Shivakumar will become CM when Cong high command decides, we are united: Siddaramaiah
Bengaluru (PTI): Asserting that there are no differences between him and his deputy D K Shivakumar, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday said that they both are running the government unitedly, and will continue to do so in the future too.
Reiterating that both of them will abide by the decision of the Congress high command on the leadership issue, he said, Shivakumar will become the CM, when the high command decides.
In an apparent display of unity, Siddaramaiah on Tuesday visited Shivakumar's residence for breakfast, just days after the two broke bread in the wake of a raging power tussle.
"This understanding will always be there. There are no differences. D K Shivakumar and I are united; we run the government unitedly. In the future also we will run the government unitedly," Siddaramaiah told reporters here after the breakfast meeting.
On the leadership issue, he said, as decided in the previous breakfast meeting organised at the CM's residence on Saturday, both of them will abide by the high command's decision.
So far, there is no communication from the high command on the timeline for any decision on the matter. The CM, in response to a question said, "If they (high command) call us, we will definitely go and meet them. Tomorrow, I will be meeting AICC General Secretary K C Venugopal at a function, where both of us are invited."
Asked when Shivakumar will become the CM, Siddaramaiah said, "When the high command says."
Stating that he was invited by Shivakumar for breakfast, he said, after the breakfast, he and Deputy CM discussed regarding the upcoming legislature session starting from December 8 at Belagavi and the strategy to be adopted, also on organising a meeting of MPs from Karnataka in Delhi during the ongoing Parliament session on December 8 to discuss on issues concerning the state.
Regarding the cabinet reshuffle, Siddaramaiah said, the high command has to take a decision on it. Shivakumar, replying to a question, said that all MLAs are united in the Congress party and there are no differences.
Following the initial breakfast meeting on Saturday, at the CM's official residence, as part of an attempt by the Congress high command to break the logjam over the leadership row involving the two leaders, both Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar had publicly stated that "there won't be any confusion", and that they would obey the high command on the leadership issue.
The breakfast meetings are seen as a move by the high command to pause the leadership tussle between the two and signal Siddaramaiah's continuation as the CM for the time being, especially ahead of the Belagavi legislature session from December 8.
The power tussle within the ruling party had intensified amid speculations about a change in chief minister in the state after the Congress government reached the halfway mark of its five-year term on November 20. The speculation was fuelled by talks of a 'power-sharing' agreement said to have been arrived at while the party was elected to power in 2023.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Ambani, Adani pledge USD 210 bn for India's AI push
New Delhi (PTI): Conglomerates run by billionaires Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani committed USD 210 billion investment to creating infrastructure that will help India emerge as an AI development hub.
At the India AI Impact Summit, Ambani announced a Rs 10 lakh crore (about USD 110 billion) investment in artificial intelligence over the next seven years in gigawatt-scale AI-ready data centres in Jamnagar, leveraging up to 10 GW of green power surplus, and a nationwide edge-compute layer integrated with telecom and digital operator Jio's networks to deliver low-latency AI across India.
"Our resolve is clear: make intelligence as ubiquitous as connectivity," he said. "When compute becomes infrastructure, innovation will become inevitable."
Adani, on the other hand, unveiled a USD 100-billion investment to develop renewable-energy-powered, hyperscale AI-ready data centres by 2035 -- one of the world's largest integrated energy-compute commitments.
The initiative is expected to catalyse an additional USD 150 billion across server manufacturing, cloud platforms, and supporting industries, creating a projected USD 250 billion AI infrastructure ecosystem in India.
India must architect its own artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure rather than rely on imports, Adani Group executive director Jeet Adani said on Thursday, warning that AI will redefine national sovereignty.
Other major investments announced at the Summit included USD 50 billion commitment by Microsoft by the end of the decade to expand artificial intelligence access across the Global South. "India, not surprisingly, is one of the largest," its vice chair and president, Brad Smith, said.
The firm had unveiled USD 17.5 billion investment in AI investments in India last year.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced a new subsea cable initiative to boost AI connectivity between India, the US and other locations, alongside partnerships for cloud infrastructure platform support to over 20 million public servants across 800 districts.
Yotta Data Services, backed by a real estate group headed by Niranjan Hiranandani, announced over USD 2 billion spend on Nvidia's latest chips in an artificial intelligence computing hub it is setting up just outside the national capital.
While Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) signed up ChatGPT parent OpenAI as its first customer for its data centre unit under the global AI infrastructure initiative Stargate, infrastructure major Larsen & Toubro announced a proposed venture with Nvidia to build AI-ready data centre infrastructure, advanced computing platforms, and ecosystem enablement required to support large-scale AI workloads.
