K'taka Deputy CM DK Shivakumar says he will retire from politics if it is proved he took commission
Bengaluru, Aug 11: Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar said he would retire from politics if it is proved that he has taken commission (bribe).
Hitting out at former chief minister Basavaraj Bommai and former minister R Ashoka for accusing him of collecting commission, he said he sought to know whether the two BJP leaders would resign if their allegations prove false.
"I will retire from politics today itself if I have taken commission from anyone. But will Bommai and Ashoka announce their political retirement if they (allegations) prove wrong?" Shivakumar said.
Shivakumar, who holds the Bengaluru development portfolio, said the investigation into the various works taken up by the BBMP will cover all aspects and not just one department.
ALSO READ: No commission allegation on Congress by contractors, says Priyank Kharge
Meanwhile, Bommai told PTI that the Congress government is indulging in severe corruption in the entire state, especially in the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (Metropolitan Bengaluru Municipal Corporation).
"The Contractors' Association has gone to the Governor and given a representation, they tweeted to Rahul Gandhi also and they have met us also. So we have taken up their cause," he said.
"There is deep, open corruption going on. No payments have been made to the contractors for the past three months. They are citing some inquiry as a reason (for stalling payments). Let them do the inquiry. We are not stopping them. Let them do an inquiry and hang the guilty but genuine people who have worked for the past six months, there is no payment happening," Bommai said.
According to him, he had released a payment of Rs 650 crore in April this year when he was chief minister.
Bommai said the property tax collected by the BBMP should be given to the contractors who completed works genuinely.
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US VP JD Vance says Lebanon not part of ceasefire, calls it ‘misunderstanding’
Budapest/Washington: US Vice President J D Vance has said that Lebanon was never included in the ceasefire understanding with Iran, describing the confusion as a “legitimate misunderstanding”.
Speaking to reporters before departing from Hungary, Vance said, “I think the Iranians thought that the ceasefire included Lebanon and it just didn’t. We never made that promise.”
He stressed that the United States had not included Lebanon in the scope of the ceasefire at any stage.
His remarks come amid continued Israeli strikes in Lebanon, where more than 200 people were reported killed, even as ceasefire talks between Iran and the US move forward.
Vance said Israel had “offered … to check themselves a little bit in Lebanon because they want to make sure that our negotiation is successful”.
He warned that if Iran allows the situation in Lebanon to affect the negotiations, it could derail the talks.
“If Iran wants to let this negotiation fall apart in a conflict where they were getting hammered over Lebanon, which has nothing to do with them and which the United States never once said was part of the ceasefire, that’s ultimately their choice,” he said.
