8 NATION SHO arrested for liquor tradeGAYA: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Bihar police arrested a station house officer (SHO) onSaturday for his alleged involvement in the illegal liquor business in the state. There is a ban on liquorin Bihar. The SIT arrested Pankaj Kumar, the SHO of Chandauti police station, for his alleged nexus withthe liquor mafia and patronising the illegal liquor trade in the area. The police also recovered Rs 1.16lakh from Kumar’s official residence during a search, Inspector General of Police N H Khan said.

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AGENCIESSrinagar

Moderate Hurriyat Confer-ence chairman MirwaizUmar Farooq was on Sat-urday detained after he de-fied house arrest and triedto march towards LalChowk city centre here todemand the resolution ofthe Kashmir issue duringPrime Minister NarendraModi’s visit to the state.

Farooq, who was underhouse arrest, came out ofhis Nigeen residence andtried to march towards LalChowk, a police officialsaid.

He said a posse of police-men, waiting outside hishouse, took the Hurriyat

chairman into preventivecustody and shifted him tothe Nigeen Police Station.

Farooq yesterday said thegovernment should allowthe people to assemble atLal Chowk so that they canconvey their ‘Mann ki Baat’to the prime minister dur-ing his visit on Saturday.

“Mr Modi all have beenlistening to your ‘mann kibaat’ for years now. As youcome here tomorrow, allowus Kashmiris to peacefullygather at Lal Chowk sothat you hear our ‘Mann kibaat’! It’s just threewords— Resolve KashmirDispute,” Farooq had saidin his address to Fridaycongregation at JamiaMasjid here.

AGENCIESCoimbatore

Several countries haveevinced interest inprocuring the indigenous-ly developed Akash mis-sile, a top Defence Re-search and DevelopmentOrganisation (DRDO) offi-cial said here on Saturday.

There is a growing de-mand for the Akash, anall-weather medium-range surface-to-air mis-sile, and many nationshave shown interest in it,DRDO Chairman SChristopher told re-porters here.

Developed by the DRDO,the Akash missile systemhas the capability to neu-

tralise aerial targets suchas fighter jets, cruise mis-siles and air-to-surfacemissiles as well as ballis-tic missiles.

Talks were underwaywith the countries and “it(orders for the missile)will come”, Christophersaid without divulgingfurther details. To a queryon the allocation for re-search and development,he said this year the or-ganisation has a budget-

ary allocation of Rs 2,000crore.

Christopher, who washere to participate in afunction, also said therewere export inquiries forthe BrahMos missile.

BrahMos is a joint ven-ture between the DRDO ofIndia and the NPOMashinostroyenia(NPOM) of Russia. PSUBharat Dynamics LtdChairman and ManagingDirector, V Udaya

Bhaskar said the Akashmissile is going to be ingood demand for anotherthree to four years as boththe Indian Air Force andthe Indian Army needthem in good numbers.

L&T Board whole-timeDirector (Defence) JayantPatil said a new aerospacefacility in the district willbecome operational in an-other 10 months and itwill manufacture rocketmotors for ISRO.

The defence arm of theL&T, which has so far in-vested Rs 500 crore in theunit here, is also supply-ing air frame to BrahMosmissile and will expandthe product range in thenear future.

Foreign nations evince interest in Akash missile: DRDO

Mirwaiz detained fordefying house arrest

AMULYA GANGULI

The hopes of BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP)adding Karnataka to

the list of 19 states where itis in power has been dashedalthough it came close to ful-filling it. However, the eightseats which the BJP neededto cross the finishing line inthe legislature eluded theparty. In hindsight, it mighthave been better for BJP if ithad conceded defeat when itsaw that it had fallen short ofthe target of 112 in the 224-member House. Instead, byopting for a floor test, it pro-voked all the avoidable con-troversies about horse-trad-ing which have haunted theIndian political scene eversince the Aya Ram-GayaRam days of defections inthe late 1960s.

What is worrying for theBJP is that the setback inKarnataka has shown that,for once, the extra effort putin by PM Modi by raising thenumber of his rallies in the

state from 15 to 21 did not paydividends. It can even be ar-gued that if the PM hadstuck to his original plan toaddress 15 public meetings,BJP might have fared worse.Since Modi remains not onlythe party's star campaignerbut also the only one whocan make the difference be-tween victory and defeat,any hint that he can nolonger easily enable the par-ty to cross the winning linecannot but be of concernwhen BJP faces three morecrucial assembly electionsin a few months' time in Ra-jasthan, Madhya Pradeshand Chhattisgarh. Clearly,the burden which he alreadycarries as the spearhead ofthe BJP's campaign will be-come heavier after the out-come in Karnataka.

