Students,girls being used to create unrest:Karnataka Minister
Bengaluru: Karnataka Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Saturday claimed students and girls were being used to create unrest in society besides rift between faiths and termed it as a larger part of a conspiracy hatched across the country.
The minister was responding to questions about two women-Amulya Leona and Arudra- who were arrested recently in separate cases for raising pro-Pakistan slogans at an anti-CAA event and holding a "Kashmir Mukti (liberation), Dalit Mukti, Muslim Mukti" placard during a counter protest in the city respectively.
"You have noticed some new developments are taking place in the state. The same is happening across the country.
This is a larger part of a conspiracy, where students and girls are especially used to create unrest in the society besides rift between faiths," Bommai told reporters at Davangere.
While Amulya shouted 'Pakistan Zindabad' at an anti-Citizenship Amendment Act rally in the presence of AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi in the city, Arudra displayed the placard at a programme organised by Hindu Jagaran Vedike demanding stern action against Amulya.
The Home minister said the network of "anti-national forces" existing in the state would be uprooted.
"There are forces ready to assist the anti-national forces and have made arrangements to provide legal aid.
The girl (Amulya) had spoken about it in her (previous) video. We have taken a serious view of the matter.
We will uproot these forces," he added.
The minister said the state government has decided to keep a close watch on all such elements.
In this regard, a meeting with senior police officials has been convened, he added.
The police probing the matter relating to Amulya's pro-Pakistan slogans has summoned Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike corporator Imran Pasha to find out who invited her for the event.
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England sticking with Key, McCullum and Stokes despite Ashes humbling
London (AP): England is not sacking anybody following the 4-1 Ashes loss in Australia.
A review of the tour by the England and Wales Cricket Board, announced within hours of the final match in January, was concluded on Monday. Firing people would “be the easy thing to do,” ECB chief executive Richard Gould said but he insisted, "This is not the time to throw everything out."
Managing director Rob Key, coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes kept their jobs after the best England side to go to Australia in 14 years lost the Ashes in 11 days with two games to spare.
“Moving people on can sometimes be the easy thing to do. That's not the route that we're going to take,” Gould said. “I've seen the driving ambition and determination that we're lucky enough to have within our leadership group to take the lessons from the Ashes and move forward.”
Gould previously was the chief executive of Bristol City soccer club and said the ECB would not follow the same route as soccer's hire-and-fire culture.
“Cricket is a very unique sport in that it takes a team of leadership ... it's not like football where there's a single point of failure or success with a manager," he said. He added the ECB would not “select or deselect management based on a popularity campaign.”
The main criticisms of England's tour were poor preparation, player misbehavior, and selection mistakes.
At a press conference at Lord's, Gould and Key said McCullum and Stokes have not had a “bust up,” they did not want McCullum to “completely change” but “to evolve,” the behavior of some players was “unprofessional,” there will be more consequences for underperforming, and a commitment to “better long-term planning” ahead of major test series.
Some changes were already implemented for the Twenty20 World Cup, where England reached the semifinals. Gould implied that performance saved McCullum.
Key acknowledged that England supporters would be disappointed to see the management team go unpunished.
“I know people want punishment and that people then should be sacked for that,” Key said. “That doesn't mean we don't feel like we've gone through some serious pain: Brendon, myself, Ben. It's been as tough a time as I think I've had.”
