Tag: oust

Mayawati asks Telangana’s people to oust BRS, declares BSP’s CM face

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Hyderabad: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader Mayawati on Sunday announced that party’s Telangana unit President and former IPS officer R.S. Praveen Kumar will be the chief ministerial candidate of the party.
Addressing a public meeting here, she declared that if the BSP is voted to power in Telangana, Praveen Kumar will be the Chief Minister.
She said after taking voluntary retirement from the Indian Police Service (IPS), he had been working with missionary zeal to strengthen the party in Telangana. She hoped that he would take very good care of people like the BSP did in Uttar Pradesh when it was in power.

Mayawati appealed to people to bring her party to power in Telangana in the elections scheduled in next few months and also give the most number of Lok Sabha seats from the state to the BSP in the elections to be held next year.
She said if SCs, STs, OBCs, Muslims and other minorities and other weaker sections want a life of dignity and want to liberate themselves from oppression, they should bring the BSP to power.
Taking a dig at Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao for his call for amending the Constitution, the BSP leader urged people to throw Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) out of power. She said the government which is talking of changing the Constitution drafted by Babasaheb Ambedkar, should be thrown out of power.
Mayawati did not agree that BSP is weakening in Uttar Pradesh. “You may be wondering why the BSP is weakening in Uttar Pradesh but it is not weakening. As long as elections were held with ballot paper, our party grew in popularity but when EVMs were introduced, we lost our votes due to manipulation in EVMs,” she claimed.
The BSP leader also alleged that in states where the BJP is growing strong, conspiracies are being hatched to split the votes of Dalits and weaker sections by floating smaller parties.

Mayawati also took potshots at Chief Minister KCR for trying to copy BSP to promise land for Dalits. “He promised 3 acres of free land but did not implement it,” she said.
She also alleged that for the sake of votes, KCR named the State Secretariat after Babasaheb Ambedkar government building and installed his tallest statue.
She recalled that when Telangana people were fighting for their own state, the BSP was the first party to raise its voice in Parliament in their support and it also supported the Bill brought in Parliament for creation of the state.
Mayawati said that the weaker sections, Dalits, tribals, backward, youth and unemployed in Telangana were hit by irregularities in recruitment. She alleged that the state government is trying to suppress the voice raised against these irregularities.
The BSP leader also questioned the silence of Chief Minister over the release of a convict in the murder of slain Dalit IAS officer G. Krishnaiah.
She was referring to the release ofAformer MP Anand Mohan Singh by the Bihar government.
The gangster-turned-politician, who had instigated the bureaucrat’s lynching in 1994 and was sentenced life imprisonment, was recently released from jail after Bihar government tweaked the rules.
Mayawati said BSP raised its voice against the release of the convict and demanded justice for the family of the slain officer.
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#Mayawati #asks #Telanganas #people #oust #BRS #declares #BSPs #face
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

May 7, 2023
Trump storms into Florida to oust rival DeSantis from 2024 race

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Washington: Even as the Republican Party is still weighing in options between former US President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Trump is wasting no time to oust his rival DeSantis from the race in the 2024 primaries drumming up support for himself on the Governor’s home turf.
Republican Congressman Michael Waltz, who replaced DeSantis in the House, made it clear on Thursday that he won’t be supporting his predecessor’s expected run for the White House. He has endorsed Trump.
The Combat-decorated Green Beret Waltz has virtually waltzed his way to join as many as 11 of the 20-member Florida Republican delegation that has backed Trump.

Trump has also unveiled the endorsements of Representatives Gus Bilirakis and Carlos Gimenez in a fundraising email on Wednesday shaking DeSantis out of his comfort zone.
Waltz, media reports said, has over the years carefully threaded the needle when it comes to Trump, avoiding any criticism of Trump, simultaneously rejecting and voting against policies pushed by his administration. But he announced he was backing Trump in 2024 on Thursday morning.
“We need bold & experienced leadership back in the White House. That’s why I’m proud to endorse Donald J. Trump for president,” Waltz tweeted.
Meanwhile, DeSantis reached Washington to network with influential Republicans prior to an expected presidential run, but the former President has methodically racked up endorsements from Florida in a major blow to the Governor’s 2024 prospects.
Trump has pre-empted DeSaantish even before he could get his campaign off the ground, political observers said in their analysis of fast paced political developments. .

