Parameshwara rules out internal differences in Congress in Karnataka
Bengaluru (PTI): Ruling out any internal differences in the ruling Congress in Karnataka, senior party leader and Home Minister G Parameshwara on Thursday said there may be certain minor differences of opinion, but there are no major issues or confusions within.
He also said that his absence in Delhi where Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar and several senior Ministers are camping and plan to meet party high command, is not because of any disgruntlement. Even though he agreed he was not invited to Karnataka Bhavan inauguration in Delhi, he said it is not too important to attend it.
"Where is the internal difference? I myself don't know. You (media) may be creating certain things and speaking. There is no difference among us. Congress is in power and we are running the administration and are implementing programmes," Parameshwara said.
Responding to a question whether there will be an end to internal differences in the Congress with the Chief Minister meeting party senior leader Rahul Gandhi and other central leaders in Delhi, he further said, "There may be minor difference of opinion, it will naturally be there, but it cannot be called an issue or confusion."
CM Siddaramaiah met Rahul Gandhi early on Thursday.
The meeting is seen as a significant one in the backdrop of power tussle in the ruling Congress and speculations about the change in Chief Minister's post later this year. Shivakumar and Parameshwara are seen as the major contenders for the post.
Party sources said that issues like demand to replace Shivakumar from the post of state congress chief, honey-trap attempts as alleged by Minister K N Rajanna might have taken up for discussion as well.
Responding to a question on speculations within the party including the one about changing state Congress President, Parameshwara, who held the post in the past said, "Some want change, some want the same person to continue. It was the same thing when I held the post and when my first term ended, high command called all the state leaders and spoke to them, and then I was asked to continue."
Deputy CM Shivakumar is currently on an extension in the KPCC President post.
Asked whether his opinion has been sought by AICC regarding the developments in the state unit and nominations for vacant MLC posts, the Home Minister said, no one has sought any opinion and there has been no discussion in this regard.
"My opinion is not important, with the passage of time things keep changing. With the flow of fresh water, old water has to flow forward. You interpret however you want," he said when reporters tried to elicit his response on whether his opinion is being considered by the party while making decisions.
Parameshwara said he was not invited for the inauguration of the reconstructed Karnataka Bhavan building -1 'Cauvery' on Wednesday evening, but ruled out any disgruntlement.
Noting that he was the one who had laid the foundation for the Karnataka Bhavan, as the then Deputy Chief Minister, he said, "I don't know, no one has invited me. How to go to the event in Delhi without any invite? So I did not go..."
He however also said that he did not find the event to be that important for him to attend. "Chief Minister, Deputy Chief Minister and PWD Minister were already there and I don't feel that I too should be there. I felt it was not necessary to attend."
Rejecting any difference with Shivakumar as the reason for skipping the event in Delhi and Siddaganga Math event in Tumakuru, he said, "I can even now go to his house immediately if needed. We don't have any such things, we are very good friends."
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US SC rejects 26/11 attack accused Tahawwur Rana’s plea seeking stay on his extradition to India
New York, Apr 7 (PTI): The US Supreme Court has rejected 26/11 Mumbai terror attack accused Tahawwur Rana's appeal seeking a stay on his extradition to India, moving him closer to being handed over to Indian authorities to face justice.
Rana, 64, a Canadian national of Pakistani origin, is currently lodged at a metropolitan detention centre in Los Angeles.
He is known to be associated with Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley, one of the main conspirators of the 26/11 attacks. Headley conducted a recce of Mumbai before the attacks by posing as an employee of Rana’s immigration consultancy.
Rana had submitted an ‘Emergency Application For Stay Pending Litigation of Petition For Writ of Habeas Corpus' on February 27, 2025, with Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States and Circuit Justice for the Ninth Circuit Elena Kagan.
Kagan had denied the application earlier last month.
Rana had then renewed his ‘Emergency Application for Stay Pending Litigation of Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus previously addressed to Justice Kagan’, and requested that the renewed application be directed to US Chief Justice John Roberts.
An order on the Supreme Court website noted that Rana's renewed application had been “distributed for Conference” on April 4 and the “application” has been “referred to the Court.”
A notice on the Supreme Court website Monday said that “Application denied by the Court.”
Rana was convicted in the US of one count of conspiracy to provide material support to the terrorist plot in Denmark and one count of providing material support to Pakistan-based terrorist organisation Lashker-e-Taiba which was responsible for the attacks in Mumbai.
New York-based Indian-American attorney Ravi Batra had told PTI that Rana had made his application to the Supreme Court to prevent extradition, which Justice Kagan denied on March 6. The application was then submitted before Roberts, “who has shared it with the Court to conference so as to harness the entire Court’s view.”
The Supreme Court justices are Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, Associate Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice Elena Kagan, Associate Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, Associate Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett, and Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.
In his emergency application, Rana had sought a stay of his extradition and surrender to India pending litigation (including exhaustion of all appeals) on the merits of his February 13.
In that petition, Rana argued that his extradition to India violates US law and the UN Convention Against Torture "because there are substantial grounds for believing that, if extradited to India, the petitioner will be in danger of being subjected to torture."
"The likelihood of torture in this case is even higher though as petitioner faces acute risk as a Muslim of Pakistani origin charged in the Mumbai attacks,” the application said.
The application also said that his “severe medical conditions” render extradition to Indian detention facilities a “de facto" death sentence in this case.
The US Supreme Court denied Rana's petition for a writ of certiorari relating to his original habeas petition on January 21. The application notes that on that same day, newly-confirmed Secretary of State Marco Rubio had met with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.
When Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Washington on February 12 to meet with Trump, Rana’s counsel received a letter from the Department of State, stating that “on February 11, 2025, the Secretary of State decided to authorise” Rana’s "surrender to India,” pursuant to the “Extradition Treaty between the United States and India”.
Rana’s Counsel requested from the State Department the complete administrative record on which Secretary Rubio based his decision to authorize Rana’s surrender to India.
The Counsel also requested immediate information of any commitment the United States has obtained from India with respect to Rana’s treatment. “The government declined to provide any information in response to these requests,” the application said.
It added that given Rana’s underlying health conditions and the State Department’s findings regarding the treatment of prisoners, it is very likely “Rana will not survive long enough to be tried in India".
During a joint press conference with Prime Minister Modi in the White House in February, President Donald Trump announced that his administration has approved the extradition of "very evil" Rana, wanted by Indian law enforcement agencies for his role in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, "to face justice in India”.
A total of 166 people, including six Americans, were killed in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks in which 10 Pakistani terrorists laid a more than 60-hour siege, attacking and killing people at iconic and vital locations in Mumbai.
