Swallowing...
Kumaraswamy alluded to the pressure he was facing from the Congress. “Please understand why I am saying this. People say I should give 7kg free rice (under the Anna Bhagya scheme), but for this, I need to raise money. Then you also ask me not to increase taxes as well,” he said.
He appeared to be responding to coalition coordination committee chief Siddaramaiah’s letter last week telling Kumaraswamy that there should be no reduction in the amount of rice distributed under the scheme as indicated in the budget. “It is my understanding that you do not realise how many people will be affected by this,” Siddaramaiah wrote.
Siddaramaiah had questioned the increase in sales tax on fuel announced to help raise funds for the Rs 34,000 crore farm loan waiver. “Our government and party, at the national and state level, have opposed Narendra Modi’s decision to increase petrol and diesel prices, despite a reduction in crude prices internationally. This has led to price rise and has affected the people, which is why I have appealed to the chief minister to roll back the increase in tax.”
The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party had cited the letter and eight others to attack Kumaraswamy. Parameshwara sought to downplay Kumaraswamy’s comments on Sunday, insisting the chief minister was happy and had to be so. “He must be happy, the chief minister has to be always happy. If he is happy, we will all be happy.”
Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge asked Kumaraswamy to be courageous to face the situation confronting him. “He has to fulfil the desire of the people and he cannot say that his party has got only 37 (seats) and his manifesto has been rejected,” he told ANI.
Former prime minister and Kumaraswamy’s father, HD Deve Gowda, supported his son, suggesting a white paper on the region-wise allocation of funds by different governments since 1965. Gowda took exception to Patil’s criticism over alleged neglect of northern Karnataka. “How much money was spent in Gadag by the former minister, for drinking water and other programmes for that one district?” he said, referring to Patil who is from Gadag. Political analyst Narendar Pani said it appears as if both the parties are preparing for the Lok Sabha polls. “Both parties seem to be attempting a strange strategy of being in government and in opposition at the same time,” Pani said. Pani said there was little chance of the JD(S) and Congress tying up for the Lok Sabha polls. “All eyes will now be on the Lingayats and which party they will support, because the Congress will project Siddaramaiah as a leader from northern Karnataka and try to woo the community again,” he said. He added there seemed no way that the Congress and JD(S) rank and file would agree to a compromise in southern Karnataka. through his bride’s village - a common practice among upper castes. But this route winded through several Thakur pockets, and quickly became controversial for defying decades-old caste discrimination that forced Dalits to keep their weddings short and simple. The district administration refused permission at first, but Jatav did not back down, appealing to the district magistrate, the superintendent of police, the Allahabad high court and even the chief minister’s office. In April, Jatav won a victory of sorts after the local administration charted an alternative route that halved the distance of his desired path but still included several Thakur houses.
“The Jatavs of Basai ( his ancestral village) do what they say. And Sanjay Jatav is one of them,” Jatav, dressed in a powder blue suit, as hundreds of people ring-fenced his horse-drawn buggy, said triumphantly.
The administration fortified the area around his bride’s village, deploying 10 police inspectors, 22 sub-inspectors, 35 head constables, 100 constables and a platoon of the state provincial armed constabulary. “Even if someone wants to create trouble, it wouldn’t be possible for them to do that. We have made sure there are more police than guests in this wedding,” said RP Singh, Kasganj’s district magistrate.
Jatav, a local worker with the Bahujan Samaj Party, drove from his village, about 20km away, in a convoy of 30 cars, a police pilot vehicle and an armed security guard. Right outside Nizampur, he was greeted by a phalanx of press, police and administration officers and political leaders cutting across party lines. Thakur families watched Jatav’s procession perched on their rooftops, exchanging details of the wedding arrangement.