JD(S) leader Kumaraswamy expresses regret over his statement on women, says comment twisted
Bengaluru (PTI): JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy on Monday expressed regret over his comments that women in rural areas have "lost their way" due to the five guarantee schemes of the Congress government in Karnataka, but claimed that his statement is being twisted.
The former chief minister attacked Deputy Chief Minister and state Congress chief D K Shivakumar accusing him of trying to blow up the remarks in a way which he did not mean, as he pointed out at comments made by Congress leaders against women recently.
"What obscene comments have I made? I have asked women to be cautious while making a decision and not to lose their way....What I meant is don't fall for the guarantee scheme and vote for Congress....For that Congress has decided for a state wide-protest. They don't have anything else to speak against me," Kumaraswamy said.
Speaking to reporters here, he said, he need not learn from the Congress about respecting women.
"I still say what I said that day is -- I cautioned them (women) and asked them to decide carefully as they (Congress in the name of guarantees) will destroy your livelihood....I have no prestige, if my comments have hurt women office bearers of Congress and if my statement has caused sorrow to someone I express my regret," he added.
Further stating he had admitted on the floor of the Assembly that he too had lost his way in the past and that his wife corrected him and brought back him on the right track, Kumaraswamy said, "If my statement has hurt any women, that was not my intention, my statement is being twisted."
"I express my regret to all the women of the state, if my mothers are hurt. Even when I spoke that day I addressed women as mothers. Unlike Congress leaders who used distasteful comments," he said, adding, he will also respond to the women's commission notice over the issue.
Questioning as to from whose pockets the government is funding guarantee schemes, Kumaraswamy during a road show in Tumakuru on Saturday said, "This government (state) in the last election had announced five guarantees, (because of which), our mothers in the villages have lost their way. One should think about what will happen to their livelihood and that of their families."
The comment has elicited sharp reactions from the ruling party, with women Congress workers staging a protest with "Go back Kumaraswamy" slogans and placards in Mandya, from where he is contesting the Lok Sabha election, and other places, and also Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his cabinet colleagues attacking him.
Taking a dig at Shivakumar stating that he urgently held a virtual meeting of Congress office bearers, legislators, former legislators and women office bearers over this issue, the JD(S) state president today said: "He (Shivakumar) has said that after Indira Gandhi's assassination my disrespectful and unpardonable comments against women was the second most painful thing in his life."
"....I want to ask him about the instances where women of some families were kidnapped and their lands were taken over by threatening. Didn't he feel pain about those incidents? I have seen all these things," he said.
Pointing at several Congress ministers sharply reacting to his alleged comments and women workers of that party even holding a protest in Mandya, Kumaraswamy claimed that when someone asked those protesting women as to why they were doing so, they have stated that they were not aware of the reason but were paid Rs 250-Rs 300.
Shivakumar, who held a virtual meeting with Congress workers, has instructed them to hold protests against Kumaraswamy's statement across the state, he said.
"I want to ask Mr Shivakumar about his party's in-charge (Randeep Singh Surjewala) recent comments against Hemamalini, a noted actress of this country." He added sarcastically: "These are the people who give utmost respect for women."
Further questioning a Congress spokesperson's comments on the BJP candidate from Mandi in Himachal Pradesh Kangana Ranaut, he said, "Please speak about it Mr Shivaumar. You demanded a response from Narendra Modi and Nirmala Sitharaman regarding my comments. What Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi have to say about comments by your party leaders?"
He also listed out various "distasteful comments" made against women by several Congress leaders including K R Ramesh Kumar and Shamanuru Shivashankarappa, and said "I need not learn from Congress about respecting women."
Noting that he was cautioning the women folk, the mothers of the state that the government is giving them Rs 2,000 per month, while they are pickpocketing Rs 5,000-Rs 6,000 from earning members of their family, Kumaraswamy said, "So I told them to be cautious and not to lose their way, don't fall prey to it."
"Rs 2,000 won't give permanent solutions to issues faced by your families. Despite 75 years after Independence, you are still made to seek alms by extending your arms. While my programmes were aimed at strengthening you. This is what I have told the womenfolk," he said, adding that as CM he had banned arrack on the request of women.
