Karnataka Legislative Assembly election, 2013

[CSK Fan]

Congress to roll back Cow Slaughter Bill' date= if voted to power Gulbarga. Jan 11, 2013. The former deputy chief minister and congress leader Mr. Siddaramiah declared that if the Congress party comes to power in the next assembly election, it would roll back the controversial Karnataka Prevention of Cow Slaughter and Cattle Preservation (Amendment) Bill 2012 at the very first instance. http://karnatakamuslims.com/portal/congress-to-roll-back-cow-slaughter-bill-if-voted-to-power Congress is already up with their tricks

What tricks? I would be the first one to welcome such a move. That bill was completely against democracy

[CSK Fan]

Manmohan Singh’s brazen lies http://www.niticentral.com/2013/04/30/manmohan-singhs-brazen-lies-72185.html A brilliant article exposing Congress claims in Karnataka

There is no congress claims. There are lots of independent media claims though

[FischerTal]

What tricks? I would be the first one to welcome such a move. That bill was completely against democracy

against democracy? it was a legislative decision by legislators elected by people of Karnataka.

[Mariyam]

against democracy? it was a legislative decision by legislators elected by people of Karnataka.

And if the Congress do come to power and roll back the Bill, wouldn't it also be a legislative decision by legislators elected by the people of Karnataka.

[FischerTal]

And if the Congress do come to power and roll back the Bill' date=' wouldn't it also be a legislative decision by legislators elected by the people of Karnataka.[/quote'] Yes, naturally. Otherwise what's the purpose of elections?

[Sachin=GOD]

No Surprise, Money Still Counts in Karnataka Assembly poll candidates seem to be either freshly minted millionaires or those who have reported a massive increase in assets over the past five years

