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Bengaluru, Sept 13: The cabinet sub-committee formed to monitor the drought situation in Karnataka has decided to recommend the government to declare 195 taluks as drought-hit. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is expected to give his nod to the proposal soon.

Karnataka has 236 taluks in 31 districts.

Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda on Wednesday held a cabinet sub-committee meeting where a decision to send a proposal to the CM recommending to announce 195 taluks as drought-hit was taken.

“After the survey of crops in several taluks, we have received a report. In 161 taluks, there is a severe drought situation and in another 34 taluks, there is moderate drought. In the remaining 40 taluks, despite the rain deficit, there is no moisture deficit. We have decided to recommend to declare 195 taluks as drought-hit. CM Siddaramaiah is likely to approve the proposal soon,” the minister said.

Karnataka has faced severe rain deficit this year except in July due to which several reservoirs are yet to reach their maximum levels.

“We are prepared to handle the drought. We have decided to form a task force in all drought-hit areas. We are planning to give maximum jobs under the MGNREGA scheme. In the Malnad region there was a 40 per cent rain deficit due to which there was water scarcity in the Cauvery basin. Even in the south interior region, there is a rain deficit. The report for 40 taluks is awaited,” Krishna Byre Gowda said.

He also said that once the CM signs the recommendations, a notification will be issued and will be sent to the Centre.
 

Bypoll results in seven seats in six states gave the Opposition I.N.D.I.A enough reasons to look at future with more confidence with the bloc overcoming tough battles in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghosi and Jharkhand’s Dumri with ease, while sending signals for a realignment in West Bengal.

The Samajwadi Party retained Ghosi and JMM once again won Dumri where I.N.D.I.A parties stuck to each other, while in West Bengal’s Dhupguri, the Trinamool Congress overcame the challenge by Congress-backed CPI(M) and the BJP, a result which it will use to convince the Congress to leave its alliance with the Left.

The CPI(M) had the worst performance among the I.N.D.I.A partners, losing both Boxanagar and Dhanpur in Tripura to the BJP despite support from the Congress, while it lost Kerala’s Puthupally to the grand old party. In Uttarakhand’s Bageshwar, the BJP retained its seat.

Altogether, BJP won three seats and lost one, Congress retained its Kerala seat, Trinamool added one seat by defeating the BJP, JMM showed it still has the zeal to win, and the Samajwadi Party hung on to its seat despite its sitting MLA shifting loyalties.

The most watched fight was in Ghosi where the I.N.D.I.A alliance was tested with Congress and RLD announcing support to the SP candidate and BSP calling to vote for NOTA.

With its MLA Dara Singh Chouhan resigning and fighting from the BJP, it was a prestige battle for the SP whose candidate Sudhakar Singh extracted revenge by defeating Chouhan by 42,759 votes, binning the saffron party’s gamble. Singh polled 1.24 lakh or 57.19 per cent while Chouhan got 88,688 (37.54 per cent).

Interestingly, the number of NOTA votes was only 1,725, appearing to indicate that a section of BSP voters preferred the SP candidate. In the 2022 polls, BSP polled 54,248 votes.

Dumri saw a tough battle initially but JMM fielded Bebi Devi, the widow of sitting MLA Jagarnath Mahto whose death necessitated the bypolls, getting the better of AJSU’s Yasodha Devi.

The BJP’s calculation was that the coming together of AJSU and the saffron party would help them conquer the seat. One thing that will comfort the combine will be the decrease in margin by half from 34,000 to 17,153 votes.

The Dhupguri victory will be a shot in the arm for the Trinamool Congress as it wrests the seat from the BJP defeating its candidate Tapasi Roy by 4,313 votes. Its candidate bagged 46.28 per cent votes while CPI(M) got 6.52 per cent, a statistic that the Trinamool will surely highlight to the Congress to dump the Left.

In Tripura, BJP won both the seats, wresting one from the Congress-backed CPI(M), which had boycotted the counting alleging wide-scale rigging, and retaining its sitting seat.

