Congress completely united to defeat BJP in Karnataka: Rahul Gandhi
Davanagere (PTI): Karnataka Congress chief D K Shivakumar hugged party heavyweight Siddaramaiah on his 75th birthday in a public show of unity and bonhomie on Wednesday, prompting Rahul Gandhi to express happiness.
Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah are considered front-runners for Chief Minister's post in the event of Congress coming to power after Assembly elections, due in April-May next year.
Though both Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar have on record maintained that the CM will be decided by party's newly elected MLAs and high command on gaining majority in the polls, their loyalists and supporters have been projecting their leader, leading to unease in the party.
Speaking at a mega event to celebrate his birthday, Siddaramaiah asserted that the talk that there is a rift between him and Shivakumar is an "illusion and creation" of opposition parties.
"Shivakumar and I are together. There is no difference of opinion among us", he said.
Shivakumar, in his speech, said the Congress has decided to fight the Assembly elections under collective leadership.
"Today, I was happy to see Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar hugging each other on the stage", Rahul Gandhi said at the event after Shivakumar felicitated Siddaramaiah, a former Chief Minister, on his 75th birthday and hugged him in the presence of Rahul Gandhi.
Gandhi said Shivakumar has done tremendous work for the Congress organisation.
Virtually sounding the poll bugle, he said: "The Congress party is completely united to defeat BJP and RSS in Karnataka".
When the Congress comes to power, it will give a "clean and honest" government which will work for the future of the state and it will not spread hatred, Gandhi said.
Referring to three murders with alleged communal overtones in the coastal region of the State in the last few days, he said such type of violence had not taken place in Karnataka in the past.
"When we ask people in the United States what do they think of Karnataka today, they will say to you that Karnataka never witnessed the type of violence it is facing today", he said.
"They will say to you that when Congress was in power, Karnataka was in harmony", Gandhi added.
Greeting Siddaramaiah on his birthday, he said: "He is one person who looks younger as he grows older".
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Washington Sundar's twin strikes help India keep New Zealand at 92/3 at lunch on day one, 3rd Test
Mumbai (PTI): Off-spinner Washington Sundar stymied New Zealand’s progress with two vital strikes as the visitors reached 92/3 at lunch against India on the opening day of the third and final Test here on Friday.
Washington (2/26) added two more dismissals to bring his wicket tally to 13 in the series, maintaining consistent pressure on the Kiwi batters after pacer Akash Deep (1/22) gave India the first breakthrough.
At lunch, New Zealand had their hopes pinned on Will Young for a long haul who batted well to reach 38 not out (3x4s, 1x6s), with Daryl Mitchell (11 not out) at the other end.
Washington’s identical strikes to remove skipper Tom Latham (28) and in-form Rachin Ravindra (5) helped India pull things back in control in the second half of the session as New Zealand appeared to be consolidating on a day one wicket, which had something in it for all parties involved.
Coming off a 11-wicket match haul in second Test at Pune, Washington picked up rhythm soon after his introduction into the attack to keep testing the Kiwi batters' defence.
It did not take him long to strike, drawing the New Zealand captain out to defend but beating him with the drift and turn on a delivery that pitched in the line of stumps in his third over, Washington beat the bat’s outside edge to hit the off-stump.
Kiwi batting sensation Ravindra suffered a similar fate on the fifth delivery that he faced off the Indian spinner, who again got the ball to drift and turn past the outside edge and hit the off-stump.
Earlier, with not much initial movement off the surface assisting the Indian pacers, the ploy to go a little fuller in length seemed to work well as Mohammed Siraj trapped Devon Conway (4) in front of the wickets but a thick inside edge saved the opener in the third over.
However, Akash angled one into the left-hander which beat Conway’s bat to pin him out leg-before, with New Zealand also burning a review against the on-field call.
While Latham consolidated from there on, using the sweep shot to a good effect, Young once again showed his array of strokes and composite defence as a solid No 3 batter for the Kiwis.
Young went after anything that had width on offer to collect boundaries and having studied R Ashwin (0/20) quite well for the ace Indian spinner's first three overs, he did not have any hesitation in shimmying down the track to clear the ropes over midwicket.
