Setback for Congress ahead of RS polls as two Gujarat MLAS resign Hectic parleys in Congress, BJP for K’taka RS berths
POLL ARITHMETIC Party divides its remaining legislators into seven groups; BJP with 103 seats needs 2 more votes to win 3 of 4 RS seats
nNEW DELHI: Two Congress lawmakers have resigned from the Gujarat assembly and brought down the party’s tally in the 182member House to 66 ahead of the June 19 elections to four Rajya Sabha seats from the state.
The resignations prompted the Congress to divide its remaining legislators into seven groups and rush them to different places in the state to prevent further desertions until the polling is held, party functionaries aware of the matter said. The Gujarat seats are going to the polls along with 20 others across the country.
A party needs 35 first preference votes to win a seat as the strength of the Gujarat assembly is now 173. Five Congress legislators earlier resigned from the assembly in March. Two more seats remain vacant in the state assembly because of litigation due to poll-related disputes.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with 103 seats needs two more votes to win three of the four Rajya Sabha seats.
The Congress is banking on Bharatiya Tribal Party’s two, the lone legislator of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and independent lawmaker Jignesh Mevani to win two seats. The BJP has fielded Abhay Bhardwaj, Ramilaben Bara, and Narhari Amin.
Shaktisinh Gohil and Bharatsinh Solanki are the Congress’s candidates.
Gujarat assembly speaker Rajendra Trivedi said Congress legislators Akshay Patel and Jitu Chaudhary met him on Wednesday evening to handover their resignations. “I have accepted their resignations. They now cease to be the legislators,” he said on Thursday.
Congress leader Ahmed Patel accused the BJP of horse-trading amid the Covid-19 crisis. “Isn’t Gujarat government the only one in the world where: 1) Government has abandoned
A PARTY NEEDS 35 FIRST PREFERENCE VOTES TO WIN A SEAT AS THE STRENGTH OF THE GUJARAT STATE ASSEMBLY IS NOW 173. FIVE CONGRESS LEGISLATORS EARLIER RESIGNED FROM THE ASSEMBLY IN MARCH
FOR ELECTION TO THE RAJYA SABHA FROM KARNATAKA, A MEMBER WOULD REQUIRE 44 VOTES
people in the middle of a global pandemic? 2) Refused to fund train fare for poor migrants? 3) But leaves no stone unturned to fund horse-trading activities for a Rajya Sabha election?” he tweeted.
Paresh Dhanani, the opposition leader in the Gujarat assembly, also accused the BJP of breaking the Congress to win the Rajya Sabha polls.
“The BJP has opened its shop to buy Congress legislators from the money amassed through corrupt means. The Bharatiya Janata Party is using the state machinery and money power to win elections,” he said.
The BJP rejected the allegations, saying Congress legislators were leaving the party as they were “unhappy” with its leadership. “I believe that some more Congress legislators would also resign in the near future. They are leaving Congress because they are unhappy with the party leadership,” Amin said.
Congress legislators Alpesh Thakor and Dhavalsinh Zala cross-voted in favour of the BJP when it fielded external affairs minister S Jaishankar and Jugal Thakor for Rajya Sabha in July last year. The two seats were left vacant after Union ministers Amit Shah and Smriti Irani were elected to Parliament’s lower House, or Lok Sabha.
Ahmed Patel managed to get re-elected to the Rajya Sabha for the fifth time in August 2017 after a keenly contested election.
The Rajya Sabha elections were earlier scheduled to be held on March 26, but were deferred due to the coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent imposition of the nationwide lockdown to check its spread from March 25.
The NCP has separately removed its Gujarat chief Shankersinh Vaghela and appointed Jayant Patel in his place.
nBENGALURU/NEW DELHI: :With four members of the Rajya Sabha retiring this month, the race to replace them has intensified in Karnataka. Potential candidates from both national parties – the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress-- are lobbying their party leaderships for nominations to the Upper house.
Two Congress members – B K Hariprasad and Prof M V Rajeev Gowda -- are due to retire on June 25 along with the BJP’S Prabhakar Kore and D Kupendra Reddy of the Janata Dal (Secular) when their terms end.
Given the current composition in the 224-member Karnataka assembly, where the BJP has 117 MLAS, the Congress 68 , JDS 34 and independents three (two seats are vacant), the BJP can have two Rajya Sabha MPS elected and the Congress one – but with extra votes to spare -and the JDS, if it manages additional votes, one.
