Siddaramaiah is our leader, no need to 'misuse' his name: Karnataka Deputy CM DK Shivakumar
Bengaluru, Feb 16 (PTI): Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Sunday asserted that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is the undisputed leader of the Congress party in Karnataka and emphasised that there is no need for anyone to make statements "misusing" his name.
His statement came in response to a section of party leaders, who have been pitching for Siddaramaiah to complete his full term as Chief Minister, stating that his leadership is crucial for the party to retain power in the next election, amid speculations about a potential leadership change in Karnataka later this year.
Shivakumar, who is also the state Congress President, is a strong Chief Ministerial aspirant and has time and again made no secret of his ambition to become the CM.
"Siddaramaiah is our Chief Minister, he is our leader, we want him for all the polls. We want him for zilla panchayat, taluk panchayat, assembly and parliament polls. He is our leader," Shivakumar said in response to a question on statements that Siddaramaiah was indispensable to the party if it wanted to retain power in the next election.
Speaking to reporters here, he said, "Congress party has made Siddaramaiah Chief Minister twice. There is no need for anyone to misuse his name every day. He is our leader, unquestioned leader of the Congress party. He is serving as Chief Minister for the second time and is doing a good job. I don't want him to become food for the media (speculations)."
Asked about statements made by party leaders, Shivakumar said, "there is no confusion, Congress party is observing everything, every day."
This is the second term for Siddaramaiah as the Chief Minister from May 2023 after ruling Congress' Assembly polls victory. He had earlier served as the CM for five years from 2013-18.
A section of leaders and Ministers seen as Siddaramaiah’s camp, have been advocating for his continuation in the office, notwithstanding Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge’s warning last month to colleagues against issuing statements and to focus on governance.
There was stiff competition between Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar for the top post after the declaration of Assembly election results in May 2023, and the Congress had managed to convince the latter and made him the Deputy Chief Minister.
There were even reports at the time that a compromise had been reached based on a "rotational chief minister formula," according to which Shivakumar will become CM after two-and-half years, but they have not been officially confirmed by the party.
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Screenwriter Salim Khan on ventilator support and stable, say doctors
Mumbai (PTI): Veteran screenwriter Salim Khan suffered a brain haemorrhage which has been tackled, is on ventilator support as a safeguard and stable, doctors treating him said on Wednesday, a day after he was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital here.
The 90-year-old, one half of the celebrated Salim-Javed duo which scripted films such as "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don" with Javed Akhtar, is in the ICU and recovery might take some time given his age.
"His blood pressure was high for which we treated him and we had to put him on a ventilator because we wanted to do certain investigations. Now the ventilator was put as a safeguard so that his situation doesn't get worse. So it is not that he is critical," Dr Jalil Parkar told reporters.
"We did the investigations that were required and today we have done a small procedure on him, I will not go into the details. The procedure done is called DSA (digital subtraction angiography). The procedure has been accomplished, he is fine and stable and shifted back to ICU. By tomorrow, we hope to get him off the ventilator. All in all, he is doing quite well," he added.
Asked whether he suffered a brain haemorrhage, the doctor said, "Unko thoda haemorrhage hua tha, which we’ve tackled. No surgery is required.
As concern over Khan's health mounted, his children, including superstar Salman Khan and Arbaaz Khan, daughter Alvira, and sons-in-law Atul Agnihotri and Aayush Sharma, have been seen outside the hospital along with other well-wishers. His long-time partner Akhtar was also seen coming out of the hospital.
Khan, a household name in the 70s and 80s, turned 90 on November 24 last year. It was the day Dharmendra, the star of many of his films, including "Sholay", "Seeta aur Geeta" and "Yaadon Ki Baraat", passed away.
Hailing from an affluent family in Indore, Khan arrived in Mumbai in his 20s with dreams of stardom. He was good looking and confident he would make a mark in the industry as an actor. But that did not happen. And then, after struggling for close to a decade and getting confined to small roles in films, he changed lanes.
He worked as an assistant to Abrar Alvi and soon met Akhtar to form one of Hindi cinema's most formidable writing partnerships. They worked together on two dozen movies with most of them achieving blockbuster status.
Other than "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don", Khan and Akhtar also penned "Trishul", "Zanjeer", "Seeta Aur Geeta", "Haathi Mere Saathi", "Yaadon Ki Baarat" and "Mr India".