“I generally don’t put a lot of weight on endorsements. At the same time though, when your calling card is Florida like it is for Ron, and your folks are defecting in your own backyard, that’s never a good sign,” Ford O’Connell, a Florida-based GOP strategist, said.
It’s quite apparent that Trump’s campaign aimed at knocking out the plank from under DeSantis’s legs before he can be really up and running.
The sole Florida member, Laurel Lee, the governor’s former secretary of state, endorsed DeSantis at his Capitol Hill event this week.
“As Ron DeSantis Secretary of State, I had the honour of witnessing first hand his unparalleled leadership under pressure, his chapter and his commitment to core conservative principles,” Lee said in a statement.
“It was my honour to serve in his administration and it is my honour today to endorse him for president of the US.”
Republican sources claimed Trump is scheduled to host a dinner at his Mar-a-Lago resort Thursday night for all Florida Republicans, who have endorsed his White House bid, soon after DeSantis held his reception in Washington, D.C.
Byron Donalds, the closest to DeSantis of any Republican in the House delegation, has literally dropped a bomb over DeSantis while endorsing Trump.
At one stage, the DeSantis loyalist had called him “America’s governor”.
The governor also appointed Donalds’ wife to the Florida Gulf University board of trustees in March 2022.
“It felt like a small little bomb detonated in our state here when some within DeSantis’s operation, not the governor himself, started frantically reaching out to other Florida members who had yet to endorse,” a Republican political strategist said.
While DeSantis’ political strategist Ron Tyson was reaching out to the Florida Republicans for support, most of them were offended.
DeSantis did not approach them directly, even as Trump took the trouble of personally meeting the Florida members to garner support, which he has managed to get, reports said.
When DeSantis was in Congress, he was a loner, with not much of a network with the politicians inWashington D.C.
“I think the way I’d describe Governor DeSantis is transactional. He is only out for himself, and that has rubbed many of my colleagues and myself the wrong way,” a Florida Republican who recently endorsed Trump but desired anonymity.
Aides working with Republicans in the delegation claimed they found it difficult to get the Governor on the phone to discuss key issues in their districts.
A poll from Yahoo News/YouGov, conducted April 14-17, showed Trump leading DeSantis by 16 percentage points (52 per cent to 36 per cent).
But two weeks ago, the former president led DeSantis by 26 percentage points (57 per cent to 31 per cent). A recent University of New Hampshire poll, which found DeSantis leading Trump by 12 points in January, now finds Trump leading DeSantis by 20 points in April, Politico reported.
There are still a number of Florida lawmakers who are keeping their options open such as Representatives Kat Cammack, Maria Elvira Salazar, and Mario Diaz-Balart.
A number of political strategists and consultants in the state are doing the same, The Washington Examiner said.
Some Republicans in the state are alarmed over Trump’s endorsements and wanted members to set aside their personal feelings and assess which of the two candidates is most likely to win the general election in 2024.
Former Representative Francis Rooney, a known Trump critic retired in 2021, said: “Trump cannot win the general election. It’s not going to happen. It didn’t work in the midterms. We had a bunch of defective candidates, election deniers, they didn’t win. What we should have had was a 20-seat majority, and that’s not what happened.”
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#Trump #storms #Florida #oust #rival #DeSantis #race
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 21, 2023
Why Tennessee GOP’s effort to oust 3 Dem lawmakers is so unusual

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“It will echo across the country. I think it will have a chilling effect on all states where there’s supermajorities or very red states,” Rep. Gloria Johnson, one of the Democrats under threat of expulsion, said in a phone interview Tuesday. “This is chipping away at our democracy, there’s no question, because everybody’s going to wonder, ‘am I next?’”
The ACLU in Tennessee also issued a warning the effort “undermines Democracy.”
“Expulsion is an extreme measure that is used very infrequently in our state and our country because it strips voters of representation by the people they elected,” Kathy Sinback, the executive director of the ACLU in Tennessee, said in a statement.
State legislatures often go decades without taking such an action against members.
The dustup began last week, when hundreds of protestors gathered at the capitol in Nashville to urge lawmakers to pass gun safety measures in the aftermath of a shooting at a local school that left three adults and three children dead.
Amid the protests that leaked into the building, Reps. Gloria Johnson, Justin Jones and Justin Pearson led chants on the House floor in which they called on their colleagues to pass new gun laws. The lawmakers were aided by a bullhorn.
Their stunt enraged Republicans, who promptly introduced resolutions calling for their removal, sparking further chaos on the House floor.
Now, Republican leaders — who likened those actions to an “insurrection” — will vote Thursday on whether the members should be allowed to continue serving in the House or be removed from office. The Democrats have already been stripped of their committee assignments.