As the election tempo rises in Karnataka with the approach of its Assembly polls on 5 May, dirty money—whose epicentre was Bellary, where illegal mining went on unchecked under the patronage of the Reddy brothers —is, for once, not in the forefront. Yet the candidates in the fray seem to be either freshly minted millionaires or members of the old guard who have reported a massive increase in their fortunes over the past five years. When the Bharatiya Janata Party won a mandate in May 2008, the Bellary brothers ensured that the party, which was falling a couple short of the halfway mark, got the required numbers. Led by Gali Janardhana Reddy, who is currently in jail, the three brothers—Janardhana, Karunakara and Somashekara—are believed to have tilted the scales firmly in favour of the BJP by paying crores of rupees in cash to independents for their support. They are also said to have ensured the success of ‘Operation Lotus’, which saw victorious MLAs from the Congress and Janata Dal-Secular resign and win by-elections on BJP tickets. No one in the BJP now wants to recall those hi-flying days when the Reddy brothers were all-powerful. “We have cleansed the BJP of these rotten elements. Give the party another chance,” says Deputy Chief Minister R Ashok who climbed the rungs quickly after nearly 15 ministers, including then Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa, had to resign after corruption charges were levelled at him. During the elections in May 2008, realtors and miners reportedly paid in excess of Rs 20 crore to get tickets. Election Commission officials seized unaccounted for cash, gifts and liquor worth more than Rs 100 crore, a first among Assembly polls in the country. The fear of big money led to all parties agreeing on a single phase poll this time. The state’s Chief Electoral Officer, Anil Kumar Jha, heaves a sigh of relief that seizures have been less than anticipated. “We have been very strict in all respects. But, candidates are becoming cleverer by the day.” He expects cash and liquor seizures to go up as the polling date nears. In Bellary today, Deputy Commissioner Adithya Amalan Biswas is a feared man. Relentless about putting all politicians indicted in the mining scam in their place, Biswas has built a reputation for himself. “He knows the Bellary district inside out, as he had served as Assistant Commissioner, and is known to be a no-nonsense IAS officer,” says Jha. During the historic 1999 election, when the BJP’s Sushma Swaraj took on Congress President Sonia Gandhi on the ‘foreigner’ issue and lost, Biswas was witness to the rise of the Reddy brothers, who worked hard for Swaraj’s campaign. But all this has not halted the rise of new millionaires. While there were nearly 45 candidates with real estate riches and nearly 30 with mining riches in 2008, that number now is around 75 for real estate players and just 10 from the state’s once-booming mining sector. The richest candidate, Priya Krishna of the Congress, has declared wealth of Rs 910 crore. Krishna’s father M Krishnappa is a real estate tycoon whose declared assets are modest compared to his son’s. Both are contesting from Bangalore city. The second wealthiest, Anil Lad, also of the Congress, is a Bellary mining tycoon. The helicopter and Audi mentioned in his affidavit from the previous election are missing from the current one, replaced by a newly-acquired Bentley, and though mining has been on a downturn, his reported wealth has nevertheless gone up from Rs 177.99 crore in 2008 to Rs 288.99 crore now. The third wealthiest is a little-known chartered accountant from Tumkur, Nagaraj Yaluchavadi, also contesting on a Congress ticket, who has declared in his affidavit that he is worth Rs 236.38 crore. Others on the rich list are Prabhakar Reddy, JDS, Bangalore, with Rs 233.88 crore; Santhosh Lad, a Congress miner worth Rs 186.40 crore; Anand Singh, a BJP candidate in Bellary with Rs 104.53 crore; Abdul Wahab, a Congress candidate with assets worth Rs 71.04 crore; and Janardhana Reddy’s man Friday Sriramulu, who now heads the BSR Congress and is worth Rs 43.67 crore. A Bangalore real estate tycoon and BJP MLA Nandish Reddy has declared his wealth at Rs 118.92 crore, up from the Rs 38 crore he had declared five years ago. The BJP ’s rich list also includes Uday Garudachar, with Rs 95.74 crore in assets, J Krishna Palemar from Mangalore with Rs 69.25 crore, and Sathish Reddy in Bangalore with Rs 41.81 crore. The JDS’s first family too does not lag too far behind. The husband-wife combination of JDS state president HD Kumaraswamy and his wife Anita Kumaraswamy, both of whom are contesting the polls, have declared combined assets worth Rs 137.36 crore. Anita, who owns a television network, is the richest woman candidate in the fray as her assets alone total Rs 118.83 crore. Kumaraswamy’s brother HD Revanna has declared a total wealth of Rs 23.67 crore. Karnataka Janata Paksha president and former BJP CM BS Yeddyurappa, who is facing corruption charges with respect to mining and real estate deals allegedly carried out by him and his family members, has declared total assets of Rs 5.83 crore. Janardhana Reddy’s meteoric rise as a mining magnate who used his political power to run a parallel administration in Bellary is a well known story, as is his fall. He was the poster boy of the BJP, with his gaudy, expensive attire, private gunmen, choppers, hi-end luxury cars, palatial bungalows, huge unaccounted-for wealth (as the Lokayukta, Justice Santosh Hegde, alleged in his mining report) and political acumen that partly bank-rolled the BJP to power in May 2008. The brothers allegedly made their money through rampant illegal mining and by forcing mine owners to sign ‘raising contracts’ according to which money had to be paid to the brothers for lifting the mined ore. Their diktat was seldom questioned as officials were hand-in-glove with the Reddys. The brothers fed off the 2008 Beijing Olympics construction frenzy and made millions. Their sudden fall came after the Karnataka Lokayukta published a detailed report in 2010 on their mining activities. The report prompted the Supreme Court to appoint an Empowered Committee, which halted all mining activity in the state—partially re-allowed just last month. There are serious allegations that the Reddy brothers transferred their gains to companies owned by then Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy’s son Jaganmohan Reddy, in exchange for YSR turning a blind eye to their illegal activities in the neighbouring state where the brothers had mines. The CBI, which is probing the case, has filed a chargesheet saying that YSR’s renewal of an expired lease led to Janardhana Reddy’s Obulapuram Mining Company in Anantpur encroaching upon forests and other mines, and flouting inter-state boundaries. Profits from this illegal mining were, through a circuitous route, allegedly invested back in companies owned by Jagan. The Reddy brothers also signed a joint business deal with the Andhra Reddys in 2007-08 when their company, Brahmani Steel Industries, was allotted land in the backward Kadapa district of Andhra Pradesh. According to the plan, Janardhana Reddy was granted 10,760 acres in Kadapa by the YSR administration in order to set up a steel plant in which Jagan also had a stake. That land allocation was cancelled by the AP government this week, as the factory still has not come up. A preliminary inquiry by the Supreme Court’s Central Empowered Committee in November 2010 revealed that the Reddy brothers of Bellary had exported 19.7 million tonnes of iron ore, worth Rs 5,308 crore, mined from encroached forests and non-leased areas in Andhra Pradesh, with clandestine support of the YSR government. It is now almost two years since Janardhana Reddy has been in jail. His brother Somashekara has joined their erstwhile partner B Sriramulu’s BSR Party, while the third brother Karunakara has decided to contest not from Bellary town, but from some other constituency in the district. Their money and influence may have diminished, but the rise of new millionaires has not done any good to Karnataka’s image as a corrupt state.

http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/nation/no-surprise-money-still-counts-in-karnataka

[cowboysfan]

BJP certainly to go down here. They have f*ked it up big time.

