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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MP: Woman, lover conspire to get husband killed; police looking for contract killer
Dhar (MP) (PTI): A 25-year-old woman and her lover have been arrested in the district for allegedly conspiring to kill her husband by hiring a contract killer, police said on Thursday.
The case was solved within 36 hours of the murder though the woman initially tried to mislead the police by claiming that robbers killed her husband, an official said.
Dev Krishna Purohit (28) was stabbed to death on the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday at his house in Gondikheda Charan village, about 60 km from here.
Superintendent of Police Mayank Awasthi told reporters that accused Priyanka Purohit (25) was married to Dev Krishna when she was around 15 years old. Priyanka moved to her matrimonial home after attaining adulthood but was unwilling to live with her husband, leading to frequent disputes between them.
During investigation, it emerged that she was in a relationship with Kamlesh (32), the SP said.
The duo allegedly hatched a plan to kill Dev Krishna and hired a man identified as Surendra for Rs 1 lakh do the job, he said
After Dev Krishna was killed, Priyanka told police that unidentified persons broke into the house, attacked her husband with a sharp weapon while holding her captive in another room, and fled with valuables.
But the inconsistencies in her statements raised suspicion, and eventually she confessed to hatching the murder conspiracy, the SP said.
While she and Kamlesh were arrested, police are looking for the contract killer, the official added.
