Minister Ashwath Narayan, Cong MP almost come to blows at public event in CM Bommai's presence
Ramanagara, Jan 3: Karnataka Higher Education Minister C N Ashwath Narayan and state's lone Congress Lok Sabha member representing Bangalore Rural D K Suresh, almost came to blows in full public view at an event in the presence of Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai here on Monday.
The government event was to unveil the statues of B R Ambedkar and Bengaluru founder Kempegowda, here.
This was also Bommai's first visit to the district as the Chief Minister.
In what seemed like a veiled attack on Congress leaders, Narayan made an aggressive speech targeting opponents.
He claimed that the present BJP government was here to win the trust of the people and not to betray them, and challenged others to prove their work, as he attacked those who allegedly tried to disturb the event by raising certain slogans.
This apparently enraged Suresh, and the MP, who was visibly angry making certain gestures, barged towards Narayan.
Security personnel and some dignitaries on the stage including Health Minister K Sudhakar intervened and separated the two.
Suresh, the younger brother of state Congress chief D K Shivakumar, was joined by Congress MLC S Ravi, who tried to snatch the mike that was used by Narayan, resulting in a melee, as the Minister forcefully grabbed the mike back from him.
Suresh and other Congress leaders subsequently sat down on the stage in protest.
Amid the protest, Bommai, addressing the gathering, said individual egos should not come in the way of respecting icons like Ambedkar and Kempegowda.
Pointing out that he has come to Ramanagara for the first time as CM, he said, "I have come here to contribute to development. The development will happen with everybody's cooperation and not by one individual....let's all work together for development...."
Suresh, who spoke later, said he would only apologize to the Chief Minister for what happened and not to anyone else, and attacked Narayan in his speech.
"Are you challenging us on the stage? fix the time....what culture is this? Did RSS teach this?.....Don't talk about our culture, we have culture. Mr Ashwath Narayan, we need not learn from you," he said.
As Suresh referred to RSS, BJP supporters among the audience objected to it.
Later, after the event, Congress workers tore up Narayan's posters as the mark of protest.
Bommai, later speaking to reporters, termed the incident as unfortunate and said it will in no way affect his government's commitment for the development of Ramanagara district.
"We should all work together for development....there is no need to create an atmosphere of election, much before the election," he said.
Stating that the incident is the best example to prove that Congress culture is "goonda culture", state BJP in a tweet, condemning it, said "it is ironic that an MP doesn't have the basic sense as to how to behave on the stage, where the Chief Minister is present."
Several BJP leaders including its state President Nalin Kumar Kateel and Narayan's cabinet colleagues condemned Suresh's conduct.
Meanwhile, jumping to his brother Suresh's defence, Congress President D K Shivakumar questioned Ashwath Narayan's relationship with Ramanagara. "What has he or BJP done for the district? It is sheer arrogance on part of the Minister."
Congress and JD(S) are major players in Vokkaliga dominated Ramanagara district, where BJP is attempting to make inroads.
Narayan, a Vokkaliga himself, who was earlier the in-charge Minister of Ramanagara, is at the forefront of BJP's attempts to make inroads into the district by taking on the 'DK brothers' (Shivakumar and Suresh), and today's incident is seen as a sequel to those efforts.
JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy and his wife Anita Kumaraswamy are also MLAs from the district.
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Ordinance issued to increase number of Supreme Court judges from 34 to 38
New Delhi (PTI): The government has promulgated an ordinance to increase the strength of the Supreme Court from the present 34 judges to 38, including the Chief Justice of India.
The law ministry notified the ordinance on Saturday, which amended the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act, 1956, to increase the sanctioned strength of the top court.
So far, the sanctioned strength of the top court was 34, including the Chief Justice of India (CJI). Now, the number of judges has been increased by four, taking the sanctioned strength to 38.
The top court will now have 37 judges, other than the CJI.
With the apex court having two vacancies at present, and the ordinance coming into force immediately, the Supreme Court Collegium will now have to recommend six names for appointment as judges in the top court.
A bill will be brought in the Monsoon Session of Parliament to convert the ordinance – an executive order – into a law passed by Parliament.
The Union Cabinet had cleared a draft bill on May 5 to increase the number of apex court judges.
The strength of the Supreme Court was last increased from 30 to 33 (excluding the CJI) in 2019.
The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act, as originally enacted in 1956, put the maximum number of judges (excluding the CJI) at 10.
This number was increased to 13 by the Supreme Court (Number of Judges), Amendment Act, 1960, and to 17 by another amendment to the law.
The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Act, 1986, augmented the strength of judges from 17 to 25, excluding the CJI.
A fresh amendment in 2009 further increased the strength from 25 to 30.
Article 124(3) of the Constitution lists the qualifications required to become a Supreme Court judge.
An Indian citizen who has either served as a high court judge for at least five years, or as an advocate for 10 years, or is a distinguished jurist, can be appointed to the top court.
The strength of the Supreme Court is increased based on the recommendations of the CJI, who writes to the Union law minister. After consulting the finance ministry, the Department of Justice under the law ministry moves the Cabinet with a draft bill.
