New Delhi: Caste census is a tightrope that has had the Karnataka government in a bind ever since the findings were released nearly a fortnight ago. Such is the complexities involved that two senior Congress ministers locked horns over the decision to discuss the caste census in the last cabinet meeting.
M.B.Patil and S.S.Mallikarjuna, top leaders from the Lingayat community, got into a heated argument, according to the people aware of the developments.
Both ministers are on the same side of the caste census debate but on opposite ends when it comes to the separate religion status for the dominant group. Mallikarjuna is said to have told Patil that the previous misadventure to accord a minority religion status to Lingayats cost the Congress power in 2018. At this, Patil claimed that it made no impact on his election.
To this, Mallikarjuna said, “anyone can win by spending Rs 100 crore.” “You also have money, who asked you not to spend,” Patil is said to have retorted. Mallikarjuna is the son of senior Congress leader Shamanur Shivashankarappa. Patil’s elder son Basant is married to Mallikarjuna’s niece.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah stepped in and admonished the two senior leaders.
Look who got relief
Many an eyebrow was raised when Azam Khan got relief from the court of the Moradabad divisional commissioner Aunjaneya Kumar Singh in a case related to Mohammad Ali Jauhar University’s Trust. The Samajwadi Party senior leader heads the Trust.
It was during the journalist-turned-IAS officer’s posting as the district magistrate in Rampur between 2019 and 2021 that had seen Khan dubbed Singh as a tool for the Yogi Adityanath government to carry out political vendetta against him.
Senior SP leaders, including Akhilesh Yadav, had accused Singh for filing false cases against Khan. Now, Singh has overturned an earlier order that demanded a 20-crore cess from the Mohammad Ali Jauhar University Trust.
In the meantime, Azam’s bonding with Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad has got the tongues wagging in SP circles. Azad met Khan thrice in jail in the last one year.
Not a picture perfect moment
Senior Kerala Congress leaders have come in for flak from the party mouthpiece, Veekshanam, for pushing and jostling to be in the front at a party function for cameras to capture their presence. “Sometimes we exhibit behavior that is not suited to the value and status of this party. Some forget their own status while jostling to get to some events….It’s high time that we stop this behavior that puts the party in public shame,” the Congress mouthpiece said in an editorial titled Idichukayariyalla mukham kanikkendathu (visibility shouldn’t be by elbowing).
Although it did not name the leaders, video clips that have gone viral on social media show Leader of Opposition V.D. Satheesan, Congress state chief K. Sudhakaran, and senior leader Ramesh Chennithala jostling to get into the front row during the inauguration of the new DCC office in Kerala’s Kozhikode. Alappuzha MP K.C.Venugopal inaugurated the office.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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