Siddaramaiah challenges Kumaraswamy to prove corruption, commission charges against govt
Davangere(PTI): With Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy accusing his government of corruption and ministers of extracting commission, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Sunday challenged the JD(S) leader to prove his allegations with evidence.
He said allegations should not be made without documents and proof.
"Let him prove it. Ask him to prove that 60 per cent commission is taking place and there is corruption. Let him prove it. Not just making allegations, one has to prove it," Siddaramaiah told reporters here, responding to a question.
He said the opposition's job is not only to make the allegations, they should also prove it with evidence and documents.
Earlier in the day, speaking to reporters in Mysuru, Kumaraswamy targeted the Siddaramaiah-led government and accused it of corruption and extracting commission, while alleging that ministers themselves are involved in this.
"Contractors supporting them (Congress party) are themselves saying that it (commission) has crossed 60 per cent and the earlier government was better... the loot is happening at PWD or irrigation departments. While getting contracts is one part, now even for allotment of houses, it seems money has to be paid...
"Earlier, small officers were involved, but now it is happening at Vidhana Soudha. Ministers have to be paid for release of houses...at every department percentage is fixed...," Kumaraswamy alleged as he highlighted the suicide of officials and contractors.
Asking Siddaramaiah to answer to his own conscience, the union minister further accused those around CM of indulging in looting of the state's and public resources. "...you (CM) will have to pay for it."
Responding to a question on this year's Budget priorities, the CM, who also holds the Finance portfolio, said the Budget will be presented in March and he will speak about priorities when he begins the pre-budget consultation meetings.
On the recent hike in bus fares, Siddaramaiah said, bus fares have increased during all governments, considering the salaries of employees, the increase in diesel prices, the cost of purchase of new buses and also inflation.
He said, "Bus fares were increased long ago, and as we were told that all our road transport corporations are in distress, and as there was a long standing demand, we have increased."
Questioning whether there was no hike when BJP or Kumaraswamy was in power, the CM said, "Let them say they had not increased fares. Hasn't the central government increased railway fares?"
The revised bus fares, hiked by 15 per cent across the board, came into effect at midnight on Saturday, amidst stiff criticism from opposition parties and various sections.
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FIDE Women's World Cup final: Humpy draws with Divya in first game
Batumi (Georgia), Jul 26 (PTI): Young Indian International Master Divya Deshmukh held her nerves to hold stalwart Koneru Humpy to a draw in game 1 of the FIDE Women's World Cup final, with both players having their share of opportunities to take the lead here on Saturday.
The draw with black means Humpy, the two-time World Rapid champion, holds a slight edge going in the second and final game under the classical chess rules in the two-game mini-match, and should the deadlock continue, games of shorter duration will be played to determine the winner.
Humpy employed the Queen's gambit accepted as black and it turned out to be a pretty fascinating game right out of the opening as Divya, 19, came up with a piece sacrifice early to deny the black king the right to castle.
Humpy was the first to err and, according to computers, Divya had things under control on the 14th move. However in her bid to recover the extra material, the Nagpur girl, who has secured a place in the Candidates tournament with her sterling performance here, missed a promising continuation.
What followed the exchange of all minor pieces and the ensuing queen and rook endgame gave enough counter play to both players. The game was eventually drawn after Humpy sacrificed her rook to force perpetual checks.
"The game saw an extremely sharp battle with the game ending in a draw in 41 moves. On move 7, Divya made her aggressive intentions clear by offering another pawn,
which looked like home preparation. Humpy made a practical decision of refraining from taking the pawn and a balanced position was reached by move 10 by white," said Grandmaster Pravin Thipsay, an Arjuna awardee and the first Indian to get a chess Grandmaster norm.
"However, instead of developing the undeveloped Knight, Humpy retreated the centralised Knight on move 10, giving huge positional advantage to Divya. Divya could have gained huge positional advantage on the 12th move by moving a rook. However, she chose to play for King side attack by sacrificing a piece instead.
"Humpy, too, erred at this stage and instead of moving the King to Queen side, moved it to the King side. Divya, on move 14, could have obtained a crushing attack by threatening a mate by developing her Queen. Instead she chose to exchange a pair of Bishops first, which enabled Humpy to defend her King by returning the piece," said Thipsay.
"Players thus reached a balanced Queen and two Rooks ending. Divya continued to play ambitiously and tried to attack Humpy’s King but the latter defended accurately and the game was drawn in 41 moves by perpetual check," he added.
In the play-off for the third place, Chinese players Zhongyi Tan, the former women's world champion and top seed Lei Tingjie also decided to split points out of a Queen’s gambit declined game.
The opening raised visions of a close contest between the two but having been knocked out of title race in the previous round, none of them wanted to take any huge risk. It was still a middle game when the players shook hands.
With the top two positions sealed for the Indians, the berth to the next Candidates is also assigned, while the player finishing third will also get an entry to the premier event scheduled for 2026.
Results: Divya Deshmukh (Ind) drew with Koneru Humpy (Ind); Zhongyi Tan (Chn) drew with Tingjie Lei (Chn).
