Kateel should resign as BJP State President for Assembly election defeat: Renukacharya
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Bengaluru: BJP leader and former MLA M P Renukacharya on Thursday said the party's state President Nalin Kumar Kateel should have resigned from the post, taking moral responsibility for the Assembly poll debacle.
Targeting party leaders without taking any names, the former minister alleged that the BJP office has been turned into a "corporate office", and urged them to introspect and work towards strengthening the party and boosting the morale of the workers for the Lok Sabha elections and the zilla and taluk panchayat polls, among others.
"After the election debacle, the state president should have taken moral responsibility and resigned. He should have taken the moral responsibility. Some days ago there was news that he had resigned, and within an hour after that statement came denying it. What is happening," Renukacharya asked.
Speaking to reporters here, he said people still have respect towards the BJP, but the party leaders should set-right things within.
"BJP should come to power once again in the state and at the Centre, Narendra Modi should become Prime Minister once again. Morale of the party workers should be restored to face zilla panchayat , taluk panchayat and other polls. So introspect. I don't know whether there is a soul in some people to introspect," he lamented, alleging that some have turned the BJP office into a "corporate office".
Further alleging that party workers are being threatened, he asked some leaders -- without taking any names -- to shed their dictatorial attitude. Renukacharya said, "Just about four days ahead of elections, leaders held online meetings, virtual rallies. Looking at their faces daily, workers were tired."
When reporters pressed him to take names, he said he will come out with names when the situation arises. "I'm not speaking about Narendra Modi or Amit Shah or J P Nadda, but here some leaders had rigid self esteem, a sense of competition among themselves," the former MLA said.
"Leaders who had no practical knowledge, who had not won even a gram panchayat election were guiding us," he pointed out, adding, "Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai, who was the poll co-incharge for the party in Karnataka, came here and was giving guidance to us".
"Is Annamalai a big hero? He had come here and was striking a pose... Former CMs Yediyurappa and Basavaraj Bommai had to listen to someone who used to salute them (Annamalai had served as IPS officer in Karnataka in the past)," Renukacharya charged.
Targeting the state BJP leaders, he said, "When Congress was announcing poll guarantees much before the elections, our leaders were sleeping, and the party manifesto which came very late, did not even reach the people."
Candidates to some seats were announced at the last moment, he added, "which also led to the loss". State President Kateel and other leaders travelled across the state but failed to convert public response into votes, he complained.
Questioning why Yediyurappa was made to step down as chief minister, Renukacharya said his removal from the CM post contributed to the party's defeat in the Assembly election.
"With Modi and Yediyurappa as the face, you wanted to win the election, but what was your contribution towards winning the polls?" he asked party leaders, without naming anyone, despite reporters repeatedly asking whether he was targeting BJP national general secretary (organisation) B L Santhosh.
He also pointed out that denial of tickets to some senior leaders led to the situation, and questioned, "Were they denied tickets to make way for your (leaders) chelas (followers)?"
Ruling out the possibility of him joining the Congress, Renukacharya said his recent meeting with Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar was just a courtesy call.
"My intention is to see Modi as Prime Minister once again... I'm an aspirant for MP ticket, have conveyed it to the party. Let's see what happens," he said.
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Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
