Karnataka leadership row intensifies with minister's 'dog' remark
Bengaluru (PTI): The simmering leadership row in Karnataka took a sharp turn on Tuesday after Minister H C Mahadevappa made remarks invoking a High Court observation on stray dogs, drawing reactions from senior Congress leaders and the Opposition.
Speaking to reporters in Mysuru on Monday, Mahadevappa, considered close to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, in cryptic remarks said, "Where is the discussion on leadership issue? The High Court says time and again to catch stray dogs and confine them. Here the political leadership is strong."
When asked to clarify whom he was referring to with the dog metaphor, the social welfare minister said he was only citing the High Court order.
"I was only referring to what the High Court had said. I do not know how you people perceive it," he added.
Mahadevappa's remarks come amid the ongoing speculation over the leadership tussle between Siddaramaiah and his deputy D K Shivakumar. The minister also dismissed talk of any change at the top.
On the issue of leadership change, Mahadevappa said, "Who can give direction to the party high command? Can you and me direct it? It's they who can give us direction and not the other way round. What if tail wags the dog?"
Meanwhile, Shivakumar said he would not comment on Mahadevappa's remarks.
"I am not ready to react to Mahadevappa's statement. Not just him, but anybody. I had said this before as well. Siddaramaiah and our Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge have also spoken on our leadership issue," Shivakumar, who is also state Congress president, told reporters on Tuesday.
He added, "It is a decision taken by me, Siddaramaiah and the party high command. Time will answer what the decision was. There is nothing hidden in this dealing. Siddaramaiah himself will answer the people when the time comes."
Shivakumar's brother D K Suresh said he was unaware of the context of Mahadevappa's remark.
"I don't have the information whom Mahadevappa referred to as dogs," the former Lok Sabha member told reporters.
However, he added, "devout Congress leaders are not stray canines but honest dogs. They never ditch those who favoured them. They clear the debts of their master."
Congress MLC B K Hariprasad likened Shivakumar to a railway engine.
"Shivakumar is like the engine taking along the entire train but when it reaches a destination, he makes lots of noise and rouses vendors over there," he said while addressing mediapersons.
Meanwhile, taking a swipe at Mahadevappa, Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council Chalavadi Narayanaswamy said, "the statement construes that all the leaders in Congress are dogs."
"Congress leaders like dogs very much. Mahadevappa has subtly explained whether the dog is wagging its tail or tail is wagging the dog."
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Mamata accuses BJP of trying to 'rig' Bengal polls, alleges central forces acting at its behest
Kolkata (PTI): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday accused the BJP of trying to "rig" the West Bengal assembly elections, alleging that central forces and election observers were acting at the behest of the saffron party.
The BJP, however, dismissed her allegations, accusing her of "trying to create confusion sensing public anger against the TMC".
Visiting several polling booths in her Bhabanipur assembly constituency where voting is underway, Banerjee alleged that democratic norms have been severely compromised by the authorities this assembly election.
The Bhabanipur assembly segment is Banerjee's political bastion, where she is locked in a prestige battle against Leader of the Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari, in what is being seen as a symbolic rematch of Nandigram, where he had defeated her in the 2021 assembly polls.
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"BJP wants to rig this election," she told reporters.
Stating that elections are held in West Bengal in a peaceful manner, Banerjee asked, "Is there goonda raj here?"
West Bengal has had a tradition of poll-related violence with the Calcutta High Court having ordered CBI investigations into post-poll violence after the 2021 assembly elections.
Alleging that TMC workers and leaders were facing atrocities at the hands of police and CAPF personnel, Banerjee said her party cadres "were ready to die".
The TMC supremo, who usually steps out of her Kalighat residence in the afternoon on polling day to cast her vote at Mitra Institution School, went out before 8 am and visited several polling stations in the constituency, including those in the Chetla area of south Kolkata.
She later sat outside a polling station at Chakraberia in Bhabanipur and spoke to reporters, alleging irregularities and accusing the BJP of trying to influence the polling process through central forces and observers.
"Several observers have come from outside and are acting as per the BJP's directions. People are supposed to cast their votes -- can voting take place like this?" Banerjee said.
She also alleged that all TMC party flags had been removed beforehand and claimed that outsiders were interfering with the polling process.
"They are not allowing the councillor of ward number 70 to step out. They are picking up all our boys. Abhishek and I stayed awake the entire night," she said.
Banerjee further claimed that some people from outside the state were trying to create disturbances in the constituency and sought immediate intervention from the Election Commission.
The BJP, however, dismissed her allegations, claiming that the ruling party was trying to create confusion after sensing public anger against it.
Adhikari said the CM will lose the election.
The LoP offered prayers at two temples in the constituency's Khidirpur area.
Adhikari said people are coming out in large numbers to vote, with the Election Commission making proper arrangements for ensuring free and fair election.
"Does not matter, she will lose," Adhikari told reporters about the TMC chief venturing out on polling day early in the morning in a departure from her practice of going out only in the afternoon to cast her vote.
The party's de facto second-in-command Abhishek Banerjee, on the other hand, asserted that the TMC will win with a higher number of seats than in 2021.
The Diamond Harbour MP, after casting his vote at Mitra Institution, accused the poll observers of highhandedness in different places.
"But these things will not matter, we will win by a higher number of seats this election," he told reporters.
Voting is underway in 142 constituencies in the second and final phase of the West Bengal assembly elections amid unprecedented security arrangements.
Polling began at 7 am with voters lining up outside booths across Kolkata, Howrah, North and South 24 Parganas, Nadia, Hooghly and Purba Bardhaman -- districts that together form the political and electoral core of the state.
The outcome of this phase is expected to be crucial as it covers south Bengal, considered the TMC's traditional stronghold, where the BJP is seeking major inroads.
Polling will continue till 6 pm.
The first phase of the assembly elections on April 23 had recorded a turnout of 93.19 per cent -- the highest ever in the state.
Counting of votes will take place on May 4.