As it is, BJP's tally of 104fell short of the 110 it won in2008 with a vote share of 33.8per cent. Moreover, its per-centage this time of 36.2 iswell below the 43.4 per cent itreceived in 2014 when Modi

was at the height of his pop-ularity. There is little doubtthat the Modi magic is not aseffective as it once was.

As for the state itself, theearly ringing down of thecurtains on what was expect-ed to be riveting drama on

Saturday afternoon canhardly be seen as a welcomedevelopment (except for thehardened opponents of BJP)because the prospect of ahodge-podge alliance be-tween Janata Dal-Secularand Congress is not a pleas-

ant one. For a start, no oneknows how long it will lastsince it will take time for thetwo parties to forgive andforget their recent verbal du-els including the Congress'sjibe about the Janata Dal-Secular being the BJP's "B"team. Now, as virtually theJanata Dal-Secular's "B"team in the government ofHD Kumaraswamy, Con-gress will have to shed someof its pretences as the GrandOld Party of Indian politics.Having already been re-duced to such a secondaryposition in UP, Bihar, WestBengal and Tamil Nadu, theCongress would not like Kar-nataka to be added to the list,especially when it polled640,000 more votes than theBJP with a vote share of 38per cent, up from 36.6 in 2013.

Even as the Janata Dal-Sec-ular-Congress tie-up hasbeen hailed by MamataBanerjee as being in linewith her idea of a federalfront, there will be many aslip between the cup and the

lip before such a groupingmaterialises. It goes withoutsaying that the new rulinggroup in Karnataka will pro-vide the first test of the pos-sibility of an anti-BJP glueholding two not-so-friendlyparties together.

The test will be all themore crucial since the Jana-ta Dal-Secular was supposedto have had a tacit under-standing with BJP in con-stituencies such asChamundeshwari, wherethe saffron party was said tohave put up a weak candi-date because the Janata Dal-Secular was expected tohave the upper hand ina direct fight with theCongress. This waswhat led to Siddarama-iah's defeat there. It re-mains to be seen ifepisodes such as thesewill be overlooked bythe new allies.

Amulya Ganguli is apolitical analyst. Viewsexpressed are personal.

Modi’s burden heavier after K’taka setback

Outgoing Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa addresses thehouse members before a floor test at Vidhanasoudha in Bengaluruon Saturday PTI

New Delhi

Shortly after B S Yeddyu-rappa resigned as the chiefminister, Congress chiefRahul Gandhi attackedPrime Minister NarendraModi, saying “he is corrup-tion” as he authorised “buy-ing” of MLAs and hoped theBJP-RSS learns a lessonfrom Karnataka.

Addressing a press confer-ence at the Congress head-quarters soon after BJP’s 3-day-old government fell, hesaid the opposition partieswill unite in the comingtimes to defeat the BJP andthe RSS.

Training his guns on theprime minister, an aggres-sive Gandhi said Modiclaims about fighting cor-ruption “is a blatant lie” andaccused him of not just pro-mote corruption but being

“corruption personified”. “The idea that the prime

minister spreads aroundthis country that he is fight-ing corruption is a blatantlie. He is corruption, He isdoing everything to subvertthis nation and he is doing itacross the board,” he said.

Gandhi alleged that thereare phone conversations ofMLAs being attempted to bepurchased by the BJP, say-ing “that was directlyauthorised from Delhi”.

He said the people haveseen “how the prime minis-ter directly authorised thebuying, purchasing of

MLAs in Karnataka, fromour party and from theJD(S)”.

“In the end, India’s voiceand democratic spirit willalways triumph over tyran-ny,” Gandhi later tweeted,saying ‘satyamev jayate’ (thetruth shall prevail).

Asked what his messagewas to the prime minister af-ter the Karnataka defeat, theCongress chief said heshould understand that he isnot bigger than India, itspeople, the Supreme Court,the members of Parliamentand the state Assembly.

“The prime minister needs tostop thinking that he is biggerthan every single institution inthis country. The prime minis-ter needs to understand that hehas not only been chosen to leadthis country, but also to respectthe institutions of thiscountry.’’

BJP-RSS should learn a lessonfrom Karnataka episode: Rahul

BSY faced 5floor tests

as CMBS Yeddyurappa, who

resigned as Karnata-ka chief minister afterfailing to muster num-bers to continue in gov-ernment, had faced fourfloor tests earlier.

