Sugarcane farmers protest: BJP leader asks Karnataka CM to quit if he can't govern
Bengaluru (PTI): Hitting out at Chief Minister Siddaramaiah over farmers' protest in the northern districts of Karnataka, demanding a fair price of Rs 3,500 per tonne for sugarcane, BJP leader R Ashoka on Friday asked the CM to quit if he can't govern.
The Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly slammed the chief minister for blaming the Centre and asked him to address the concerns of the farmers.
"7 days, thousands of sugarcane farmers on the streets, but CM Siddaramaiah has just one solution: Blame the Centre," Ashoka said in a post on 'X'.
Pointing out that when in Opposition, Siddaramaiah gave big sermons, he said, "But now (as CM), he hides behind excuses and abandons farmers. If you (Siddaramaiah) can't govern, resign and quit."
Siddaramaiah, in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, had said that the root of the problem lies in central policy levers: the Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) formula, the stagnating Minimum Support Price (MSP) for sugar, export curbs and the under-utilised ethanol off take from sugar-based feedstock.
He has sought urgent appointment from the PM to discuss "the serious situation" arising out of the ongoing agitation.
Ashoka in the post further said, "We demand: Rs 500/tonne incentive above FRP, Rs 5,000 crore revolving fund, and Immediate intervention - not press conferences."
Farmers have been protesting at Gurlapur Cross in Mudalagi taluk of Belagavi district for over a week now. It has also spread across various parts of north Karnataka districts like Belagavi, Bagalkote, Vijayapura, Haveri among others.
With the protest intensifying, Siddaramaiah has called for a meeting with farmer leaders and representatives of sugar factories on Friday.
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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".
