Govt will survive, ready to face no-confidence motion: Cabinet
Bengaluru, Jul 11: As the government in Karnataka faces an existential crisis with the resignation of 16 legislators of the ruling coalition, the state Cabinet that met Thursday resolved to face the situation "bravely" and "withstand" it unitedly.
Expressing confidence that the government would survive, the cabinet that met under the leadership of Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy said it was ready to face a no-confidence motion, if moved by the opposition BJP.
"Political developments were discussed, what was discussed and decided was that the government is in a crisis situation, there is no doubt about it, various reasons for it and steps to solve it were discussed," Rural development minister Krishna Byre Gowda said.
Speaking to reporters after the cabinet meeting here, he claimed that this was the sixth or seventh attempt to destabilise the government.
"It can be called as continuous assault rather, by the BJP, using the central government.
Till today we have withstood all their assaults, this time the situation is more serious than previous attempts we concede that, but after considering all pros and cons, the Chief Minister, the deputy chief minister and the ministers have resolved to face it bravely and withstand it unitedly," he added.
The resignation of 16 Congress-JD(S) MLAs has pushed the 13-month old coalition government to the brink of collapse.
Stating that cabinet has decided to continue efforts to pacify MLAs who have left, Gowda said it would make all possible efforts to save the government.
"All ministers shared their opinion and to make unified effort to save the government," he said.
Of the 16 MLAs who have resigned, 13 are from the Congress and three from the JD(S).
The coalition's strength in the House is 116 (Congress 78, JD(S) 37 and BSP one), besides the speaker.
With the support of the two independents, who resigned from the ministry on Monday, the opposition BJP has 107 MLAs in the 224-member House, where the halfway mark is 113.
If the resignations of the 16 MLAs are accepted, the ruling coalition's tally will be reduced to 100.
Asked if the government will seek trust vote, he said, "if the need arises, we will do it, but now opposition is in urgency, so if they have so much urgency let them move the no-confidence motion, we will face it.
BJP has demanded resignation of Chief Minister Kumaraswamy, saying his government has "lost majority."
State BJP chief B S Yeddyurappa has even petitioned the governor in this regard and sought his intervention.
Asked if the governor would ask government to prove majority, Gowda said, "constitutionally governor has some powers, we will have to follow them, and we will abide by his directions that are constitutional.
On the future of the finance bill during the assembly session from Friday, he said "Let's see what happens.
Opposition has certain privileges and rights to discuss it and seek vote and even press for division.
We will not try to override on it. We will give them (opposition) all the opportunity...we are even ready for a vote on it," he added.
Asked if the cabinet discussed alleged interference by the governor in governments affairs, Gowda said "there are reports and we have ventilated those issues outside the government premises, and we will continue to ventilate those issues, but it was not discussed in the cabinet."
On reports that the Chief Secretary has been allegedly asked by the governor's office not to take any major policy decisions, he said he was not aware about it.
If such a thing had happened, the chief secretary would have brought it to the cabinet's notice.
"Lot of discussions took place in the cabinet... at no point did the chief secretary bring up the issue of such an advice, if it does exist," he added.
Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah recently said though all ministers belonging to the Congress and JDS, barring the CM and the deputy CM, tendered their resignations to their respective party chiefs to make way for the disgruntled MLAs, they have not been forwarded to the governor and technically they continued to be ministers.
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Why remove Mahatma Gandhi's name, asks Priyanka on move to replace MGNREGA
New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Monday slammed the government over its move to change the name of MGNREGA, asking what is the government's intention behind removing the name of Mahatma Gandhi who is the tallest leader not just in India but in the world.
A bill to repeal the MGNREGA and bring a new law for rural employment -- Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) Bill, 2025 -- is set to be introduced in the Lok Sabha. According to a copy of the bill, it seeks to introduce the VB-G RAM G Bill, 2025, in Parliament and repeal the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) of 2005.
Asked about the government's move, Priyanka Gandhi said, "Whenever the name of a scheme is changed there are so many changes that have to be made in offices, stationery... for which money is spent. So, what is the benefit, why it is being done?"
"Why is Mahatma Gandhi's name being removed. Mahatma Gandhi is considered the tallest leader not just in the country but in the world, so removing his name, I really don't understand what is the objective? What is their intention?" she told reporters in Parliament House complex.
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"Even when we are debating it is on other issues not the real issues of the people. Time is being wasted, money is being wasted, they are disrupting themselves," Priyanka Gandhi added.
The bill aims at establishing a "rural development framework aligned with the national vision of Viksit Bharat 2047", by providing a statutory guarantee of 125 days of wage employment in every financial year to every rural household whose adult members volunteer to undertake unskilled manual work.
The bill has been listed in the Lok Sabha in the supplementary list of business issued on Monday.
Rural Development Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, in the statement of purpose of the Bill, said MGNREGA has provided guaranteed wage-employment to rural households over the past 20 years.
However, "further strengthening has become necessary in view of the significant socio-economic transformation witnessed in the rural landscape driven by widespread coverage of the social security interventions and saturation-oriented implementation of major government schemes", he said.
#WATCH | दिल्ली: कांग्रेस सांसद प्रियंका गांधी वाड्रा ने MGNREGA का नाम बदले जाने पर कहा, "...वे महात्मा गांधी का नाम क्यों हटा रहे हैं? वे इस देश के, इतिहास के और दुनिया के सबसे बड़े नेता माने जाते हैं। मुझे समझ नहीं आ रहा इसके पीछे इनकी(सरकार की) मंशा क्या है? सदन चल नहीं रहा।… pic.twitter.com/gp5wNLllDu
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