Its a real shame,the congress party here is real corrupt but BJP has surpassed them by leaps and bounds,its like they had to hoard as much money as possible because they know they were going to lose the next election.

[ganeshran]

against democracy? it was a legislative decision by legislators elected by people of Karnataka.

Democracy doesnt mean that the majority are free to impose their own morality on another set of people. I agree with banning of ritual slaughter of any animal, but people who want to consume beef (or any other meat) should be allowed to do so. Imagine Jains being in majority and banning growing of onions and garlic

[ganeshran]

Yes' date=' naturally. Otherwise what's the purpose of elections?[/quote'] So every decision taken by Congress is naturally beyond criticism because the majority have elected them and their allies to the center :dontknow:

[FischerTal]

So every decision taken by Congress is naturally beyond criticism because the majority have elected them and their allies to the center :dontknow:

then lets go into anarchy where what everyone wants happens. no use of a party of having an election manifesto and when it comes to power, it implements that manifesto.

[ganeshran]

then lets go into anarchy where what everyone wants happens. no use of a party of having an election manifesto and when it comes to power' date=' it implements that manifesto.[/quote'] The majority of legislators have to approve a law but that doesnt mean the majority are empowered to trample on the rights of a smaller group just because they are greater in number. The cow slaughter ban (except ritual slaughter) is indefensible because it takes a religious tenet in Hinduism and forces it down everyone's else's throat regardless of their beliefs. No political party has the right to do that.

[FischerTal]

Democracy doesnt mean that the majority are free to impose their own morality on another set of people. I agree with banning of ritual slaughter of any animal, but people who want to consume beef (or any other meat) should be allowed to do so. Imagine Jains being in majority and banning growing of onions and garlic

onions and garlic are not living animals that are slaughtered for the pleasure of human consumption. as far as morality is concerned, if you dont agree with hindu beliefs, dont believe them. however, a state government, which is elected by the electorate with a certain agenda, has the right to implement that agenda. if you want to eat beef, procure it on your own. why should a state government, whose ideological beliefs are completely against yours, be forced to be complicit in such activity?

[FischerTal]

The majority of legislators have to approve a law but that doesnt mean the majority are empowered to trample on the rights of a smaller group just because they are greater in number. The cow slaughter ban (except ritual slaughter) is indefensible because it takes a religious tenet in Hinduism and forces it down everyone's else's throat regardless of their beliefs. No political party has the right to do that.

yes because if you dont get your precious beef, your rights are trampled. you will be hungry for the rest of your life. if you dont want it to be "forced down", simple, there are elections. vote for somebody that has similar beliefs to yours.

[ganeshran]

onions and garlic are not living animals that are slaughtered for the pleasure of human consumption.

Onions and garlic also have living plant cells. Do you believe in the sanctity of life only when it moves and makes noise? Why should plant life be considered any way inferior to animal life?

as far as morality is concerned, if you dont agree with hindu beliefs, dont believe them. however, a state government, which is elected by the electorate with a certain agenda, has the right to implement that agenda. if you want to eat beef, procure it on your own. why should a state government, whose ideological beliefs are completely against yours, be forced to be complicit in such activity?

What a load of BS. The state government shouldn't have any religious beliefs. The leaders are entitled to their personal beliefs, but they are in no way supposed to let that reflect in policy decisions. We are not a theocracy. You are creating an argument of false equivalence. The state government allowing the citizens to eat beef does not "trample on the rights" of the state government. The other way round does trample on the rights of the minority for whom beef is a part of the staple diet.

[ganeshran]

yes because if you dont get your precious beef, your rights are trampled. you will be hungry for the rest of your life. if you dont want it to be "forced down", simple, there are elections. vote for somebody that has similar beliefs to yours.

