US Senator John McCain dies at 81
Washington, Aug 26 : John McCain, a proud naval aviator who survived years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam and going on to become a Republican congressman, senator from Arizona and a two-time contender for presidency, has died after a battle with a malignant brain tumour. He was 81.
McCain, died on Saturday at 4.28 p.m. at his ranch near Sedona, Arizona, his office announced in a statement on Sunday. The son and grandson of Navy admirals, he was born on August 29, 1936, in the Panama Canal Zone.
He was diagnosed last year with the tumour, called a glioblastoma, for which he had been treated periodically with radiation and chemotherapy since its discovery in 2017.
His family had announced earlier this week that he was discontinuing medical treatment. During three decades of representing Arizona in the Senate, he ran twice unsuccessfully for president, reports The Washington Post.
He lost a bitter primary campaign to George W. Bush and the Republican establishment in 2000.
McCain then returned to win the nomination in 2008, only to be defeated in the general election by Barack Obama, a charismatic Illinois Democrat who had served less than one term as a senator.
The Arizonan warrior politician, who survived plane crashes, several bouts of skin cancer and brushes with political oblivion, often seemed to be perpetually waging a race against time and his own mortality while striving to ensure that his five-and-a-half years as a Vietnam prisoner of war did not stand as the defining experience of his life.
McCain had not been in Washington since December 2017, leaving a vacuum in the corridors of the Senate and the television news studios he roamed for decades, CNN said.
In recent months, he was not completely quiet, however, blasting President Donald Trump in tweets and statements that showed while he was ailing he had lost none of his appetite for the political fight.
The Senator repeatedly made clear that he saw Trump and his "America First" ideology as a departure from the values and traditions of global leadership that he saw epitomised in the US.
McCain's most dramatic break with Trump came nine days after the Senator announced on July 19, 2017, that he had been diagnosed with brain cancer. He returned to the Senate chamber, with an incision from surgery still fresh above his left eye, and turned thumbs down on a Republican plan to replace the Affordable Care Act.
His no vote, along with those of two other Republicans, sent his party's signature legislative goal hurtling toward oblivion.
He also questioned why Trump was solicitous of Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom he regarded as an unreformed KGB apparatchik.
In one of his final public acts, he blasted Trump's cozy summit with Putin in July, blasting it as "one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory".
McCain had been planning his funeral services over the last year and his family made clear that Trump was not invited, a position that has not changed, family friends said on Saturday.
Obama and Bush were asked to give eulogies. In a memoir published in May, McCain wrote that he hated to leave the world, but had no complaints.
"It's been quite a ride. I've known great passions, seen amazing wonders, fought in a war, and helped make peace," McCain wrote.
"I've lived very well and I've been deprived of all comforts. I've been as lonely as a person can be and I've enjoyed the company of heroes. I've suffered the deepest despair and experienced the highest exultation. I made a small place for myself in the story of America and the history of my times."
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Karnataka Assembly passes bill on Palace Grounds amid opposition protest
Bengaluru, Mar 6 (PTI): The Karnataka Assembly on Thursday passed the Bangalore Palace (Utilisation and Regulation of Land) Bill, reaffirming state ownership over 472 acres and 16 guntas of land here, amid protests by the opposition BJP.
During the discussion, Karnataka Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister H K Patil said the state government would have to provide Rs 200 crore worth of Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) for each acre of land, which means that for 15 acres, Rs 3,000 crore worth of TDR would be issued.
“If we accept it, then this 2-km stretch of road will become the costliest road in the world. If we accept it then how are we going to develop the city in later stages? How will you carry out development works?” asked Patil.
He also pointed out that this question was raised not only under the Congress government but also during the previous BJP regime.
However, the BJP-led cabinet has opposed the project.
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“Suppose we agree to it then, what will be the valuation of the 472 acres? It will be lakhs and lakhs of crores of rupees. Can we accept?” Patil wondered.
The Minister said the government had previously exercised its executive powers to issue an ordinance, which was approved by the Governor. Now the government is bringing a bill with two amendments.
“In this bill, we have made provisions either to develop or drop the road development work,” Patil explained.
However, BJP state president B Y Vijayendra and BJP MLA Arvind Bellad opposed the move, alleging that the government was targetting Yaduveer Krishna Datta Chamaraja Wadiyar, the scion of the Mysuru royal family, and the BJP MP from Mysuru-Kodagu constituency out of political vendetta.
“We talk of 472 acres of Mysuru Maharaja but here there are many Maharajas who too own 400 acres, 500 acres and thousands of acres of land, which is known to everyone,” Bellad said.
He slammed the Congress government, saying political power should not be misused for personal vendetta.
“Why (the then Deputy Chief Minister) Siddaramaiah brought the law in 1996 pertaining to the Bangalore Palace? Why are you setting eyes on the Bangalore Palace?” he asked.
Vijayendra charged that Wadiyar won the election on BJP ticket so the state government realised that it should acquire it.
“This bill has been brought for political vengeance. We are not discussing whether Rs 3,000 crore is exorbitant or not but the moment Yaduveer became MP, the state government woke up. You should be ashamed. This house should not be used for political vendetta,” he said.
Intervening, Minister Priyank Kharge said Vijayendra should not have raised it because the intention behind building the road was noble.
According to him, the BJP too had the same plan when it was in power.
He sought to know whether thousands of crores of rupees be spent on a road which should have cost significantly less.
In response, BJP MLA B A Basavaraj (Byrathi) said issuing TDR will not be a burden on the state government and appealed to the ruling Congress to reconsider its stance.
Minister Ramalinga Reddy too explained that the Karnataka government acquired the entire land way back in 1996.
The Mysuru royal family went to the High Court, which gave ruling in favour of the state government. The royal family then approached the Supreme Court, where the case is still going on, the Minister pointed out.
“The final judgment is pending in the SC to decide whether the acquisition was right or wrong. If the SC says it’s the royal family’s property then let it be so. If the order is in the state government’s favour then we can take a decision. The bill is only about it,” Reddy explained.
Speaker U T Khader then called for a voice vote and the bill was passed by the Assembly amidst opposition BJP’s discontent.
