Bengaluru, Jun 26 (PTI): Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivkumar on Thursday rejected talks about CM Siddaramaiah losing control over the administration, amid disgruntlement within the ruling Congress in the state, with some party MLAs openly speaking against their own government's functioning.
He blamed the media for "blowing up" the issue.
"I don't know. I don't know about it. I have not heard about it. Whatever is there, my party's high command leaders will come. I'm also speaking to all of them. There is nothing in that. There is nothing to blow up (the issue)," Shivakumar said, responding to a question about whether Siddaramaiah was losing grip over the administration with several MLAs speaking openly against the government and him.
Speaking to reporters here, he said, "The CM has not lost control. He has not lost control over the administration. Nothing like that. You media are blowing up things."
Congress' Aland MLA B R Patil has alleged bribery in the allotment of public housing under the Housing department. MLA Raju Kage, who represents the Kagwad assembly segment, has hinted at resigning, citing delays in developmental works and the release of funds, while alleging that the administration had "completely collapsed".
Their open remarks have embarrassed the ruling Congress, with opposition BJP and JD(S) using it to target the government, accusing it of rampant corruption and demanding the resignation of Siddaramaiah and Housing Minister B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan.
Siddaramaiah on Wednesday evening met Patil and Kage on his return from New Delhi, during which he reportedly assured to look into their grievances while asking them not to make public statements against the government.
The CM, during his Delhi visit, met Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and party general secretaries K C Venugopal and Randeep Singh Surjewala.
According to reports, the party leadership had asked the CM to resolve the issues, take MLAs into confidence, and to ensure that no one makes statements against the government publicly.
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Batumi (Georgia), Jul 26 (PTI): Young Indian International Master Divya Deshmukh held her nerves to hold stalwart Koneru Humpy to a draw in game 1 of the FIDE Women's World Cup final, with both players having their share of opportunities to take the lead here on Saturday.
The draw with black means Humpy, the two-time World Rapid champion, holds a slight edge going in the second and final game under the classical chess rules in the two-game mini-match, and should the deadlock continue, games of shorter duration will be played to determine the winner.
Humpy employed the Queen's gambit accepted as black and it turned out to be a pretty fascinating game right out of the opening as Divya, 19, came up with a piece sacrifice early to deny the black king the right to castle.
Humpy was the first to err and, according to computers, Divya had things under control on the 14th move. However in her bid to recover the extra material, the Nagpur girl, who has secured a place in the Candidates tournament with her sterling performance here, missed a promising continuation.
What followed the exchange of all minor pieces and the ensuing queen and rook endgame gave enough counter play to both players. The game was eventually drawn after Humpy sacrificed her rook to force perpetual checks.
"The game saw an extremely sharp battle with the game ending in a draw in 41 moves. On move 7, Divya made her aggressive intentions clear by offering another pawn,
which looked like home preparation. Humpy made a practical decision of refraining from taking the pawn and a balanced position was reached by move 10 by white," said Grandmaster Pravin Thipsay, an Arjuna awardee and the first Indian to get a chess Grandmaster norm.
"However, instead of developing the undeveloped Knight, Humpy retreated the centralised Knight on move 10, giving huge positional advantage to Divya. Divya could have gained huge positional advantage on the 12th move by moving a rook. However, she chose to play for King side attack by sacrificing a piece instead.
"Humpy, too, erred at this stage and instead of moving the King to Queen side, moved it to the King side. Divya, on move 14, could have obtained a crushing attack by threatening a mate by developing her Queen. Instead she chose to exchange a pair of Bishops first, which enabled Humpy to defend her King by returning the piece," said Thipsay.
"Players thus reached a balanced Queen and two Rooks ending. Divya continued to play ambitiously and tried to attack Humpy’s King but the latter defended accurately and the game was drawn in 41 moves by perpetual check," he added.
In the play-off for the third place, Chinese players Zhongyi Tan, the former women's world champion and top seed Lei Tingjie also decided to split points out of a Queen’s gambit declined game.
The opening raised visions of a close contest between the two but having been knocked out of title race in the previous round, none of them wanted to take any huge risk. It was still a middle game when the players shook hands.
With the top two positions sealed for the Indians, the berth to the next Candidates is also assigned, while the player finishing third will also get an entry to the premier event scheduled for 2026.
Results: Divya Deshmukh (Ind) drew with Koneru Humpy (Ind); Zhongyi Tan (Chn) drew with Tingjie Lei (Chn).