Resolutions filed against the three declared that they had participated in “disorderly behavior” and “did knowingly and intentionally bring disorder and dishonor to the House of Representatives.”
Critics of the move to evict the members argued that Republicans have failed in the past to remove their members of their own party who acted egregiously, such as a former representative who was accused of sexually assaulting teenagers when he was a basketball coach.
“It’s morally insane that a week after a mass shooting took six lives in our community, House Republicans only response is to expel us for standing with our constituents to call for gun control,” Jones tweeted Tuesday afternoon. “What’s happening in Tennessee is a clear danger to democracy all across this nation.”
The group of Democrats faces tough odds surviving the vote: Both chambers of the Tennessee legislature are controlled by a Republican supermajority. Special elections will be held if the resolutions pass.
Johnson, a former teacher who survived a school shooting that left one student dead, said she plans to bring an attorney to Thursday’s vote and “defend herself.”
“I’m happy to show up and make my case heard, because I will always lift up the voices of the people in my district who want to see gun sense legislation,” Johnson said.

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#Tennessee #GOPs #effort #oust #Dem #lawmakers #unusual
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 5, 2023
Tennessee GOP members move to oust 3 Dems after gun protest

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Republican Reps. Bud Hulsey, Gino Bulso, and Andrew Farmer filed the resolutions. They successfully requested Monday that the House expedite the process and vote on the resolutions Thursday.
Despite support from the Republican supermajority, their requests sparked outrage among supporters watching in the gallery. Their loud jeers led House Speaker Cameron Sexton to demand that they be removed by state troopers. Also during the turmoil, several lawmakers engaged in a confrontation on the House floor.
Jones later accused another member of stealing his phone and trying to “incite a riot with his fellow members.”
Sexton deemed Jones out of order and cut off Jones’ microphone.
Hundreds of protesters packed the Capitol last week calling for the Republican-led Statehouse to pass gun control measures in response to the Nashville school shooting that resulted in the deaths of six people. As the chants echoed throughout the Capitol, Jones, Johnson and Pearson approached the front of the House chamber with a bullhorn.
As the three shared the bullhorn and cheered on the crowd, Sexton, a Republican, quickly called for a recess. He later vowed the three would face consequences. Meanwhile, House Minority Leader Karen Camper described their actions as “good trouble,” a reference to the late U.S. Rep. John Lewis’ guiding principal.
By Monday, Sexton confirmed that the three lawmakers had been stripped of their committee assignments and said more punishments could be on the way. A few hours later, House Republican Caucus Chairman Jeremy Faison referred to Jones as the “former representative” during the evening session.
Pearson and Jones are both freshman lawmakers. Johnson has served in the House since 2019. All three have been highly critical of the Republican supermajority. Jones was temporarily banned from the Tennessee Capitol in 2019 after throwing a cup of liquid at former House Speaker Glen Casada and other lawmakers while protesting the bust of Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest inside the Capitol.

Expelling lawmakers is an extraordinary action inside the Tennessee Capitol. Just two other House members have ever been ousted from the chamber since the Civil War.
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#Tennessee #GOP #members #move #oust #Dems #gun #protest
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 4, 2023
Conservative trustees oust president at Florida’s New College amid leadership overhaul

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The newly-installed conservative board of trustees at New College of Florida ousted its current president in favor of former state education commissioner Richard Corcoran Tuesday, launching the initial move in reshaping the campus under the vision of Gov. Ron DeSantis.
The decision came at the first board meeting since DeSantis appointed six new trustees with the idea of overhauling the liberal arts college in Sarasota into a more conservative-leaning institution. That track was accelerated Tuesday when the board paved the way for new leadership as students and parents protested the major changes that appear bound for New College.
“Some have said these recent appointments amount to a partisan takeover of the college. This is not correct,” said trustee Matthew Spalding, a constitutional government professor and vice president at Hillsdale College’s D.C. campus who was appointed by DeSantis. “It’s not a takeover — it’s a renewal.”
A leadership switch from President Patricia Okker to Corcoran as interim leader is one of several moves made Tuesday by the board, which also signaled its intent to abolish diversity, equity and inclusion programs on campus — all policies pushed by DeSantis. The changes are major developments at the school spurred by the new appointees, including Christopher Rufo, a conservative activist who has advised DeSantis on critical race theory, and Eddie Speir, the co-founder of Inspiration Academy, a Christian charter school in Bradenton, Fla.
Tuesday’s meeting was met with apprehension from dozens of students and parents who protested what they called a “hostile takeover” at New College. They urged Okker to stay on as president and push back against the new mandates from the DeSantis administration to model the school as a “Hillsdale of the South” in reference to the private conservative religious “classical“ college in Michigan.
Okker in an emotional address told the board — and the campus — that she couldn’t continue to serve as president amid accusations that the students are being inundated with liberal indoctrination.
“The reality is, and it’s a hard reality and it’s a sad reality, but the vision that we created together is not the vision I have been given as a mandate here,” Okker said.
In remaking the board at New College, the DeSantis administration said the school was “completely captured by a political ideology that puts trendy, truth-relative concepts above learning” and in need of change following downward enrollment trends. To move on from Okker, trustees agreed to a “generous” exit package that includes at least 12 months of paid professional development leave and benefits. Corcoran is unable to begin serving until March, leaving Okker’s chief of staff Bradley Thiessen in charge until then.

