No Dalit MP from K'taka in Union Cabinet: Siddaramaiah slams BJP
Bengaluru: Senior Congress leader and former chief minister Siddaramaiah has hit out at the BJP for not inducting a Dalit MP from Karnataka in the Union cabinet, saying "upliftment" of the community will not happen just by "big talk".
Five Dalit candidates of the BJP had won from Karnataka in the recent Lok Sabha elections.
"Upliftment of Dalits won't happen just by big talk. In the recent elections several BJP candidates have won from reserved constituencies. Best wishes to them.
"Despite this not even one Dalit MP from the state has got representation in the Union cabinet. Is there a bigger injustice or betrayal than this?" Siddaramaiah, who is also the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader, tweeted in Kannada.
Calling Siddaramaiah "Twitter Ramaiah," the Karnataka BJP hit back at the Congress leader and asked him to make veteran party leader Mallikarjun Kharge, who lost in the Lok Sabha polls, the chief minister, if he really cared for Dalits.
People are also aware that it was Siddaramaiah who prevented G Parameshwara (now deputy chief minister) from becoming the chief minister as he was a Dalit, it alleged in a tweet in Kanada.
"Respected Twitter Ramaiah. Don't show your love towards Dalits only through your tweets. People of the state know that you averted chief minister position to G Parameshwara (now deputy chief minister), as he was a Dalit.
"If you really cared for Dalits make Mallikarjun Kharge, who has lost election- the CM," the Karnataka BJP tweeted.
Lok Sabha members from Karnataka-- Pralhad Joshi (Union parliamentary affairs minister), D V Sadananda Gowda (Union chemicals and fertilizers minister) and Suresh Angadi (minister of state for railways) were inducted into Narendra Modi's council of ministers last Thursday, apart from Nirmala Sitharaman (Union finance minister), who was elected to the Rajya Sabha from the state.
The induction of Gowda from the Vokkaliga community and Angadi from the Lingayat community is considered as a balancing act to give representation to the two dominant communities of Karnataka in the Union cabinet.
Joshi and Sitharaman are Brahmins.
State BJP leaders are hopeful of more representation for Karnataka in the next round of expansion of the Modi ministry, including for Dalits and Lingayats as more number of seats were won by the communities- nine in all.
In the Lok Sabha polls, the saffron wave had swept the entire state, with the BJP winning 25 of the 28 seats, breaking barriers of caste and region.
Though Lingayats were considered as a vote bank of the BJP and Vokkaligas for JD(S) and to an extent of the Congress, a larger consolidation of Hindu votes in favour of the saffron party, including from backward classes and Dalits, was seen in this general elections.
Region-wise, the BJP that was considered to be strong in Mumbai Karnataka, the state's coastal belt and to an extent in Hyderabad Karnataka, has made inroads distinctively into the Old Mysuru region this time, which was earlier said to be a battlefield reserved for the Congress and JD(S).
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
2 Indian nationals part of crew of luxury cruise ship that reported hantavirus outbreak
London (PTI): At least two Indian nationals are part of the crew of the Dutch vessel MV Hondius which reported a hantavirus outbreak with five confirmed cases and three deaths so far, according to the BBC.
The luxury cruise ship, operated by Oceanwide Expeditions, began its journey on April 1 from Argentina’s Ushuaia and is expected to arrive in Spain’s Canary Islands on May 10.
About 150 passengers and crew from 28 countries were initially aboard the luxury cruise, but dozens disembarked on the island of St Helena on April 24, according to the report.
Of the 28 nationalities onboard, 38 are from the Philippines, 31 from the UK, 23 from the US, 16 from the Netherlands, 14 from Spain, nine from Germany, six from Canada, and two crew members from India, among others, the BBC reported.
ALSO READ: West Bengal board declares class 10 exam results, 86.83 pc students pass
The World Health Organization said on Thursday that five of the eight suspected hantavirus cases had been confirmed.
A 69-year-old Dutch woman, confirmed to have the virus, has died; her Dutch husband and a German woman were also among the fatalities. Their cases are being investigated.
The UN health agency has said the outbreak is not the start of a pandemic.
Maria van Kerkhove, an infectious disease epidemiologist at WHO, told a news briefing that the situation is not the same as six years ago with Covid-19 because hantavirus spreads through “close, intimate contact”.
Van Kerkhove said “this is not Covid, this is not influenza, it spreads very, very differently”. She said authorities had asked “everyone to wear a mask” on board the MV Hondius.
Those in contact with or caring for suspected cases, she added, should “wear a higher level of personal protective equipment”.
Hantavirus typically spreads from rodents - but in the latest outbreak the transmission between people was documented for the first time, the WHO said.
Meanwhile, health authorities are racing to trace dozens of people who have recently disembarked from the Dutch vessel MV Hondius.
Oceanwide Expedition said 29 passengers, of at least 12 different nationalities, had left the MV Hondius in St Helena, the British Overseas Territory.
It also said the body of one deceased person—now known to be a Dutch man - was taken off the vessel.
Seven of those who left the cruise liner were British nationals.