Like I said, then stop complaining about the Congress's policies on every thread. They were elected by a majority and their "ideological beliefs" are in line with those who voted for them. If you don't agree , then vote for a government which has similar beliefs as yours. You have no right to trample on the rights of the majority which voted for the UPA.

[FischerTal]

Onions and garlic also have living plant cells. Do you believe in the sanctity of life only when it moves and makes noise? Why should plant life be considered any way inferior to animal life? What a load of BS. The state government shouldn't have any religious beliefs. The leaders are entitled to their personal beliefs, but they are in no way supposed to let that reflect in policy decisions. We are not a theocracy. You are creating an argument of false equivalence. The state government allowing the citizens to eat beef does not "trample on the rights" of the state government. The other way round does trample on the rights of the minority for whom beef is a part of the staple diet.

who gave you right to decide what a government should believe in? typical atheist, who believes everyone should succumb to your set of beliefs. as far as onions and garlic is concerned, they dont give out a cry of pain when they are butchered. watch any peta video to see the cruelty in slaughterhouses.. in gujarat, beef has banned since ages, are minorities going hungry? NO. its your belief that its a part of staple diet, but you are just subterfuging from the issue to give your point of view any credibility

[FischerTal]

Like I said, then stop complaining about the Congress's policies on every thread. They were elected by a majority and their "ideological beliefs" are in line with those who voted for them. If you don't agree , then vote for a government which has similar beliefs as yours. You have no right to trample on the rights of the majority which voted for the UPA.

have i advocated throwing out congress government because of their policies? NO. I complain against their manifesto and hope BJP comes into power so good policy decisions, like the cow slaughter ban, is implemented. same way, you have right to complain against cow slaughter ban and bring in government that votes in your favor. am i stopping you from doing that?

[ganeshran]

who gave you right to decide what a government should believe in? typical atheist' date=' who believes everyone should succumb to your set of beliefs. [/quote'] Amusing how you talk of government as some sort of next door neighbour. Only it is not. The government is not an individual who has right to its own religious beliefs. The separation of church and state is not a concept that I cooked up in my sleep. Look up the constitution - we are a secular nation where the government has no right to favor any particular religion with its policies. Typical right wing loony hypocrite who will advocate the right of the majority to shove its beliefs down everyone's throat and cry wolf at the first sight of other religions trying to do the same. Wait a second, so your problem with beef is that the cows make noise and give out a cry of pain when they are butchered? Other than that you don't have any problem with the act of killing itself, because plant life is as sacred as animal life. While we are on that, why should the government not apply the same morality to other forms of non vegetarian food - meat, chicken, eggs while we are at it. Or do they also not give out a cry of pain when butchered? LOL of course they are not going hungry. do you think they will starve because they dont get beef. No, they will simply eat what is available. However communities in India (Muslims, Dalits etc) have forever had beef as a part of their diet, making them acquiesce to the belief of the majority makes absolutely no sense at all. Even if no one ate beef in the state, it would still be wrong on the part of the government to explicitly ban its sale. the market would take care of that situation

[ganeshran]

have i advocated throwing out congress government because of their policies? NO. I complain against their manifesto and hope BJP comes into power so good policy decisions' date=' like the cow slaughter ban, is implemented. same way, you have right to complain against cow slaughter ban and bring in government that votes in your favor. am i stopping you from doing that?[/quote'] Where did I say the BJP should be thrown out for making this policy. I say it goes against our constitution and the law should be struck down, not the government. Unlike you, who supports the right of Congress to make any policy no matter how divisive it is, simply because it was elected by the majority :hatsoff:

[saneindian]

Anti Cow slaughter Bill is against constitution? Here's what the article 48 of the constitution says

Article 48 Organisation of agriculture and animal husbandry The State shall endeavour to organise agriculture and animal husbandry on modern and scientific lines and shall, in particular, take steps for preserving and improving the breeds, and prohibiting the slaughter, of cows and calves and other milch and draught cattle.

Karnataka has had an anti Cow Slaughter Bill right from 1964, BJP govt was over jealous and to appeal to its constituency introduced a bill where the definition of cattle has been changed, punishment made harsher and the age of animal to be slaughtered increased. Now the Cong to appeal to its own constituency, has talked about abolishing the bill altogether and to initiate a pink revolution, also proposes IT exemptions of upto 50 cr for slaughter houses and similar other measures.