Not bothered how long I survive as CM, says Kumaraswamy
Bengaluru, Oct 23: H.D Kumaraswamy Tuesday asserted that the opportunity to occupy the post of Karnataka Chief Minister was "godsend" for him and he was not bothered how long he would occupy the chair.
Kumaraswamy, who is heading the Congress-JD(S) coalition government and facing frequent pinpricks from some sections of the coalition partner, said both parties had come together to save the state and not for any vested interests.
He also said the Narendra Modi "trend" witnessed in 2014 general election no more existed, as reflected in the results of several bypolls across the country.
"Karnataka has provided a new platform for the 2019 parliamentary elections and a new political change will take place from here," he said.
Kumaraswamy claimed the results of the November 3 bypolls in three Lok Sabha and two assembly constituencies in Karnataka would impact the poll outcome in the five states where assembly polls are to be held.
"Karnataka will send across a message to the nation for the 2019 election. There is a new thinking process going on in the country and Karnataka offers the platform for it," he said.
Responding to a query, he said, "I am not bothered how long I am here in this post. I believe I am here for five years. God gave me this opportunity, which I have to use for the benefit of people," he said at a meet-the-press programme organised by Press Club of Bangalore and Bangalore Reporters Guild.
The JD(S) and the Congress had entered into a post-poll alliance after the May assembly polls yielded a hung verdict with the BJP emerging as the single largest party but failing to muster the numbers to form a government.
"We did not form the government to advance our vested interests. It is a government to save the state and its people. It is not a government to protect Siddaramaiah or Kumaraswamy," he said.
The chief minister was peeved at BJP's allegations against the coalition government that it was a product of opportunism.
"Our BJP friends say that Siddaramaiah and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda were opportunists. They (BJP leaders) recall Deve Gowda's statement that finishing off Siddaramaiah was his sole objective but today the opportunists came together," he said.
"However, what will you say about BJP's interest or arrangement? It was (state BJP president) Yeddyurappa who said in 2013 (after breaking away from BJP) that my dead body will also not go to the BJP. Look at the language the BJP leaders used," he said.
On the Congress-JD(S) coalition arrangement, Kumaraswamy said developments in Karnataka had always impacted national politics.
In this context, he said Karnataka provided a platform to V P Singh to become the prime minister.
Kumaraswamy recalled the crop loan waiver, emphasis on improving education and allocation of more funds under the Anna Bhagya scheme providing 7 kg rice to each member of families belonging to the below poverty line as some of the progressive steps the government has taken.
Speaking about infrastructure projects, Kumaraswamy said the peripheral ring road and outer ring road in Bengaluru that was pending for a long time has been given life once again.
He also said 440 bridges in the rural areas would be constructed where people were forced to build temporary wooden bridges that could jeopardise their lives.
To improve administration, he said his government has streamlined the transfer process and has given a free hand to the police to take stringent action against anti-social elements.
Kumaraswamy said his government would act tough against "corrupt elements" and cited the case of two officers who were raided recently while 18 kg gold was seized from their possession.
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NATO, others turn down US call for help in Hormuz: Trump
Washington (PTI): President Donald Trump on Tuesday said NATO and most of US' other allies have rejected his calls to help secure the Strait of Hormuz as the war with Iran entered the third week.
In a social media post, Trump asserted that Iran’s military has been “decimated” and he no longer felt the need for assistance from NATO countries or anyone else.
Last week, Trump had sought help from European nations and others who depend on oil supplies transiting from the Hormuz Strait to safeguard the critical waterway.
“The United States has been informed by most of our NATO “Allies” that they don’t want to get involved with our Military Operation against the Terrorist Regime of Iran, in the Middle East, this, despite the fact that almost every Country strongly agreed with what we are doing, and that Iran cannot, in any way, shape, or form, be allowed to have a Nuclear Weapon,” the US President said in a post on Truth Social.
Iran's attacks on Gulf nations and its grip on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil is transported, have sparked increasing concerns of a global energy crisis and are unnerving the world economy.
“I am not surprised by their action, however, because I always considered NATO, where we spend Hundreds of Billions of Dollars per year protecting these same Countries, to be a one-way street — We will protect them, but they will do nothing for us, in particular, in a time of need,” Trump said.
He said Australia, Japan and South Korea too have turned down his call for help.
“Fortunately, we have decimated Iran’s Military – Their Navy is gone, their Air Force is gone, their Anti-Aircraft and Radar is gone and perhaps, most importantly, their Leaders, at virtually every level, are gone, never to threaten us, our Middle Eastern Allies, or the World, again,” Trump said.
He said that given the scale of recent military successes, the US no longer "need" or desires assistance from NATO countries, adding that it never relied on such support in the first place.
Speaking as President of the United States, the "most powerful" country in the world, "we do not need" help from anyone, Trump said.
The West Asia conflict began on February 28 when the US-Israeli combine conducted airstrikes on Iran.
The Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that connects the Persian Gulf to the open ocean, has effectively been shut following the US and Israel attack on Iran and Tehran's sweeping retaliation.
However, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had said that from Tehran's "perspective", the strait is "open". "It is only closed to Iran's enemies, to those who carried out unjust aggression against our country and to their allies.”
Earlier in the day, a second Indian-flagged LPG tanker, Nanda Devi, reached the country after safely sailing from the war-hit Strait of Hormuz. On Monday, the first ship, Shivalik, reached Mundra port in Gujarat.
As of now, 22 Indian vessels remain on the west side and two on the east side of the strait.
Indian authorities are in constant touch with all the relevant stakeholders in the region to secure the safe passage of the remaining ships, officials said.
