Would love to work under Kharge if he wishes to be Karnataka CM: D K Shivakumar
Bengaluru, Apr 8: Karnataka Congress chief D K Shivakumar on Saturday said he looked forward to work under party national president Mallikarjun Kharge, if the latter becomes the Chief Minister of the state following the assembly elections.
Stating that Kharge is an asset to the state and the country, the party leader said the AICC president's services to Karnataka has given strength to the party here.
"Mallikarjun Kharge is my leader and he is my AICC president. I love to work under him. He is an asset for our state and the country. I am committed to the decision taken by the party," Shivakumar said in a press conference.
He was replying to a query on his interview to a national news channel that he would make way for Kharge to be the Chief Minister of the state, he would be ready to work under.
The Congress state chief said Kharge is 20 years senior to him. "For his seniority and sacrifice...he had resigned in the midnight from the post of floor leader of the house. We know this. Today, a block president has now become AICC president. This cannot be possible in any other party except Congress," Shivakumar said.
He added that Kharge's rise as national president of Congress and his services to the state is giving strength to the party in Karnataka. "In this background, whatever he wishes, I am committed to that," Shivakumar said.
To a query on dissidence in the party after the second list of candidates was announced, the Congress state president said there was no need for it because there will be many roles that could be assigned along with various duties.
Shivakumar and Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah have been locked in an indirect game of one-upmanship over the Chief Minister's post in the run-up to the election, which is scheduled for next month.
Karnataka goes to the polls on May 10 and the results will be out on May 13.
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Novak Djokovic declines to address a past interview about getting sick in Australia in 2022
Melbourne, Jan 10: Novak Djokovic did not want to rehash — or even discuss at all, really — what he said Friday was a months-old interview with GQ magazine in which he recalled having high levels of metal in his blood from food he was served while detained before being deported from Australia in 2022.
“I would appreciate not talking more in detail about that, as I would like to focus on the tennis and why I'm here,” Djokovic said ahead of the Australian Open, which starts Sunday (Saturday EST).
“If you want to see what I've said and get more info on that, you can always revert to the article,” Djokovic said about the piece posted online this week.
Djokovic is working with Andy Murray as his coach in Australia in a bid to become the first player in tennis history with 25 Grand Slam singles titles.
In a lengthy GQ story that covered several topics, Djokovic spoke about what happened three years ago, when he was not vaccinated against COVID-19 and was kicked out of Australia.
“I had some health issues. And I realized that in that hotel in Melbourne, I was fed with some food that poisoned me," he said. "I had some discoveries when I came back to Serbia. I never told this to anybody publicly, but ... I had a really high level of heavy metal. Heavy metal. I had ... very high level of lead and mercury.”
The 37-year-old Serbian did not directly answer at the end of Friday's news conference when asked whether he had any evidence linking the blood levels he described to GQ to the food he ate in detention.
