Siddaramaiah will continue as CM, says DCM DK Shivakumar
Raichur (Karnataka), Oct 8: Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Tuesday once again ruled out the possibility of replacing the chief minister, as he asserted that the incumbent Siddaramaiah would continue in the post.
His comments have come in the wake of demands by opposition parties for Siddaramaiah's resignation, and behind-the-scenes political activities within the ruling Congress, following charges against the chief minister in the MUDA site allotment case.
"There is no need for anyone from Congress to discuss or hold meetings. The chief minister has nothing to do with it (case). Investigation is on in accordance with law. Let's see later. Why unnecessarily discuss things now? It has nothing to do with it now," Shivakumar said.
Shivakumar was responding to senior Congress leader and former Speaker K B Koliwad's statement that Prime Minister Narendera Modi "going to villages" and raising MUDA issue during the Haryana poll campaign had affected the party's prospects there.
Koliwad had earlier too said that Siddaramaiah should resign over the MUDA 'scam' keeping the party's interests in mind and to avert further embarrassment, adding that he could become the CM again after coming out clean.
Speaking to reporters here, Shivakumar, who is also the state Congress president, ruling out the chief minister's resignation, said: "there won't be any change."
Asked about the alleged "2.5 years agreement" between him and Siddaramaiah for CM post, Shivakumar said, "that is a different matter, our government will be there, also CM will be there."
There was stiff competition between Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar, a powerful leader from the politically influential Vokkaliga community, for the chief minister's post after the declaration of Assembly election results in May last year, and the Congress had managed to convince the latter and made him the Deputy Chief Minister.
There were some 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.
Later speaking to reporters in Hubballi, Shivakumar, in response to a question that some Congress leaders were lobbying the Congress central leadership for CM post in Delhi, said, "no lobby or declaration."
Asked about Minister Satish Jarkiholi being hailed as the next CM by his supporters, he said, "I don't know about it, you ask him. Our Chief Minister is Siddaramaiah. We are working under him, and will continue to do so."
To a question about him becoming CM, he said, "now Siddaramaiah is there (as CM)."
Siddaramaiah is facing the Lokayukta and ED probes into alleged irregularities in allotment of 14 sites to his wife Parvathi B M by the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA).
Siddaramaiah's wife, brother-in-law Mallikarjuna Swamy, Devaraju -- from whom Mallikarjuna Swamy purchased land and gifted it to Parvathi -- and others are named as other accused in the case by Lokayukta.
Commenting on the poll results in Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir, Shivakumar said the Congress was confident that voters would vote for the party with an absolute majority, but the results have come against the belief in Haryana. However, in Jammu and Kashmir the results have come in favour of INDI Alliance as expected, and "people have saved democracy."
The party will look into what went against it in Haryana, he said. "It's a lesson for us, and, accordingly, the party will take further steps cautiously, keeping the verdict of the people in mind..."
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RBI enhances UPI Lite wallet limit to Rs 5,000
Mumbai (PTI): The Reserve Bank on Wednesday announced the increase of the UPI Lite wallet limit to Rs 5,000 and per-transaction limit to Rs 1,000, in order to encourage wider adoption of the popular instant payment system through mobile phones.
A limit of Rs 500 per transaction and an overall limit of Rs 2,000 per UPI Lite wallet, is presently applicable, with the facility of auto-replenishment.
Unveiling the October bi-monthly monetary policy, Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das also said the per-transaction limit in UPI123Pay will be enhanced to Rs 10,000 from the current Rs 5,000.
UPI123 was launched in March 2022, with a view to enable feature-phone users to use UPI. This facility is now available in 12 languages.
In another customer-friendly initiative, Das announced a beneficiary account name look-up facility for Real Time Gross Settlement System (RTGS) and National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) systems will be introduced.
Payment Systems like UPI and IMPS provide a facility to the remitter to verify the name of the receiver (beneficiary) before initiating a payment transaction.
There have been requests to introduce such a facility for RTGS and NEFT systems, the Governor said.
"Accordingly, to enable remitters in RTGS and NEFT to verify the name of the beneficiary account holder before initiating funds transfer, it is now proposed to introduce a ‘beneficiary account name look-up facility’," he said.
Remitters can input the account number and the branch IFSC code of the beneficiary, following which the name of the beneficiary will be displayed.
This facility will increase customer confidence as it would reduce the possibility of wrong credits and frauds, Das said.
The Central bank will also create 'Reserve Bank Climate Risk Information System (RB-CRIS)' amid climate change emerging as one of the significant risks to the financial system.
Das said it is crucial for regulated entities to undertake climate risk assessments for ensuring stability of their balance sheets and that of the financial system.
Such an assessment requires, among other things, high quality data relating to local climate scenarios, climate forecasts, and emissions, he said.
The available climate-related data is characterised by various gaps such as fragmented and varied sources, differing formats, frequencies and units.
To bridge these gaps, Das said the Reserve Bank proposes to create a data repository -- RB-CRIS -- comprising two parts.
The first part will be a web-based directory, listing various data sources, (meteorological, geospatial, etc.) which will be publicly accessible in the RBI website. The second part will be a data portal consisting of datasets (processed data in standardised formats).
The access to this data portal will be made available only to the regulated entities in a phased manner.
