred unease about the agreement, brokered by the United States and France, which includes an initial two-month ceasefire in which Hezbollah members are to withdraw north of the Litani River and Israeli forces are to return to their side of the border. The buffer zone would be patrolled by Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers.
On Thursday, the second day of a ceasefire after more than a year of bloody conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon's state news agency reported that Israeli fire targeted civilians in Markaba, close to the border, without providing further details. Israel said it fired artillery in three other locations near the border. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
An Associated Press reporter in northern Israel near the border heard Israeli drones buzzing overhead and the sound of artillery strikes from the Lebanese side.
The Israeli military said in a statement that “several suspects were identified arriving with vehicles to a number of areas in southern Lebanon, breaching the conditions of the ceasefire.” It said troops “opened fire toward them” and would “actively enforce violations of the ceasefire agreement.”
Israeli officials have said forces will be withdrawn gradually as it ensures that the agreement is being enforced. Israel has warned people not to return to areas where troops are deployed, and says it reserves the right to strike Hezbollah if it violates the terms of the truce.
A Lebanese military official said Lebanese troops would gradually deploy in the south as Israeli troops withdraw. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media.
The ceasefire agreement announced late Tuesday ended 14 months of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that began a day after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza, when the Lebanese Hezbollah group began firing rockets, drones and missiles in solidarity.
Israel retaliated with airstrikes, and the conflict steadily intensified for nearly a year before boiling over into all-out war in mid-September. The war in Gaza is still raging with no end in sight.
More than 3,760 people were killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon during the conflict, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The fighting killed more than 70 people in Israel — over half of them civilians — as well as dozens of Israeli soldiers fighting in southern Lebanon.
Some 1.2 million people were displaced in Lebanon, and thousands began streaming back to their homes on Wednesday despite warnings from the Lebanese military and the Israeli army to stay out of certain areas. Some 50,000 people were displaced on the Israeli side, but few have returned and the communities near the northern border are still largely deserted.
In Menara, an Israeli community on the border with views into Lebanon, around three quarters of homes are damaged, some with collapsed roofs and burnt-out interiors. A few residents could be seen gathering their belongings on Thursday before leaving again.