For election to the Rajya Sabha from Karnataka, a member would require 44 votes. So the BJP can comfortably have two members elected, with votes to spare. Kore, an education baron, is keen for another term, but the BJP is unlikely to nominate him, given that he has already has served two consecutive terms.
Tejaswini, the wife of late former Union minister Ananth Kumar who narrowly missed out on the Bangalore South Lok Sabha seat won by her husband for six consecutive terms, is considered to be a key contender.
Ramesh Katti, the brother of BJP’S eight-term MLA Umesh Katti, has publicly declared that chief minister BS Yediyurappa should keep his promise of sending him to the Upper house.
“I have urged the CM to fulfil his promise of (sending me to the RS) he made last year when I was denied the Chikkodi Lok Sabha ticket,” Katti told HT.
A lesser known name doing the rounds as a potential candidate is of Prof M Nagaraj, known as a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh(rss) ideologue from the northern Karnataka stronghold of the BJP. The BJP state-incharge Muralidhara Rao himself is seen as a contender for one of the Rajya Sabha seats. Industrialist and media baron Vijay Sankeshwar, a former three-term Lok Sabha member, is also seen to be in the running.
Two surprising names doing the rounds as potential BJP nominees are of Sudha Murthy –philanthropist and the wife of Infosys co-founder NR Narayana Murthy -- and KV Kamath, former chief of ICICI Bank.
A senior BJP leader who did not want to be identified told HT: “Ultimately it will be a call of the party high command in consultation with the chief minister...”.
For the lone seat the Congress can win, former leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjuna Kharge is seen as the frontrunner. The other names being mentioned are of former union ministers K H Muniyappa and Veerpa Moily. Muniyappa, a seven-term MP, told HT: “I am not an aspirant and would gladly support any choice made by the high command...” The Congress would have nearly 24 votes to spare and is likely to support JDS supremo and former PM HD Deve Gowda if he decides to contest.
Going to jail is one of the most difficult and scary things that can happen to anyone. I was a 23-year-old and going about my work and life one day. I suddenly woke up to the clanging sound of iron gates for a roll call at 5am. I found myself hauled up and paraded for a head count. The most difficult task of the day was probably using the toilets, since there are just five toilets for more than 500 inmates. A bucket of water was a luxury. You face a number of hardships in Tihar, but in time you learn to live with them. What is harder to get accustomed to is the isolation and a lack of knowledge of your family’s welfare.
The constant vigil that one has to maintain to protect oneself from the ruffians who rule the inside of the jails is mindnumbing...
However, in my latter years when I was more used to jail life, I tried to spend my time in more constructive ways. My first assignment was to tend to the gardens and that gave me a lot of peace and tranquillity. Thereafter, I was asked to work in the Tihar jail factory, and I can say today that my 10 years spent in the factory helped keep my sanity. I tried to keep myself immersed in the work so as to stay away from the negativity of the jail environment.
I also tried to read as much as possible and completed my degree in human rights and studied law as well.
In the last 21 years I have learned a lot of hard lessons and I hope and pray that they will help me as I strive for betterment in my life after prison.
I was a young 23-year-old boy. I never intended anyone any harm, and am very sorry for what happened. During this time, the toughest part by far was seeing my parents suffer. . I feel really sorry for what they had to go through for no fault of theirs. I am really thankful to God that this ordeal has come to an end after 21 long years.
To be grateful to God for the second chance that I have been given and to my family and friends for standing by me.
When in jail, you are allotted work, and I was allotted to the jail factory. I tried to do the work assigned to me as diligently as possible.
I can proudly say we were able to take the turnover of the jail factory and increase it from Rs 1 crore to Rs 32 crore and were also able to give work and wages to more than 600 inmates from 70 earlier.
I hope to not just continue the work we are doing now but also improve and do more for the children and families of the prisoners.
I would like to highlight their suffering, not just in Delhi where we have been working, but across the nation, so that these children are given the acknowledgement and help that they deserve. I hope to help them gain the skills and support that they require to be independent and stand on their own two feet as responsible citizens. I learnt a lot in the last 21 years and my eyes were opened to some truly harsh realities.
I have served my time and done my best to be the best person I could be and will continue to do so. I hope people are able to recognize this and allow me to proceed with my life.
I have no words to express my sincere gratitude to Sabrina and her family. I am deeply sorry for the pain I have caused them. I am eternally grateful for their magnanimity.
Life can change in a minute, don’t take anything for granted.