Stage set for joint session of Karnataka legislature, amid Hijab row in the state
Bengaluru(PTI): The joint session of the Karnataka Legislature that will begin from Monday is likely to be rocked by the ongoing Hijab row and related law and order situation in the state, allegations of kickbacks by contractors association and Mekedatu project implementation issue, among others.
The 10-day session that will go on till February 25, will begin with Karnataka Governor Thaawar Chand Gehlot addressing the joint sitting of members of both Legislative Assembly and the Council on the first day.
This will be Gehlot's first address to the joint session, after taking over as the Governor in July, last year.
Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri on Saturday said that after several years, the Governor will take the grand steps of the Vidhana Soudha to enter the legislative assembly chamber, the venue of the joint session.
The session is expected to be stormy as the principal opposition party, the Congress is likely to corner the government on several issues, including the hijab controversy, and the related law and order situation, with protests in this regard turning violent in some parts.
The Congress is also likely to raise the issue of 40 per cent kickback charges levelled by the Karnataka State Contractors Association against politicians, Ministers and bureaucrats.
The issue relating to Mekedatu project is also likely to come up in the wake of Congress' recent padayatra demanding for its implementation, by violating COVID curbs.
While the Congress is likely to target the government for delay in implementation of the project and getting clearances from the centre, the BJP, which has been accusing the grand old party of trying to politicise the issue is likely to counter it for going ahead with the padayatra in violation of COVID curbs, along with reports of several of its leaders and workers being infected by the virus during the march.
Issues relating to the government's handling of economy, getting funds from the centre, "unilateral" announcement of the river linking project in the union budget, COVID situation, among other issues are also likely to come up for discussion during the session.
Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah has convened a meeting of Congress legislature party on February 14, to discuss the strategy for the session.
The contentious anti-conversion bill that was passed by the Assembly during the winter session in Belagavi in December, is likely to be taken up in the Legislative Council during the session.
Though the bill was introduced in the Council during the winter session, the government did not push for it as it lacked numbers in the upper house. With the ruling BJP now having comfortable numbers, with the support of an independent, after the recent MLC polls from the local authorities constituencies, the bill is likely to be taken up during this session.
This is also the first session for senior Congress leader B K Hariprasad, after he was recently appointed by the party as its leader in the Karnataka Legislative Council.
JD(S) that has been banking on the issues relating to regional pride is likely to target the government on issues relating to the subjects such as alleged lack of funding to Kannada University, jobs for locals, also farmers and irrigation issue among others.
The session has also come at a time when Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai is under intense pressure from BJP legislators to expand or rejig the cabinet at the earliest, with assembly election slated in 2023.
According to the Assembly secretariat it has received 2,062 questions, 81 calling attention notices and 31 notices under Rule 351, from legislators.
Speaker Kageri has said his office has received two bills - Karnataka Stamps (Amendment) Bill and Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill- so far for the session.
He also said he will consider allotting two days for a discussion on electoral reforms in the upcoming session.
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.
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).