He faced the first floortest on November 19,2007 where BJP’s ally,Janata Dal (Secular)withdrew its support tothe party, barely eightdays after he took over.President’s rule was im-posed in the state for sixmonths and when theelection took place, BJPonce again emerged asthe single largest party,but fell three short of amajority.

That ensued the “Oper-ation Lotus” in Karnata-ka. Yeddyuruppa wonthe floor test in June2008.

Bengaluru

The BJP on Saturdaytermed the post-poll al-liance between the Con-gress and the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) as the “sur-render deal”, alleging thatthe alliance has beenstitched on a formula to“not enquire” into the for-mer Siddaramaiah govern-ment’s “corruption”.

“By submitting resigna-tion from the chief minis-tership, BS Yeddyurappahas showed highest demo-cratic tradition,” Unionhuman resource develop-ment minister PrakashJavadekar said at a pressconference here.

Hitting out at CongressPresident Rahul Gandhifor his charge against theBharatiya Janata Party(BJP), he said that hisstatement “that Congress

has defeated BJP in Kar-nataka is laughable be-cause it is the Congresswhich has lost”.

“They have come downfrom 122 seats to 78 and theBJP has reached 104 from40 seats. And they are ac-cusing us that wethreatened their MLAs...,”he said. Javadekar saidthat if the BJP would havebeen indulging into anywrongdoing, then it wouldhave brought seven MLAs’support in its favour. “Butthey (the opposition) actu-ally did the reverse. Theyconfined their MLAs forthe last three days.”

Asking why there is analliance “between the twowarring parties”, he him-self answered: “Becausethere is a surrender dealby Congress with JD-S thatdon’t enquire into ourcorruption.”

Cong-JD-S alliance asurrender deal: BJP

AGENCIESNew Delhi

Left parties and the Tri-namool Congreess on Sat-urday termed the resigna-tion of Karnataka ChiefMinister B S Yeddyurappawithout facing a trust votea “victory of secular dem-ocratic forces”.

“It’s a victory of secu-lar democratic forces.The BJP never had thenumbers, but the gover-nor invited them to formgovernment. The partywas given time for horse-

trading. Karnatakashowed that the BJP’sdownslide has started,”CPI leader D Raja toldPTI.

Secular democratic par-ties should learn a lessonfrom Karnataka that theBJP can be kept at bay byforming an alliance.

Victory of secular forces,say TMC, Left parties

Jharkhand schoolchildren taken ill,

lizard found in mealAGENCIES

Ranchi

Over two dozen children were hospi-talised in a Jharkhand school afterconsuming “khichdi” in which a deadlizard was found.

The incident took place in a schoollocated in Simaria village underDomchanch block of Koderma dis-trict in the state.

After consuming the food, the chil-dren complained of nausea and start-ed vomiting, following which theywere rushed to Domchanch ReferralHospital and Koderma Sadar Hospi-tal. On getting information, Block De-velopment Officer Narayan Ram, ac-companied by Koderma Medical Offi-cer Dr Ranjeet Kumar, reached theschool. On inquiry, they found a deadlizard in the utensil used for cookingthe food for about 30 children.

School Principal Saryu Razak, how-ever, said he was unaware of the inci-dent as he was off to Domchanch inconnection with some school work.He blamed the cooks for the incident.

Doctors attending on the childrensaid their condition was stable and allwere out of danger.

Togadia flays Centreover suspension ofsecurity ops in J&K

AGENCIESChennai

Pravin Togadia, who recently quit the VishwaHindu Parishad on Saturday hit out at the Centrefor suspending security operations in Jammu andKashmir during the holy month of Ramzan anddemanded its withdrawal.

Referring to Pakistani shelling that killed civil-ians and a BSF jawan yesterday in Jammu, thehardline right wing leader said, “Pakistan is wag-ing war in the month of Ramzan and we are talk-ing of peace.”

He said, the “Central government’s decision tostop security forces not to use weapons againstterrorists in Jammu and Kashmir during Ramzanis demoralising and humiliating security forcesand encouraging Jihadi terrorism.” Togadia, whoafter over three decades of association with theVHP quit the organisation on April 14, said, “Icondemn this decision of the Central governmentand demand that it be withdrawn.” Asking theCentre to get tough with Pakistan, he said Pak-istan had nothing to do with Ramzan as it did nothesitate to ‘kill’ civilians and security personnelduring the holy month. In a direct attack on PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, he said, “Indian PrimeMinister is much more concerned with Ramzanand that is hurting the nation.”