Will remain Chief Minister as long as high command has confidence in me: B S Yediyurappa
Bengaluru: Amid speculations about a leadership change in Karnataka, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Sunday said he will continue in the top post as long as the BJP high command has confidence in him and he had no confusion about it.
The Chief Minister also said, he won't agree that there was no alternate leader to replace him in the state BJP.
"...as long as the Delhi high command has confidence in me, I will continue as the Chief Minister. The day they will say they don't want me, I will resign and work day and night for the development of the state," Yediyurappa said in response to a question on attempts to replace him.
Speaking to reporters here, he said, "I'm in no confusion. They (high command) have given me an opportunity, I'm trying beyond my strength to utilise the opportunity for good. Rest is left for the high command."
Responding to a question on "alternate leadership" to him, Yediyurappa said, "I will not criticise anyone. I won't agree that there is no alternate person. There will always be alternate persons in the state and the country, so I won't agree that there are no alternate persons in Karnataka, but until the high command has confidence in me I will continue as the Chief Minister."
This is possibly the first time that the 78-year old Lingayat strongman has spoken in detail on the issue of leadership change and regarding an alternate leader to replace him in the state BJP, ever since speculations began in this regard.
Speculations have been rife for some time now that efforts were on, within the ruling BJP to exert pressure for unseating Yediyurappa.
The recent visit by state Tourism Minister C P Yogeeshwara and Hubballi-Dharwad West MLA Arvind Bellad to Delhi, reportedly with an intention to meet the high command and express the feelings of some legislators against Yediyurappa's style of functioning and request them to rein in the Chief Minister, had given credibility to such speculation.
Also, citing certain decisions taken by the government, its handling of the COVID crisis and alleged instances of corruption, a few MLAs were said to be pushing for convening a legislature party meeting.
However, state BJP President Nalin Kumar Kateel and Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Pralhad Joshi had ruled out leadership change and had said that Yediyurappa will complete the term.
Several legislators considered close to the Chief Minister too had rallied around him questioning the need for such a change and asserted that the veteran leader will complete the term and will even lead the party during the next polls two years away.
Yediyurappa's son and state BJP vice-president B Y Vijayendra had recently visited Delhi and met top party leaders including national President J P Nadda and had reportedly requested to rein in dissidents.
Leaders like MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal and MLC A H Vishwanath, have been embarrassing the government with their statements, Tourism Minister C P Yogeshwar recently got added to the list.
Vijayendra's alleged interference in the administration is seen as one of the main reasons for growing disgruntlement against Yediyurappa's leadership within the party, the allegation which the Chief Minister's younger son has repeatedly rejected.
Earlier too there has been intense speculation in some quarters that the BJP high command is mulling leadership change in Karnataka in the days to come considering Yediyurappa's advancing age.
There is an unwritten rule in the BJP that leaders above 75 years should not hold ministerial positions.
Though the BJP had officially rejected outright such speculation in the past, it refuses to die down, with some within the party like senior MLA Yatnal giving credence to it with his statements, setting repeated deadlines for Yediyurappa's exit.
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Microsoft workers say they’ve been fired after 50th anniversary protest over Israel contract
Washington (PTI): Microsoft has fired two employees who interrupted the company's 50th anniversary celebration to protest its work supplying artificial intelligence technology to the Israeli military, according to a group representing the workers.
Microsoft accused one of the workers in a termination letter Monday of misconduct "designed to gain notoriety and cause maximum disruption to this highly anticipated event.” Microsoft says the other worker had already announced her resignation, but on Monday it ordered her to leave five days early.
The protests began Friday when Microsoft software engineer Ibtihal Aboussad walked up toward a stage where an executive was announcing new product features and a long-term vision for Microsoft's AI ambitions.
“You claim that you care about using AI for good but Microsoft sells AI weapons to the Israeli military," Aboussad shouted at Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman. "Fifty-thousand people have died and Microsoft powers this genocide in our region.”
The protest forced Suleyman to pause his talk while it was being livestreamed from Microsoft's campus in Redmond, Washington. Among the participants at the 50th anniversary of Microsoft's founding were co-founder Bill Gates and former CEO Steve Ballmer.
Microsoft said Suleyman calmly tried to de-escalate the situation. “Thank you for your protest, I hear you,” he said. Aboussad continued, shouting that Suleyman and “all of Microsoft” had blood on their hands. She also threw onto the stage a keffiyeh scarf, which has become a symbol of support for Palestinian people, before being escorted out of the event.
A second protester, Microsoft employee Vaniya Agrawal, interrupted a later part of the event.
Aboussad, based at Microsoft's Canadian headquarters in Toronto, was invited on Monday to a call with a human resources representative at which she was told she was being fired immediately, according to the advocacy group No Azure for Apartheid, which has protested the sale of Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing platform to Israel.
An investigation by The Associated Press revealed earlier this year that AI models from Microsoft and OpenAI had been used as part of an Israeli military program to select bombing targets during the recent wars in Gaza and Lebanon. The story also contained details of an errant Israeli airstrike in 2023 that struck a vehicle carrying members of a Lebanese family, killing three young girls and their grandmother.
In its termination letter, Microsoft told Aboussad she could have raised her concerns confidentially to a manager. Instead, it said she made “hostile, unprovoked, and highly inappropriate accusations” against Suleyman and the company and that her “conduct was so aggressive and disruptive that you had to be escorted out of the room by security.”
Agrawal had already given her two weeks notice and was preparing to leave the company on April 11, but on Monday a manager emailed that Microsoft "has decided to make your resignation immediately effective today.”
It was the most public but not the first protest over Microsoft's work with Israel. In February, five Microsoft employees were ejected from a meeting with CEO Satya Nadella for protesting the contracts.
“We provide many avenues for all voices to be heard,” said a statement from the company Friday. “Importantly, we ask that this be done in a way that does not cause a business disruption. If that happens, we ask participants to relocate. We are committed to ensuring our business practices uphold the highest standards.”
Microsoft had declined to say Friday whether it was taking further action, but Aboussad and Agrawal expected it was coming after both lost access to their work accounts shortly after the protest.
Dozens of Google workers were fired last year after internal protests over a contract it also has with the Israeli government. Employee sit-ins at Google offices in New York and Sunnyvale, California targeted a $1.2 billion deal known as Project Nimbus providing AI technology to the Israeli government.
The Google workers later filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board in an attempt to get their jobs back.
