You will get an answer for sure in due course: Rohit Sharma on his T20I future
Johannesburg, Dec 25: India captain Rohit Sharma can leave everyone in peals of laughter with his comments, while himself maintaining a poker face.
Before the press conference started here on Monday, he smiled and told everyone, "No questions on IPL. Only on Indian cricket team."
Someone pushed his luck and enquired, "it's a press meet, we can ask."
Rohit pointed to the BCCI logo on his crest to signal it's a board-organised press meet.
He knew he would be probed about his white-ball future.
Where does Rohit the batter see himself in the coming two years?
"I will play whatever cricket is there in front of me," he said in a loaded answer one can interpret the way one wants to.
The next question was more direct? "Do you seniors, you, Virat (Kohli) feel desperation to play T20 World Cup?"
"Desperation cricket khelne ke liye sabko hai (We are all desperate to play cricket). Everyone wants to do well whatever chances they get," he said.
And, then, he let everyone know what they were trying to extract from him.
"I know what you are trying to ask. You will get an answer, you will, for certain," said Rohit as he tried to suppress his grin.
On a serious note, he admitted that the World Cup final was a bitter pill to swallow for everyone in the team.
"The World Cup until the final the way we played, you expect to go an inch further. Unfortunately, we couldn't do it and that was the hard part, take that, honestly we have all these years worked hard for it, and you saw how we managed to play the first 10 games and the final," he said.
"Obviously, we didn't do certain things well in the final and that cost us the match, there were not many things we could point out that we didn't do this right or we didn't do that right," said Rohit, sounding practical in his thought process.
Just like he had said in an Instagram video, Rohit felt the love of the fans had got him back to playing cricket after the loss to Australia in the final.
"It's hard (to overcome) from a loss like that, but there's so much happening in life and there's so much cricket happening, move on from that (World Cup loss), it took time to come out from that and you got to look forward," he added.
"Honestly, I got a lot of messages from the outside world as well and that motivated me personally to get up and start doing my job again," he concluded.
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Vijayendra slams Cong govt over alleged medicine shortage, irregularities in health dept
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka BJP president B Y Vijayendra on Wednesday hit out at the Congress government over alleged medicine shortages, large-scale irregularities and disruption of services in the health department.
The situation had deteriorated to such an extent that doctors were forced to protest on the streets, he claimed.
Addressing a press conference here, he said the Siddaramaiah-led government lacked the will to resolve pressing public issues and accused it of indulging in "blame politics" instead of governance.
"Due to the irresponsibility of this Congress government, the health department itself is in the ICU. There is a severe shortage of medicines in government hospitals. The 108 ambulance services are facing severe problems. Doctors have been pushed to the streets to protest. The Congress government celebrates 1,000 days in power with achievement conventions, but it has failed to solve real problems," he said.
He criticised the state government for allegedly shutting down Jan Aushadhi centres located on government hospital premises, claiming that needy patients are suffering as they are not getting medicines.
"For the past two months, government doctors themselves have been advising poor patients to buy medicines from private pharmacies because medicines are unavailable in hospitals," he alleged.
Vijayendra further alleged that the state government has reportedly not cleared Rs 143 crore in dues to institutions providing CT scan and MRI services.
"As a result, needy patients in rural and urban areas are unable to access these services. Pregnant women are facing hardships. Doctors are forced to protest on the streets...This government claims to be one that delivers on its promises. But does it have even the slightest concern for how poor people are struggling in the healthcare sector," he alleged.
The BJP state president claimed that the Congress government under Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and its deputy D K Shivakumar is not pro-poor; instead, it is a government that supports middlemen.
"Who is responsible for the medicine shortage in government hospitals and medical colleges? The state government and the concerned ministers are responsible. According to information available to me, under pressure from influential individuals, irregularities are taking place in medicine procurement. Instead of purchasing medicines through authorised central and state agencies, the government has moved to fragmented district- and taluk-level tenders," he claimed.
He further alleged that due to commission demands of 15-20 per cent, many companies and public enterprises are not participating in tenders, worsening the system.
Vijayendra claimed that the Karnataka State Medical Supplies Corporation's procurement system has been sidelined, leading to an artificial shortage of medicines.
He also alleged that a private individual from Mangaluru is controlling the state's medicine procurement system, supplying medicines to most government hospitals.
"This has led to market prices being inflated. Medicines costing Rs 100 are reportedly being purchased for Rs 300. I will provide more documents and evidence in the coming days," he claimed.
He also alleged that staff associated with the 108 ambulance services have not been paid salaries for the past eight to nine months.
"The government must take responsibility and reform the system instead of protecting middlemen," he added.