BJP's Tafajjal Hossain, the first Muslim MLA for the party, defeated CPI(M)'s Mizan Hossain by 30,237 votes. The BJP nominee bagged 34,146 or 87.97 per cent of the votes in the minority dominated seat while CPI(M) got just 3,909 votes or 10.07 per cent votes.

In Dhanpur where Union Minister Pratima Bhoumik's resignation necessitated the bypoll, BJP's Bindu Debnath won by a margin of 18,871 votes. He bagged 70.35 per cent votes while his CPI(M) rival Kaushik Chanda got 26.12 per cent.
Though Tipra Motha did not announce support for anyone, the meeting of its top leader Pradyot Burman with Home Minister Amit Shah was seen by the Opposition as a tacit understanding.

In Kerala’s Puthupally where Congress and the CPI(M) came face to face, the former’s Chandy Oommen retained his father former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy's seat by a record margin of 37,719 seats. Congress in Kerala is projecting a vote against the CPI(M)-led government. BJP's Ligin Lal managed to get only 6,558 votes and lost his deposit.

Uttarakhand Bageshwar was retained by BJP’s Parvati Dass, who defeated Congress’s Basant Kumar by 2,405 votes. Though Congress supported SP in neighbouring Ghosi, SP did not reciprocate it in Bageshwar but could bag only 637 votes.

Bengaluru, Sept 13: Former Karnataka Chief Ministers B S Yediyurappa and Basavaraj Bommai of the BJP and H D Kumaraswamy of the JD(S) -- will not be attending the 'special emergency meeting' called by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday to discuss the issue of releasing Cauvery river water to neighbouring Tamil Nadu. 

The meeting was convened at short notice following the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC) on Tuesday recommending that Karnataka release 5,000 cusecs of water every day for the next 15 days to Tamil Nadu.

Bommai and Kumaraswamy said they are preoccupied with prior commitments but made their stand clear on the issue.

The Chief Minister's office said late on Tuesday, Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, ministers of the Cauvery basin region, former chief ministers of all parties, senior ministers of the state cabinet, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha members were invited to participate in the emergency meeting.

While Yediyurappa is travelling to attend the BJP central election committee meeting in the national capital, Bommai too said, he will not be able to participate in the meeting as he is visiting his home constituency of Shiggavi in Haveri district to take part in an event.

'The state government invited late last night for a meeting to discuss the Cauvery dispute. However, I am not able to attend the meeting called by the government, as I have to participate in the pre-scheduled event in my constituency,' Bommai said on 'X'.

'Our stand on the Cauvery issue is clear. The state government should not release water to Tamil Nadu for any reason. The state government should make the Supreme Court and the CWMA (Cauvery Water Management Authority) understand the ground situation in the state,' he added.

Kumaraswamy too said he will not be able to attend the meeting as he has to attend a pre-scheduled event in Hassan.

Questioning the recommendation or direction to Karnataka to release water to Tamil Nadu, he urged the state government to reject it.

Terming CWRC's recommendation as 'unjust', he said because of water scarcity in the Cauvery basin area, Karnataka government asked farmers not to cultivate crops; there will also be shortage of drinking water in the days to come.

Further, hitting out at the state government for releasing water to TN all these days, despite Karnataka facing scarcity, Kumaraswamy said, "It doesn't have the basic understanding or guts or courage to protect the interest of the state...they don't have commitment towards the people. What will they do for drinking water in the days to come, from where will they provide it to the people of Bengaluru?" Also, pointing out that there is no distress formula on water sharing till now, he expressed his displeasure about Cauvery bodies, and alleged that people of Karnataka are repeatedly being subject to oppression.

Following the CWRC's recommendation, Siddaramaiah on Tuesday held an emergency meeting regarding the next steps to be taken. Shivakumar, several senior ministers and officials including Chief Secretary Vandita Sharma, and Chief Minister's Legal Advisor A S Ponnanna participated in the meeting.

Shivakumar made it clear that Karnataka is in no position to release Cauvery river water to Tamil Nadu, as it doesn't have enough water storage, due to lack of adequate rainfall in the river basin region.

He had said that the matter is next going to come before the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA), in a couple of days, and Karnataka will vehemently put forward its stand before it.