‘Good luck,’ says Shivakumar as Siddaramaiah expresses confidence in completing full term in office
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Tuesday wished Chief Minister Siddaramaiah "good luck" after the latter expressed confidence about completing a full five-year term in office.
Siddaramaiah earlier in the day said he was confident of serving the full term as chief minister, while maintaining that the decision would ultimately rest with the Congress high command.
Responding to a question on Siddaramaiah’s remarks, Shivakumar told reporters, "Let good things happen. I wish him all the best. Good luck."
Asked whether the chief minister’s statement could lead to confusion, Shivakumar said, "You (the media) are creating confusion. We don’t have any confusion. You have confusion. I wish him all the best, good luck."
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Shivakumar also congratulated Siddaramaiah, who on Tuesday equalled the record of Devaraj Urs as the longest-serving chief minister of Karnataka.
In his second term as chief minister, Siddaramaiah completed 2,792 days in office, matching Urs’ record, and is set to surpass it on January 7.
On the milestone, Shivakumar said, "I wish him success. May God bless him. I pray that God gives him good health and the opportunity to serve the people."
The power tussle within the ruling Congress has intensified amid speculation over a possible change in leadership, after the government reached the halfway mark of its five-year term on November 20.
The speculation was fuelled by reports of a "power-sharing" arrangement between Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar at the time of the Congress government’s formation in 2023.
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BJP’s Nitin Nabin slams TMC over infiltration, SIR row
Kolkata (PTI): BJP president Nitin Nabin on Wednesday launched a scathing attack on the TMC government in West Bengal, accusing it of protecting illegal infiltrators, targeting Hindus and playing “dirty politics” to derail the ongoing SIR of electoral rolls.
Nabin alleged that there was a deliberate attempt by the TMC to turn West Bengal into Bangladesh and claimed that while the Election Commission was determined to weed out infiltrators and fake voters, the ruling party was committed to protecting them.
“The TMC government wants West Bengal to merge with Bangladesh. Under its rule, the demography of the state is being changed, posing a threat to national security,” he said.
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Dismissing the TMC’s allegation that the EC was harassing common people through the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, the BJP president said it was the state administration that was intimidating citizens to malign the poll panel.
“It is not the Election Commission that is harassing people. It is the TMC government’s SDOs and BDOs who are doing it to create fear and discredit the EC,” he alleged.
Nabin also accused the TMC government of being a protector of infiltrators and claimed that lawlessness had replaced governance in the state.
“Factories have been shut, and enterprises of corruption and lawlessness have been opened. Women are not safe under the TMC rule, and Hindus are being tortured,” he alleged.
Asserting that the BJP was fighting against what he described as the misrule of the TMC in West Bengal, Nabin said the party would continue efforts to curb infiltration, electoral manipulation and administrative intimidation in the state.
