Karnataka Minister Mankal Vaidya's alleged post on Republic Bharat triggers controversy
Vaidya congratulated Arnab Goswami on launch of his new channel
A poster featuring Karnataka's Minister for Fisheries, Port, and Inland Transport, Mankal Vaidya, has stirred controversy as it circulates widely on social media. The poster supposedly conveys the minister's wishes to Republic Bharat on the launch of their Kannada News Channel.
Republic Network, led by Arnab Goswami, one of the news anchors who recently faced a boycott by the INDIA bloc alliance, owns and manages the Republic Network.
The viral poster suggests that it originally appeared on the minister's official Facebook page. However, Vartha Bharati, couldn't independently verify this claim because the minister's timeline lacked any such posts. Interestingly, several social media users assert that the post was later deleted from the minister's account.
The poster features Minister Mankal Vaidya's image alongside Arnab Goswami, accompanied by a quote congratulating Goswami on the launch of the new Kannada news channel.
The circulation of this viral poster has ignited debates and discussions on social media platforms.
When reached for comment, the minister's media team denied any involvement in posting such content and said they were investigating the origin of the poster.
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Injustice to Karnataka in tax devolution, will fight it out: D K Shivakumar
Bengaluru (PTI): Alleging that the Centre has done injustice by allocating less funds to Karnataka in the tax devolution, Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Saturday said that the Congress government in the state would fight it out.
Shivakumar, also the state Congress chief, attacked BJP MPs and union ministers from the state for remaining silent on the issue and termed it "shameful."
"Injustice has happened to Karnataka. They have given more to Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. We were given less than even Andhra Pradesh, which doesn't contribute much in tax. We will fight and protest this in the days ahead," Shivakumar said.
Speaking to reporters here, he said, "We will formulate a programme to fight for - our tax, our right".
"Why have BJP MPs and Central ministers not raise their voices? Despite having five Central ministers from the state, including Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, they remain silent even though injustice is happening to the state. This is shameful," he said.
When pointed to the BJP’s reported defence that the population of the states being used as a criterion for devolution of taxes and comparison to the figures related to the Manmohan Singh-led UPA tenure, Shivakumar said, "Let's discuss all those in the Assembly....let them join the protest with us for now."
The union government on Thursday released tax devolution of Rs 1,78,173 crore to the state governments, including one advance instalment of Rs 89,086.50 crore in addition to the regular instalment due for October 2024.
Karnataka got Rs 6,498 crore in the state-wise distribution of net proceeds of union taxes and duties for October 2024.
Responding to a question on the opposition's criticism of the term "evil forces" as used in the state government’s advertisements, Shivakumar said, "Based on what we have seen and the information we have, we have tried to express our feelings to the people. I can only say this much now. Let's discuss the rest in the Assembly."
The government's Dasara advertisement in newspapers on Friday read, "May goddess Chamundeshwari bestow upon us the strength to bring peace and prosperity to the people of Karnataka and courage to slay the evil forces that try to destabilize the state with deviousness and deceit."
The advertisement was seen as a dig at the opposition BJP and JD(S), which are targeting Chief Minister Siddaramaiah over the MUDA scam and demanding his resignation.