Asking women workers of the Congress to go through his statement, instead of staging a protest under the hot sun with "Go back" slogans against him, Kumaraswamy said, "Go back has become a new trend these days...I need not fear 'your go back', when I have not committed a mistake."
On Shivakumar alleging that Kumaraswamy and his family owns about thousand acres of land around Bengaluru, he said, "Yes, I have 45-48 acres of land, which I brought from the money earned as a film distributor before entering politics. It was ten years before I entered politics. I do agriculture there, I have not done resorts. Come and see."
Noting that his father H D Deve Gowda, even when he was Leader of the Opposition did farming and strived, he said, "what did he (Shivakumar) strive for? Stealing rocks and sending them to foreign countries is his striving? There are many things to talk about, if I have to."
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2 LPG tankers sail through Strait of Hormuz, 16 still stranded
New Delhi (PTI): Two more Indian-flagged LPG tankers have safely crossed the war-hit Strait of Hormuz and are headed for Indian ports even as 16 other vessels remain stranded in the Persian Gulf, officials said Monday.
LPG vessel Green Sanvi carrying 46,650 tonnes of LPG is scheduled to reach Indian port on April 7 while Green Asha with 15,500 tonnes of cargo is scheduled to touch Indian coast on April 9, said Mukesh Mangal, Additional Secretary in Ministry of Ports, Shipping & Waterways at a news briefing.
"Indian maritime operations remain safe and uninterrupted amid West Asia crisis. 16 Indian-flagged vessels with 433 seafarers are in the region; two LPG carriers, Green Sanvi and Green Asha, safely crossed Strait of Hormuz," he said.
With this, eight Indian-flagged LPG tankers have safely transited through the strategic waterway, which has remained effectively shut since the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran on February 28 and Tehran's sweeping retaliation.
Of the vessels still stuck in the Persian Gulf, one is of a loaded liquefied natural gas (LNG), two are LPG tankers (one loaded and one empty), six are crude carriers (five loaded, one empty), three are container ships, one is a dredger, one is carrying chemical cargo and two are bulk carriers, he said.
Asked about reports of Iran charging a fee for letting ships cross the strait, Mangal said, "we have no information of such payments."
For a country that relies on imports from Gulf nations to meet as much as 60 per cent of its cooking gas needs, the arrivals will help ease the worst LPG shortage it is battling in decades. India consumed 33.15 million tonne of LPG last year, with imports accounting for about 60 per cent of demand. As much as 90 per cent of those imports came from West Asia.
The US-Israel attacks on Iran, and Tehran's sweeping retaliation have all but halted shipping through the strait - the narrow shipping lane that is the conduit for oil and gas exports from Gulf countries to the world. Iran has, however, stated that "non-hostile vessels" may transit the waterway after coordinating with Iranian authorities.
Last week, two LPG carriers, BW TYR and BW ELM, carrying combined LPG cargo of about 94,000 tonnes safely transited the region. While BW TYR reached Mumbai on March 31, BW ELM docked at New Mangalore on April 1.
Prior to that, four Indian-flagged LPG tankers had safely sailed through the strait. Pine Gas and Jag Vasant, carrying 92,612 tonnes of LPG, reached Indian ports between March 26 and March 28. MT Shivalik and MT Nanda Devi, carrying about 92,712 tonnes of LPG, had reached Mundra port in Gujarat on March 16 and Kandla port in the state on March 17.
Originally, there were 28 Indian-flagged vessels in the Strait of Hormuz when the war in West Asia broke. Of these, 24 were on the West side of the strait and four on the East side. Eight vessels from the west side and two from east have managed to sail to safety.
Besides the eight LPG tankers, the Indian-flagged oil tanker Jag Laadki, with 80,886 tonnes of crude oil from the UAE, reached Mundra on March 18.
Another tanker, Jag Prakash, carrying gasoline from Oman to Africa, had previously safely crossed the strait and is en route to Tanzania.
