Coming full circle?
Veteran politician A.H. Vishwanath quit Congress in June 2017 to join JD(S) before bidding adieu to the regional party two years later in 2019 and joining the BJP. But Mr. Vishwanath, who was part of the Congress for long years, is finding himself at odds with the saffron outfit on a number of issues even though he is a BJP MLC.
Be it the revision of school textbooks, the 18th century Mysuru ruler Tipu Sultan or the more recent controversy involving the seer of Sri Murugha Mutt of Chitradurga Shivamurthy Muruga Sharanaru, Mr. Vishwanath has broken ranks with his partymen and taken a stand that has clearly embarrassed the saffron party leadership and the BJP government in the State.
Interacting with reporters in Madikeri recently, Mr. Vishwanath said his "agenda" remains unchanged even though his "jhanda" (flag representing a party) has been changing. He said his agenda is to work for the people of the country, win their confidence on a secular basis, and work with the government.
When asked about his future course of politics, Mr. Vishwanath, who shared the dais with KPCC president D.K. Shivakumar in Hunsur recently, said there is nothing that is certain in politics, clearly not ruling out his return to the Congress if it is politically expedient. "If there is pressure to go, we will go," he remarked.
Father and daughter
Former Minister and BJP MLA Aravind Limbavali was caught on camera reprimanding a woman and getting her detained by the police for asking him questions on allegations of land encroachment in Bengaluru and trying to hand over a petition. The incident took place when the MLA was on rounds to monitor water logging issues in Bengaluru.
The Opposition Congress hit out at the BJP government in the State over the video clip of the incident that went viral. The Congress leaders condemned Mr. Limbavali's behaviour, saying he is not eligible to be a legislator. Will the lawmaker stand up to the Narendra Modi-led government's slogan of "Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao", asked the Congress.
In fact, this is not the first incident of alleged abuse of power from the VVIP family. Back in June, Mr. Limbavali's daughter was found furiously arguing with the police after she was caught for alleged rash driving, and overtaking a police vehicle, in Bengaluru. After a video of the incident went viral, Mr. Limbavali tendered an apology for his daughter's behaviour.
Anger over rules
The BJP leaders have rushed to condemn a statement by Alok Kumar, ADGP, that Ganesha mandals which want to keep images of national leaders or others would have to obtain the permission of the local self governments. It seems, however, that the opposition is based neither on logic nor law and the officer is being targeted for merely stating a legal provision.
“If any individual or organisation wants to place any image in a private place, then they are free to do so. But if they want to place images, posters or banners in public places, they have to obtain the permissions from the city corporation, municipality or the gram panchayat concerned. If that is not done, local police officers will ensure that the organisers face legal action,’’ the senior IPS officer told journalists during his visit to Belagavi. The officer said that this was as per law.
This earned the wrath of some BJP leaders. MLA Abhay Patil strongly condemned it. “We are not placing the pictures of Afzal Guru,’’ he thundered, arguing that there was no need to seek anyone’s permission to keep any image in the mandals. He asked his followers to place Hindutva icon V.D. Savarkar’s images in every mandal. Anil Benake, MLA, argued that such rules were being thrust upon only Hindus.
Laiqh A. Khan
Nagesh Prabhu
Rishikesh Bahadur Desai
