LS poll rout; Kumaraswamy calls informal cabinet meet Friday
Bengaluru, May 23: With the Congress-JDS alliance in Karnataka facing a humiliating defeat in the Lok Sabha polls, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy has called an "informal" cabinet meeting on Friday.
The Chief Minister has also convened a JDS legislature party meeting to review the results, party sources said.
"An informal cabinet meeting has been called tomorrow, May 24, 2019 at 12:30 PM, at cabinet hall in Vidhana Soudha (the state secretariat)," an official intimation sent out to Ministers said.
At the meeting, the Chief Minister, along with his cabinet colleagues from both parties, are likely to discuss the Lok Sabha poll outcome and the way ahead for the coalition, sources said.
As the Congress-JDS government completed one year Thursday, it is on the edge with the Lok Sabha results widely expected to have a bearing on its stability.
The meeting gains significance in the backdrop of both Congress and JD(S) facing a humiliating defeat in the Lok Sabha polls by winning just one seat each, indicating that the alliance between the two parties has not worked.
Though coalition leaders decided to jointly fight the polls and reached a seat sharing agreement of 21 and seven seats for Congress and JD(S) respectively,it was not something grass root level workers of both parties were okay with, especially in old Mysuru region, where they are arch rivals.
BJP had contested 27 of 28 seats and supported independent candidate Sumalatha Ambareesh in Mandya.
According to sources, despite efforts by both parties to pacify their cadres and ensure transfer of votes to each other, the alliance did not work in constituencies of old Mysuru region, that has had implications on the poll outcome and in turn may affect the stability of the government.
Voices have started emerging in the Congress to end the alliance, holding the partnership with JD(S) as the reason for the party's poor performance in the Lok Sabha polls.
The alliance also fears disgruntlement within and possible attempts by the BJP to "poach" its MLAs, aimed at destabilising the government.
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Police arrested Kejriwal's aide at same time his anticipatory bail plea was being heard: Atishi
New Delhi (PTI): Delhi Minister Atishi alleged on Saturday that the city police arrested Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's aide Bibhav Kumar at the same time his anticipatory bail plea was being heard in court.
Kumar was arrested on Saturday in connection with the alleged assault on AAP Rajya Sabha member Swati Maliwal, officials said.
He was picked up from the chief minister's residence by a Delhi Police team around noon, a senior officer said.
Addressing a press conference, Atishi said Kumar had filed a plea for anticipatory bail before the Tis Hazari court.
Kumar was picked up for questioning by the Delhi Police around 11 am. As soon as he was taken for questioning, news channels started saying he had been arrested, she claimed.
"This shows the BJP's conspiracy. Their intention is to disturb our election campaign and Arvind Kejriwal," she said.
Atishi said the Tis Hazari court considered Kumar's matter urgent and agreed to hear his plea on Saturday itself.
"The court commenced hearing on his plea at 3:55 pm and within 20 minutes, the Delhi Police arrested him at the Civil Lines police station. As soon as his lawyers began arguments, the police learnt that their case is weak and Kumar would get relief. So they arrested Kumar," she claimed.
Atishi alleged that when the court was dictating its order on the matter at 4:55 pm, the Delhi Police lawyer appeared through videoconferencing and said Kumar had already been arrested.
Kumar's anticipatory bail plea has become "infructuous" as he has been arrested, the court observed.
The chief minister's aide, accused of assaulting Maliwal on May 13 at Kejriwal's residence, was arrested two days after an FIR was registered against him at the Civil Lines police station.
Additional Sessions Judge Sushil Anuj Tyagi, while dictating the order to the court staff on the anticipatory bail plea, noted that Additional Public Prosecutor Atul Kumar Srivastava appeared through videoconferencing around 4:45 pm and informed the court that Kumar had already been arrested.
Atishi said, "Even they knew that their case was weak and if the case was heard, Bibhav Kumar would get bail. That is why tomorrow (Sunday) Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will lead all AAP leaders and to the BJP headquarters and court arrest."
Kejriwal said he and other AAP leaders would go to the BJP headquarters on Sunday "so that the prime minister can send anyone he wants to jail".
The BJP is saying they would send AAP MP Raghav Chadha and Delhi ministers Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj to jail, he claimed at a press briefing, hours after Kumar was arrested.
