Congress expects to win between 15-20 seats in Karnataka in LS polls: CM Siddaramaiah
Chitradurga, Jan 28: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Sunday said the Congress expects to win between 15 and 20 seats in the state, in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
Karnataka has 28 Lok Sabha seats.
"The Congress party will win around 20 seats in the coming Lok Sabha elections. We don't lie like the BJP, claiming to win all 28 seats in the state. Our expectation is that we may win between 15 and 20 seats," Siddaramaiah said while speaking to reporters here.
"We have got some surveys done," he said, responding to a question.
The BJP swept the 2019 Lok Sabha polls in Karnataka by winning 25 seats, while an independent (Sumalatha Ambareesh from Mandya) backed by it won one seat. The Congress and JD(S) won one seat each.
The Congress and JD(S) were in alliance during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, while this time around the regional party has partnered with the BJP to face the upcoming elections.
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Noting that when he was chief minister earlier, the Socio-Economic and Education Survey report, popularly known as the "caste census", was not ready, Siddaramaiah, in response to a question, said, then the coalition government that came to power with H D Kumaraswamy as the chief minister did not accept the report. Also, the BJP that came to power thereafter too did not accept it. "Now if the report is submitted, we will take it."
To a question seeking that the report should at least be allowed to come into the public domain for discussion, he said, "the report is yet to be submitted, no one knows as to what's in it. Once it is given, let's see, let's discuss it."
The then Siddaramaiah-led Congress government (2013-2018) in 2015 commissioned the Social-Economic and Educational survey, at an estimated cost of Rs 170 crore in the state, the findings of which have not been made public yet.
The Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes under its then chairperson H Kantharaju was tasked with preparing a caste census report. The survey work was completed in 2018, towards the end of Siddaramaiah's first tenure as chief minister, but was not accepted or made public.
With pressure mounting on his government, from a certain section, to make public the state's survey, following the Bihar government releasing the findings of its caste survey recently, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has said that a decision will be taken once he receives the report from the current panel.
The Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes under its current Chairman K Jayaprakash Hegde, which has the caste census findings, has been given time till January 31 to submit the report to the government.
Karnataka's two dominant communities -- Vokkaliags and Lingayats -- have expressed reservations about the survey, calling it unscientific, and have demanded that it be rejected and a fresh survey be conducted.
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Bihar: Over 150 children fall ill after consuming 'mid-day meal' in Saharsa
Saharsa (PTI): More than 150 children were taken ill after allegedly consuming food that was part of the mid-day meal in a school in Bihar’s Saharsa district, a senior official said on Thursday.
The incident occurred at a middle school in Baluaha village of the district.
The official said that 115 children were undergoing treatment at the Sadar Hospital, while around 50 students were admitted to Mahishi Public Health Centre.
“We received information that several children fell ill after consuming the mid-day meal in Baluaha. The children were initially treated at the primary health centre, but later, many were referred to the Sadar Hospital,” Saharsa District Magistrate Deepesh Kumar told reporters.
“According to doctors, the health condition of the children has improved, but they will be kept under observation for some time. There is no need to panic. Some kids are having mild fever. They are being treated accordingly,” Kumar said.
Meanwhile, family members of some children claimed that a snake was found in the container in which cooked pulses was stored at the school.
Of the 545 students present in the school, 200 had already eaten their meals by the time the snake was spotted, and later complained of stomach ache and vomiting, they said.
Regarding the claims, the DM said food samples have been collected from the school.
“We will be able to comment on this only after the results of the tested samples arrive,” he said.
