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‘Sharing & Caring’<\/strong><\/p>\n By Insaf<\/strong><\/p>\n \n The kissa kursi ka (tale of the throne) is finally done with in Karnataka! After four long days and nights, the Congress has succeeded in getting state party President DK Shivakumar to accept being number two in the government, to be sworn-in today at Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru. He takes over as Dy Chief Minister with former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah getting the top post, after the CLP on Thursday last formally elected him as its leader. A sigh of relief for the grand old party alright, but will it be a cakewalk after a stunning victory? For starters, the new Cabinet and portfolios are to be agreed upon, as Siddaramaiah would want more of a say given his vast experience in running the government and mass appeal among the OBCs, SCs and Muslims across the State. The duo flying into Delhi on Friday to discuss this with the party high command, sends signals that striking a balance may not be easy. The sanctioned strength of the Cabinet is 34 and aspirants from both sides are more.<\/p>\n Plus, Congress has promised to implement its \u2018guarantees\u2019including 200 units of free power to all households, Rs 2,000 pm aid to woman head of every family, 10 kg free rice to every BPL household member, on first day of assuming power. A tall order, which raises the next question whether and how will it be able to deliver? While the government will need to get its coffers mathematics right, the victory in Karnataka will be flogged by the grand old party to wean opposition parties on its side to form the elusive non-BJP front for battle 2024. It has for starters invited \u2018all national leaders\u2019 to the swearing-in ceremony. However, the list is not shared, and it\u2019s reported that few Chief Ministers, such as of Kerala and Telangana are not on it. Interestingly, West Bengal\u2019s Mamata Banerjee has been invited but she has designated a party leader to represent her, raising a few eyebrows for soon after the results she had said her party would \u2018support Congress where it\u2019s strong\u2019 in general elections. Guess, didi is going to watch the turnout at the stadium, like many others. Will this southern State victory help Congress\u2019 caravan grow?<\/p>\n \n Insensitive Manipur Govt<\/p>\n The accusation that the BJP government \u2018is playing with fire\u2019 in strife torn Manipur is not off the mark. The Supreme Court not only has found the High Court judge\u2019s order \u2018obnoxious\u2019 and \u2018incorrect\u2019 despite being given an opportunity to correct the judgement granting quota to majority Meiteis, but asked Solicitor General to \u201cadvise the constitutional authority (Chief Minister Biren Singh) to make statements with a sense of responsibility,\u201d after his allegedprovocative statements. Worse, 10 Kuki MLAs, including seven from BJP, and various CSOs at a meeting in neighbouring Aizawl, decided not to have any dialogue with the government. The legislators earlier had urged the Centreto create a separate administration, like a UT, for the Chin-Kuki-Mizo-Zomi-Hmar community, but Biren rejected the demand saying, \u2018territorial integrity will be protected at all costs.\u2019 Expectedly, but an adamant posture won\u2019t help matters. He would do well to heed to the court\u2019s advice \u2013 take steps to \u2018foster confidence and ensure peace and tranquillity\u2019, not turn \u201ca blind eye\u201d to the situation. With Karnataka polls over, the Centre must step in. Relief camps for over 6663 displaced people and setting aside Rs 3 crore as relief fund is just scratching the surface. It must get to the bottom of what has gone wrong.<\/p>\n Chhattisgarh Vs ED<\/p>\n Chhattisgarh has set the cat amongst the pigeons. The ED had the Supreme Court telling it \u2018Don\u2019t create an atmosphere of fear,\u201d this after Baghel government accusing the agency of \u201crunning amok\u201d and trying to implicate the Chief Minister in a money laundering case linked to Rs 2,000 crore liquor scam. \u201cEven a bona fide cause becomes suspect when you (the ED) behave like this,\u201d the bench said, while hearing a plea of two Chhattisgarh-based persons, one arrested by ED in the case, challenging the proceedings initiated under PMLA, whose constitutionality the State government has questioned. It sought impleadment in the case, claiming 52 Excise department officers have complained in writing of \u201cmental and physical torture\u201d by ED officers during the probe. The officers, said the plea, \u2018are being threatened by the ED officers of their arrest or of family members and being implicated in cases if they don\u2019t make and sign the statement as desired by them to implicate the CM and other senior officers.\u201d These actions of the ED, it added, are a part of \u2018well-orchestrated and targeted attempt by political masters of de-establishing the government.\u2019 The ED has been asked to file its reply, which should be under close watch, as the situation may well be similar in other non-BJP States.<\/p>\n Rajasthan Shenanigans<\/p>\n Rajasthan dissident Congress leader Sachin Pilot has bitten more than he can chew! His latest threat to launch an agitation across the State if Chief Minister Gehlot doesn\u2019t act on his demands by month-end, has party functionaries up in arms. Hoardings, with his and BJP MP from Jodhpur and Union Minister Shekhawat photos have sprouted around the city, asking: \u2018Why are you silent on Sanjivani scam Pilot\u00a0ji? People want an answer\u2019. The Cooperative Society scam, under the scanner since august 2019 allegedly had thousands of investors losing Rs 900 crore. Plus, Gehlot has accused Shekhawat of involvement, with the latter filing a defamation complaint. While Pilot\u2019s says his demands seeking action against corruption are to \u2018serve the people till his last breath\u2019 and nothing scares him, the hoardings should. Put up by party DCC functionaries, these hint what is being heard in the corridors of power i.e. Pilot has been reaching out to the BJP like Scindia, but the saffron party isn\u2019t biting. With the party High Command backing Gehlot, the young leader may find himself out in the cold in the ensuing Assembly polls. He already has lost his Dy CM and President PCC posts, what next?<\/p>\n \n No Film Ban<\/p>\n Notwithstanding the controversy, The Kerala Story has unwittingly put the spotlight on governments using the law to \u201cput a premium on public intolerance.\u201d It can\u2019t be so, the Supreme Court told the West Bengal government for \u201cotherwise, all films will find themselves in this spot.\u201d It stayed the States\u2019 ban saying it \u201csuffers from infirmities and isn\u2019t justified\u201d based on materials placed. It also dealt with another plea that theatre owners in Tamil Nadu had decided not to show the movie. In response, the government said despite necessary security given to\u00a0theatres\/multiplexes, their owners decided to stop exhibiting the film because of \u2018lack of enthusiastic response from general public.\u2019 Opposing counsel refuted it: \u201ctheatres were full up to 95% or 100% capacity.\u201d The court directed \u201cno steps, whether tacit or express, formal or informal\u201d shall be taken by the State or any of its officers, including police to prevent the film screening. It, however, asked the film producer to put a disclaimer: There\u2019s no authentic data to back up suggestion that the figure of conversion is 32000 or any other figure; The film represents a fictionalised version.\u201d Will this put the lid on the controversy.\u00a0 \u2014 INFA<\/p>\n \n \n \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" ‘Sharing & Caring’ By Insaf The kissa kursi ka (tale of the throne) is finally done with in Karnataka! After four long days and nights, the Congress has succeeded in getting state party President DK Shivakumar to accept being number two in the government, to be sworn-in today at Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru. He takes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-216599","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-features"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=216599"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216599\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=216599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=216599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}