‘Cornering of Siddaramaiah will cost more for Cong in Lok Sabha poll’
Niranjanananda Puri Swamiji of Kaginele Mutt warns
Bengaluru, June 28: Niranjanananda Puri Swamiji of Kaginele Mutt warned AICC president Rahul Gandhi that the Congress would have to face the consequences in the Lok Sabha election if the coalition government neglected former chief minister Siddaramaiah.
Speaking to reporters here on Thursday, the swamiji said that the Congress would not even get 15 seats in the Lok Sabha election if Siddaramaiah was neglected. The party leadership should understand this. The Kuruba community was not given due share in the Congress-JDS coalition government cabinet. Moreover, the present government was trying to ride on the officials belonging to the Kuruba community which is uncalled for, he said.
“HD Kumaraswamy is not the Chief Minister of a particular community. He is the CM for the entire state. So, it is not fair to target the officers from the Kuruba community. If he does not stop doing this, he will have to face the music. In the beginning, the government has neglected Kuruba community leader Siddaramaiah and now, targeting the officers from the community”, he said.
Because of the support of the Kuruba and Muslim communities, the Congress has got 80 seats in the Assembly election and because of the Congress support, Kumaraswamy had become the Chief Minister and he was not Vokkaliga community CM. He was the CM of 6 crore people of the state and it was his responsibility to treat all equally, he said.
He was pained to see the developments being happened in the last couple of days. The Chief Minister was taking revenge against the officers of the Kuruba community. Even after transferring them, they were not shown any posts. The community would not tolerate such developments, the swamiji said.
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India shouldn't play Pakistan even at ICC events till terrorism ends: Gautam Gambhir
New Delhi, May 6 (PTI): India head coach Gautam Gambhir on Tuesday called for a complete halt to cricketing engagements with Pakistan at any forum, including Asia Cup and ICC events, in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack.
At an ABP event, Gambhir said the national team should not be playing the arch-rivals till cross-border terrorism ends.
India have not played a full series against Pakistan since 2007 due to the tense relations between both countries. They only play each other at multi-team events and even that should be discontinued, said Gambhir.
"My personal answer to this is absolutely no. Till all this (cross-border terrorism) doesn't stop there should not be anything between India and Pakistan," said Gambhir when asked about the future of Indo-Pak cricket in the current environment.
In a terror attack on April 22 in south Kashmir's Pahalgam town, 26 people, mostly tourists, were gunned down.
Responding to the gruesome incident, India announced several measures against Pakistan, including suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty, shutting down of the only land border crossing at Attari and downgrading of diplomatic ties in view of cross-border links to the attack.
"Ultimately this is government's call whether we play them or not. I have said this before also, no cricket match or Bollywood or any other interaction is more important than the life of Indian soldiers and Indian citizens," Gambhir said.
"Matches will keep happening, movies will be made, singers will continue to perform but nothing comes close to losing a loved one in your family."
Asked specifically about India playing Pakistan in the Asia Cup this year or the T20 World Cup, to be co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka next year, Gambhir placed the onus on the BCCI and the government.
"This is not up to me, this is for BCCI and more importantly the government to decide whether we should play them or not.
"Whatever decision they make, we should be absolutely fine with it and not politicise it."
In the recent Champions Trophy, India played all their games in Dubai and not host country Pakistan owing to security concerns.
As part of an agreement worked out between the BCCI, the Pakistan Cricket Board and the ICC, all India-Pakistan matches in ICC events will be played in a neutral country till the 2027 cycle.
