No political crisis at all in Karnataka: CM Yediyurappa
Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Friday ruled out any political crisis, even as the rumblings within the ruling BJP have come out in the open during the visit of its national General Secretary in-charge of the State Arun Singh, amid speculations in some quarters about his replacement.
The Chief Minister said that the BJP high command will decide on action against party MLC A H Vishwanath for his recent "open statements," as he rubbished as "baseless" his allegations against his younger son and party vice-president B Y Vijayendra of interference in administration and "kickbacks" in an irrigation project.
"There is no political crisis at all...what is happening is just because one or two people (legislators) are saying something in the media, it is creating misunderstanding...these one or two people speaking against me is not new, they have been doing it since the beginning and it is getting highlighted," Yediyurappa said.
Speaking to reporters here, he said, about 60 legislators have met national General Secretary Arun Singh on Thursday, but these one or two people who are making statements were not even allowed to meet him.
"There is no confusion or crisis, we are all together and united, and are focusing on the development work. None of my cabinet colleagues are disturbed by any of these things...
we will try and talk to one or two people who are involved in such activities, and try to resolve things," he added.
Speculations have been rife for some time now that a section of the ruling BJP is trying to push for unseating Yediyurappa, despite Singh ruling out replacing the Chief Minister and asserting that the 78-year old Lingayat strong man will continue in the top post.
MLA from Hubli-Dharwad West Arvind Bellad and Vijayapura MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal who are said to be from the faction seeking Yediyurappa's replacement did not meet Singh on Thursday.
However, Tourism Minister C P Yogeshwar, who is also reportedly disgruntled, held discussions with him.
Not willing to comment on Vishwanath's statements, Yediyurappa said, the high command will decide on what action should be taken against him.
Regarding his allegation against his son and kickbacks in an irrigation project, the CM said, "these are all baseless allegations and the Irrigation Department Secretary will clarify everything...unnecessarily such allegations are being made, there is no basis for it. It is being done for political reasons."
Vishwanath has openly demanded Yediyurappa's ouster, and levelled allegations of corruption and interference in administration against Vijayendra.
This has resulted in a slugfest, as it elicited sharp reactions from the faction supporting the CM, especially his political secretaries M P Renukacharya and S R Vishwanath.
To add to this, allegations of phone-tapping and conspiracy to fix him by Bellad, had caused further embarrassment to the party and the government.
Amid speculations about replacing him, Yediyurappa had earlier said that he will continue in the top post as long as the BJP high command has confidence in him, but had subsequently asserted that there was no confusion on the issue of leadership and that he will work for the development of the state during the remaining two years of the term.
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Bihar has 41,000 centenarian voters, 143 are above 120 years
Patna(PTI): Bihar has a total of 7,80,22,933 electorate of which 41,000 are registered centenarian voters with more than 140 of them being over 120 years of age, according to the latest Election Commission data.
The total number of voters aged below 30 years is around 21 per cent while those over 80 years of age is about 2.06 per cent.
The data, shared by the office of the Chief Electoral Officer, Bihar, here on Thursday shows, the state has 16,07,527 electorates who are in the age group from 80 years to 120 years and above.
While the total number of voters who are above 100 years in the state is 40,601 (male-17,445, female-23,153 and third gender-three), voters who are above 110 years are 247 (male-120 and female-127). The total number of voters above 120 years in the state is 143, according to the data.
The number of voters who are above 80 years is 1,28,2296 (male- 61,4673, female- 66,7614 and third gender-9), number of electorates who are above 90 years is 28,42,40 (male- 11,8213, female- 16,024 and third gender is three).
The total number of registered voters in the state has increased to 7,80,22,933 from 7,72,28,467.
The district where the maximum number of 80 years and above voters are registered is Vaishali with 3.05 per cent (82,758) of the total electorates, followed by Nalanda with 2.82 per cent (67,161), Lakhisarai with 2.71 per cent (21,118), Madhubani with 2.66 per cent (92,824), Patna with 2.60 per cent (13,514), Sitamarhi with 2.59 per cent (69,558), Banka with 2.52 per cent (39,436), Nawada with 2.31 per cent (43,511), Kaimur with 2.22 per cent (27,711) and Sheohar with 2.04 per cent (6,760).
With 38,174 voters (1.36 per cent of the total votes in the district), West Champaran has the lowest number of registered electors who are above 80, followed by Madhpura with 1.39 per cent (19,672), Saharsa with 1.44 per cent (20,840), Katihar with 1.49 per cent (33,321), East Champaran with 1.53 per cent (57,152), Muzaffarpur and Gopalganj with 1.70 per cent each (61,463 and 35,724 respectively) and Purnea with 1.73 per cent (40,189), according to the data of the ECI.
