Congress Karnataka chief D K Shivakumar signals his intention to become next Karnataka CM
Tumakuru (K'taka) (PTI): A day after the Congress romped to victory in the Karnataka Assembly elections, the party's state unit president D K Shivakumar on Sunday hinted that he is in the chief ministerial race saying he took everyone along and never sought anything for himself.
He also brushed aside speculations about differences between him and former chief minister Siddaramaiah.
Speaking to reporters at Nonavinakere here, Shivakumar said the Congress and the Legislature Party will decide the next chief minister of Karnataka.
On the question that those who toiled should also get preference instead of those who are liked by the people, Shivakumar said when Siddaramaiah and Dinesh Gundu Rao had resigned as the Congress Legislature Party president and head of the state unit respectively after the party's rout in 2019 by-elections, then Congress national president Sonia Gandhi had reposed faith in him and made him president.
Shivakumar also recalled that when he was in jail in a money laundering case, Gandhi had visited him to show her support.
"I had not done anything wrong for myself. Whatever I did was for the party. All my sufferings were for the party," he asserted.
The Congress state chief, who won the Assembly election on Saturday from Kanakapura, said he had toiled day and night while taking everyone along.
"Everyone was saying that there are differences between me and Siddaramaiah but let me tell you not a single iota of difference is there. I did not give anyone a chance. I just kept myself grounded and walked my path," Shivakumar added.
The Congress won the Karnataka Assembly elections with a thumping majority by winning 135 out of 224 seats whereas the ruling BJP could garner only 66 seats.
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False narrative created over 2002 Gujarat riots, courts found us innocent: PM Modi
New Delhi, Mar 16 (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said the discourse around the 2002 post-Godhra riots in Gujarat was an attempt to create a false narrative and his political opponents in power at the Centre wanted him to be punished but the courts cleared his name.
In a podcast with Lex Fridman, Modi said the perception that the 2002 riots were the biggest riots ever in Gujarat was an attempt to push misinformation.
"If you review the data from before 2002, you will see that Gujarat faced frequent riots. Curfews were constantly being imposed somewhere. Communal violence would erupt over trivial issues such as kite flying contests or even bicycle collisions," Modi said.
The prime minister said the riots in Gujarat in 1969 lasted for more than six months and that was an era when he was nowhere on the political horizon.
Modi said the Godhra train burning incident took place barely three days after he was elected as a legislator of the Gujarat Assembly.
"It was a tragedy of unimaginable magnitude, people were burned alive. You can imagine, against the backdrop of incidents like the Kandahar hijacking, the attack on parliament, or even 9/11, and then to have so many people killed and burned alive, you can imagine how tense and volatile the situation was," he said.
"Nothing should happen, we also wish so. Everyone would wish there should be peace," the prime minister said during the podcast released on Sunday.
Modi, who was the Gujarat chief minister at that time, said the big incident at Godhra was the sparking point and violence took place. He said that a fake narrative was spread regarding the Godhra case.
"But, the courts investigated the matter thoroughly and found us completely innocent. Those who were truly responsible have faced justice from the courts," he said.
The prime minister said his political opponents were in power at the Centre when the violence took place and they were keen to see him punished over the allegations.
"At that time, our political opponents were in power, and naturally they wanted all allegations against us to stick. They wanted to see us punished. Despite their relentless efforts, the judiciary analysed the situation meticulously twice and ultimately found us completely innocent," Modi said.
The prime minister said the most important thing was that Gujarat, which used to witness violence almost every year, has not seen riots since 2002.
"Over the past 22 years, there hasn't been a single major riot in Gujarat.
"Gujarat remains completely peaceful," Modi said.
The prime minister said his approach has always been to avoid vote bank politics.
"Our mantra has been, sabka saath sabka vikas aur sabka prayas. We have moved away from the politics of appeasement practised by our predecessors to the politics of aspiration," Modi said during his over three-hour interaction.
He highlighted how some people tried to malign his image after the riots but ultimately justice prevailed and the courts cleared his name.
