No MLA will quit Congress & join BJP, says Siddaramaiah
Bengaluru, May 10: Asserting that the Congress-JD(S) coalition government will be stable, coordination committee chief and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah Friday said no MLA would leave the grand old party and go with the BJP.
"BJP people are lying; no MLA will go with them.... the government that is there will be stable," Siddaramaiah told reporters in Kalburgi district.
Alleging that Yeddyurappa has "lust" for power, he said "he had to resign in three days as Chief Minister. he should be ashamed...but still he is claiming repeatedly that he will become Chief Minister, 20 MLAs will come. From where will they come?"
"No one (is disgruntled in Congress), disgruntled are in the BJP," the CLP leader said and asked whether the BJP would 'buy" their MLAs and where they would get the money for that.
Siddaramaiah's response came following Yeddyurappa's statement that the longevity of the Congress-JDS coalition government in the state would depend on the stand taken by about 20 "disgruntled" Congress legislators after the Lok Sabha poll results on May 23.
Karnataka Pradesh Congress President Dinesh Gundu Rao too hit out at Yeddyurappa and said no one would leave the party.
He said, "Does his (Yeddyurappa) word have any value? Has he been able to do what he has been claiming? Every time he keeps uttering that the government will fall, we have so many people...
We have also heard his tapes, promising Rs 20 crore to lure MLAs, where will he get the money from, who is giving?"
Rao was referring to the controversial audio tapes, which came out in February this year, showing Yeddyurappa in a purported conversation to lure a JD(S) MLAs in his alleged attempt to topple the Congress-JDS government.
The government has said it will get the audio clip investigated by a Special Investigation Team.
"20 Legislators or anybody else, no one will go. It's also not possible. After the May 23 results, government will become much stronger and continue," he added.
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Kerala court sentences 20-year-old man in minor girl rape case
Kollam (Kerala) (PTI): A Kerala court has sentenced a 20-year-old man to 21 years of imprisonment for raping a minor girl after befriending her on a social media app.
Karunagappally Fast Track Special Court judge Rajeevan Vachal sentenced the convict to 21 years under the relevant provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, special public prosecutor (SPP) N C Premchandran said.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 1.1 lakh on the convict, the prosecutor said.
The incident occurred in 2024 when the accused befriended her on a social media app and then offered to take her to the Azheekal beach here.
However, instead of taking her to the beach, he took her to an isolated place behind the CHC hospital at Mynagappally here and raped her, the SPP said.
Following the incident, the girl attempted suicide, but was saved and then told the doctors what had happened, the prosecutor said.
The hospital authorities informed the police, who registered a case and launched an investigation.
The prosecutor said that seven witnesses were examined and 20 documents were submitted before the court to substantiate the guilt of the accused.
