Saddened by Savadi's decision to join Cong, says CM Bommai
Bengaluru (PTI): Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Friday said he was "saddened" by the decision of former Deputy Chief Minister Laxman Savadi to part ways with the BJP and join the Congress.
"...I'm feeling very sad, we shared a close bond. Sometimes such political situations arise," Bommai said. "He might have found his political future in the Congress. We will do our job in our party."
Rebelling against the BJP denying him the ticket from Athani in Belagavi district, Savadi on Wednesday announced his decision to resign from the primary membership of the party.
Sitting MLA Mahesh Kumathalli, who was backed by BJP's Belagavi strongman and former Minister Ramesh Jarkiholi, was given the ticket in Athani.
Savadi is a three-time MLA from Athani but lost in the 2018 elections to Kumathalli (then in the Congress).
Kumathalli was among the group of 17 defectors, including Jarkiholi, who helped the BJP bring down the Congress-JD(S) coalition and form its government under the leadership of B S Yediyurappa in 2019.
Savadi's decision to join the Congress came after a meeting with Karnataka Congress chief D K Shivakumar, Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Siddaramaiah and Congress general secretary and party in-charge of Karnataka Randeep Singh Surjewala here on Friday.
"He has agreed to become a member of our (Congress) family of his own volition", Shivakumar, who was flanked by Savadi and Siddaramaiah, told reporters after the meeting.
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11 more bodies retrieved from Arunachal accident site
Itanagar (PTI): Eleven more bodies were retrieved on Saturday from the deep gorge in Arunachal Pradesh's Anjaw district, where a mini-truck on which 22 labourers from Assam were travelling fell, an official said.
With this, 17 bodies have been recovered from the accident site, Anjaw's deputy commissioner Milo Kojin said.
He said three more bodies will be brought out on Sunday.
The operation, being conducted by a joint team of the NDRF and Army, resumed at 6 am.
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"The retrieval process was extremely difficult because of the treacherous terrain, and the gorge is very deep," Kojin said.
The operation was suspended around 4 pm due to low visibility and will be resumed on Sunday morning, he said.
"One person is still missing, and a search operation will be carried out tomorrow," he added.
The accident happened on the evening of December 8, around 40 km from Hayuliang towards Chaglagam in the district. On the evening of December 10, one survivor managed to climb out of the gorge and reach a nearby Border Roads Task Force (BRTF) labour camp, following which the authorities were alerted.
Six bodies were recovered from the gorge on Friday and handed over to their families on Saturday.
