Deve Gowda breathes easy as Cong rebel candidate pulls out of contest
Tumkur, Mar 29: In a big relief to JDS patriarch and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, Congress sitting MP from Tumkur S P Muddahanumegowda Friday pulled out of the contest as the rebel candidate against him.
Gowda is the joint nominee of Karnataka's Congress-JDS ruling alliance, which was worried over his electoral prospects after Muddahanumegowda jumped into the fray defying the understanding under which the seat was allotted to the JDS.
"Angry" at being denied the ticket, Muddahanumegowda had filed his papers both as party candidate and as an independent but finally yielded to persuasion from the party leadership.
The leadership made several attempts to pacify Muddahanumegowda, with Congress president Rahul Gandhi and AICC general secretary K C Venugopal intervening finally.
Muddahanumegowda told PTI that he has withdrawn his nomination, respecting the "persuasion" made by the Congress high command.
"Rahul Gandhi himself spoke to me (Thursday morning), K C Venugopal spoke to me several times, also our KPCC president, deputy chief minister and also CLP leader Siddaramaiah started persuading me and said the coalition is at stake because of my nomination as rebel," he said.
"Though my people did not agree for withdrawing nomination, somehow I had to, as I didn't want to become reason for anything going wrong between two parties," he added.
Muddahanumegowda said he was "angry" and "furious" for the reason that the sitting MP was deprived of contesting election.
He said he had filed the nomination as constituency leaders and workers insisted on his contesting, after his request to coalition leaders to reconsider the decision and field him, did not yield results.
The Congress leader said he had gone through "agony and mental torture" after being denied ticket despite being "active and performing member."
Asked about campaigning for Gowda, he said, "I'm a sensitive politician..I will think over..I will need some time."
Muddahanumegowda, who had worked as a judicial officer in the past is the only member among ten sitting Congress MPs from the state denied ticket, citing coalition compulsions.
Earlier in the day, Deputy Chief Minister GParameshwara and KPCC chief Dinesh Gundu Rao visited Muddahanumegowda's residence in the city to persuade him, as Friday was the last day to withdraw nomination.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Rao said the party has respect for Muddahanumegowda and conceded that "injustice" has happened to him, as he blamed coalition compulsions for it.
"It is the responsibility of the party to treat him respectfully," he added.
Meanwhile, K N Rajanna, another Congress leader and former MLA who also had filed his nomination from Tumkur as an independent candidate, upset over his party's decision to cede the seat to JD(S), has also withdrawn his nomination.
Stating that he was with Muddahanumegowda, Rajanna told reporters he will abide by the party's decision.
The JD(S) bagged Tumkur seat after a hard bargain with the Congress as the grand old party did not concede Mysore, another seat that it had demanded, due to strong resentment from Siddaramaiah, as it is his home turf.
Mysore and Tumkur both come under old Mysuru region where Vokkaliga community, seen as a strong vote bank of JD(S) is dominant.
The Congress too has considerable presence there.
Gowda opted for Tumkur seat over Bangalore North, another option that was available before him, after giving up Hassan Lok Sabha seat that he had been representing, tograndson Prajwal Revanna.
If Muddahanumegowda had contested from Tumkur as a rebel candidate, it would have added to the Congress-JD(S) coalition worries as the alliance is facing backlash at several places, including Mandya and Hassan, with party workers unhappy with the seat arrangements.
For the coalition to emerge as a formidable opposition to BJP and win more number of seats, it is crucial for the Congress to transfer its votes to JD(S), and vice-versa.
The BJP has fielded G S Basavaraj as its candidate from Tumkur which will go to polls in the first phase on April 18.
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Maharashtra sets up state vaccination task force to strengthen immunisation programme
Mumbai (PTI): The Maharashtra government has set up a State Vaccination Task Force to strengthen the regular immunisation programme and review the progress of related campaigns, a health department official said on Monday.
The State Vaccination Task Force will comprise at least 29 members and will be headed by the administrative head of the health department, he informed.
The government has also constituted separate district-level and municipal vaccination task forces to improve implementation and address challenges at the grassroots level, he said.
Municipal task forces, chaired by respective civic commissioners, have been constituted in view of the vast urban population in Maharashtra and the role of civic bodies in implementing different health programmes.
The district-level task forces will function under the chairmanship of collectors.
"Complete immunisation of children at the appropriate age is an extremely simple, cost-effective and highly effective measure to reduce child mortality and the prevalence of diseases among kids. Immunisation is a powerful tool for reducing illness in children," maintained the official.
To ensure full vaccination of all children, the state government implements various campaigns from time to time as per the central government guidelines, he pointed out.
"Active participation and cooperation of other relevant government departments are essential (in making these campaigns successful)," according to the official.
The state-level body will review the regular immunisation programme, associated campaigns and vaccine-preventable diseases in detail. It will also conduct focused assessments of high-risk districts and municipal corporations, including vacancies at district, municipal and sub-district levels, availability of cold chain equipment, resource gaps and training requirements, he noted.
The state task force will review allocation and utilisation of funds for immunisation and ensure timely action by officers concerned based on reports from district and municipal task forces and state-level monitoring mechanisms, the official said.
It will also ensure active coordination and participation of other government departments in immunisation drives, while district and municipal task forces will carry out similar functions at their respective levels, the official added.
