Five Cong legislators threaten to quit in Karnataka over ticket allocation issue
Bengaluru (PTI): Five Congress legislators on Wednesday threatened to resign over the issue of Lok Sabha ticket to senior party leader and Minister K H Muniyappa's son-in-law Chikka Peddanna to contest from Kolar in the coming Lok Sabha elections, bringing into open the divisions in the outfit.
The party is yet to announce its candidate in the segment.
The five are opposed to Peddanna's candidature, which would give representation for the Left sect of Scheduled Castes.
The three MLAs from Kolar district - Kothur G Manjunath (Kolar), K Y Nanjegowda (Malur) and MC Sudhakar (Chintamani) - and two MLCs - Anil Kumar and Naseer Ahmed (political secretary to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah) - want the ticket to be given to a candidate from Right sect of Scheduled Castes.
Sudhakar is the Higher Education Minister in the Siddaramaiah Cabinet.
S N Narayanaswamy (Bangarapet), another Congress MLA from the district, too said the ticket should be given to SC Right candidate, and that he will decide on his move, once the party decides on the Kolar ticket.
"This is continuation of a fight between two factions of the Kolar Congress, one led by food and civil supplies minister K H Muniyappa and another by former Karnataka assembly speaker K R Ramesh Kumar, vying for supremacy in the district", a party insider said.
Some even see it as pressure tactics on the part of a section of Congress leaders in Kolar against Muniyappa and his "family politics' '.
The two MLCs met Council Chairman Basavaraj Horatti and showed their resignation letters to journalists.
The MLAs were planning to travel to Mangaluru to meet Assembly Speaker U T Khader there, but later cancelled their trip as the latter himself said he is on his way to Bengaluru.
However, the legislators later said they have decided to wait following instructions from Siddaramaiah and the party state President D K Shivakumar on their future course of action.
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No more street vending on B’luru’s main roads, as govt plans to bring new policy for street hawkers
Bengaluru: Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar on Friday said that the state government has decided to formulate a new policy for footpaths in Bengaluru, under which street vending will not be allowed on main roads and sub-main roads.
Addressing the media after a budget preparation meeting and executive meeting of GBA corporations at Vidhana Soudha, Shivakumar said discussions were held with MLAs from the GBA region regarding the corporations’ budgets and key civic issues.
Leader of Opposition R. Ashok also participated in the meeting and shared his views. Officials from multiple departments, including police, BESCOM, BMRCL, BWSSB and BDA, along with ministers and legislators, were present.
He stated that all five municipalities have prepared their individual budgets, while MLAs have submitted their demands, including calls for ward-wise grants.
“We have decided to bring a new policy for footpaths. Citizens are struggling to walk as footpaths are encroached upon by street vendors,” Shivakumar said.
Highlighting the need to balance livelihoods and public convenience, he added that “a separate space will be provided for street vendors, and specific roads will be designated for their business,” ensuring that pedestrians can use footpaths without obstruction. He noted that there was unanimous agreement among MLAs on this approach.
Issuing a warning to vendors, Shivakumar said that authorities will act against those violating the rules. “If vendors operate during the day and leave their carts on the roadside at night, authorities will clear them. People should be aware of this,” he said.
Providing data on street vendors, he said that around 60,000 vendors have registered so far, of which 30,000 have applied for vehicles, and a tender has already been floated.
“Only those with street vendor identity cards will be allowed to do business. Those without ID cards will not be permitted to operate on the streets,” he added.
