Karnataka Revenue minister flings kits at Sportspersons, faces flak
Bengaluru, Nov 1: Karnataka Revenue Minister R V Deshpande has courted a controversy after a video showing him throwing sports kits at sports persons at a function went viral with union Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Rathore and state BJP flaying him for his conduct.
The incident took place on Wednesday in Haliyal in Uttara Kannada district, the assembly constituency of the Minister when he was distributing the kits to talented sportspersons. Deshpande, however, accused media of misinterpreting it.
In the video, Deshpande is seen flinging kits from the stage to sports persons standing on the ground.
Karnataka BJP and Minister Rathore have hit out at Deshpande for his conduct.
"Absolutely unacceptable behavior! Mr Deshpande,please do not undermine the dignity of those athletes or your position," Rathore said in a tweet.
Karnataka BJP in a tweet said, "Don't be confused, that's not a hooligan throwing things around. This is Revenue minister Sri. R V Deshpande throwing sports kit at sportspersons.
"He seems to be inspired by Sri. HD Revanna. After all such uncivilised culture is a part & parcel of Congress party," it said.
Earlier in August, public works minister H D Revanna had come in for sharp criticism after a video purportedly showing him throwing biscuit packets to the flood victims staying in the relief camps in Hassan district went viral.
Facing the flack, Deshpande said, he distributed sports items to talented sportspersons of Haliyal with "good intention" and in "good spirit", and "they are like my own family members."
He said the media had misinterpreted his conduct.
"Whether I am meeting a Union Minister or an Industrialist or a common man, I treat every person with the same respect. That is the culture I have been inculcated with," he said in a tweet.
"Unfortunate that some of our media friends have misinterpreted the whole incident" and playing part of the video clipping again and again, he said.
"I hope everybody will understand the good intention and my concern," the minister said in another tweet.
#WATCH Karnataka Revenue Minister RV Deshpande throws sports kits from a stage at national, state and district level athletes, in Karwar's Haliyala. (31.10.18) pic.twitter.com/m82LYSh9wL
— ANI (@ANI) November 1, 2018
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NATO, others turn down US call for help in Hormuz: Trump
Washington (PTI): President Donald Trump on Tuesday said NATO and most of US' other allies have rejected his calls to help secure the Strait of Hormuz as the war with Iran entered the third week.
In a social media post, Trump asserted that Iran’s military has been “decimated” and he no longer felt the need for assistance from NATO countries or anyone else.
Last week, Trump had sought help from European nations and others who depend on oil supplies transiting from the Hormuz Strait to safeguard the critical waterway.
“The United States has been informed by most of our NATO “Allies” that they don’t want to get involved with our Military Operation against the Terrorist Regime of Iran, in the Middle East, this, despite the fact that almost every Country strongly agreed with what we are doing, and that Iran cannot, in any way, shape, or form, be allowed to have a Nuclear Weapon,” the US President said in a post on Truth Social.
Iran's attacks on Gulf nations and its grip on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil is transported, have sparked increasing concerns of a global energy crisis and are unnerving the world economy.
“I am not surprised by their action, however, because I always considered NATO, where we spend Hundreds of Billions of Dollars per year protecting these same Countries, to be a one-way street — We will protect them, but they will do nothing for us, in particular, in a time of need,” Trump said.
He said Australia, Japan and South Korea too have turned down his call for help.
“Fortunately, we have decimated Iran’s Military – Their Navy is gone, their Air Force is gone, their Anti-Aircraft and Radar is gone and perhaps, most importantly, their Leaders, at virtually every level, are gone, never to threaten us, our Middle Eastern Allies, or the World, again,” Trump said.
He said that given the scale of recent military successes, the US no longer "need" or desires assistance from NATO countries, adding that it never relied on such support in the first place.
Speaking as President of the United States, the "most powerful" country in the world, "we do not need" help from anyone, Trump said.
The West Asia conflict began on February 28 when the US-Israeli combine conducted airstrikes on Iran.
The Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that connects the Persian Gulf to the open ocean, has effectively been shut following the US and Israel attack on Iran and Tehran's sweeping retaliation.
However, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had said that from Tehran's "perspective", the strait is "open". "It is only closed to Iran's enemies, to those who carried out unjust aggression against our country and to their allies.”
Earlier in the day, a second Indian-flagged LPG tanker, Nanda Devi, reached the country after safely sailing from the war-hit Strait of Hormuz. On Monday, the first ship, Shivalik, reached Mundra port in Gujarat.
As of now, 22 Indian vessels remain on the west side and two on the east side of the strait.
Indian authorities are in constant touch with all the relevant stakeholders in the region to secure the safe passage of the remaining ships, officials said.