“New leadership is the expectation and I think it makes sense,” Rufo said at the meeting. “I don’t think it’s a condemnation of Dr. Okker, scholarship or skills or character.”
DeSantis’ changes at New College follow other efforts to reshape higher education in Florida. Earlier Tuesday, the GOP governor proposed several changes to Florida’s university system, including pressing the GOP-led Legislature to cut all funding for diversity, equity and inclusion programs and to allow university leaders to launch tenure review of professors. Last year, DeSantis and state Republicans placed GOP allies in top university posts and pushed legislation that could limit how professors teach race.
New College is also now set to review its Office of Outreach & Inclusive Excellence at the request of Rufo as part of the state’s stance against diversity, equity and inclusion programs in schools. Rufo originally pushed to abolish the office outright, including four positions, and take other actions tied to diversity and equity, but decided to request further details on the program for a discussion in February.
Tuesday’s meeting was tense at times, with audience members frequently shouting over and at the new trustees as they spoke. Several parents and students addressed the board before they huddled, often criticizing their plans to retool the university and asking them to leave the college alone.
Some faculty said students felt “hopeless” about what could happen at the school, which is a unique college of under 700 undergraduates where students craft personalized education plans and don’t receive letter grades.
“Many students came here to feel safe and access the education that is their right as Floridians,” Diego Villada, Assistant Professor of Theater and Performance Studies, told the board. “And the impulse to make this a place where race, intersectionality and DEI are banned indicates to them that you want everyone to be the same – to be like you.”
Trustees, though, made it clear that the New College overhaul is fully underway, a message that came the same day DeSantis pledged to invest millions of dollars into recruiting faculty to the school.
“The campus needs a deep culture change. You sat up here, you called us racists, sexists, bigots, outsiders,” said trustee Mark Bauerlein, professor emeritus of English at Emory University who was appointed by DeSantis. “We are now in a position of authority in the college. And the accusations are telling us that something is wrong here.”
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#Conservative #trustees #oust #president #Floridas #College #leadership #overhaul
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

February 1, 2023
Conservative trustees oust president at Florida’s New College amid leadership overhaul

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A leadership switch from President Patricia Okker to Corcoran as interim leader is one of several moves made Tuesday by the board, which also signaled its intent to abolish diversity, equity and inclusion programs on campus — all policies pushed by DeSantis. The changes are major developments at the school spurred by the new appointees, including Christopher Rufo, a conservative activist who has advised DeSantis on critical race theory, and Eddie Speir, the co-founder of Inspiration Academy, a Christian charter school in Bradenton, Fla.
Tuesday’s meeting was met with apprehension from dozens of students and parents who protested what they called a “hostile takeover” at New College. They urged Okker to stay on as president and push back against the new mandates from the DeSantis administration to model the school as a “Hillsdale of the South” in reference to the private conservative religious “classical“ college in Michigan.
Okker in an emotional address told the board — and the campus — that she couldn’t continue to serve as president amid accusations that the students are being inundated with liberal indoctrination.
“The reality is, and it’s a hard reality and it’s a sad reality, but the vision that we created together is not the vision I have been given as a mandate here,” Okker said.
In remaking the board at New College, the DeSantis administration said the school was “completely captured by a political ideology that puts trendy, truth-relative concepts above learning” and in need of change following downward enrollment trends. To move on from Okker, trustees agreed to a “generous” exit package that includes at least 12 months of paid professional development leave and benefits. Corcoran is unable to begin serving until March, leaving Okker’s chief of staff Bradley Thiessen in charge until then.
“New leadership is the expectation and I think it makes sense,” Rufo said at the meeting. “I don’t think it’s a condemnation of Dr. Okker, scholarship or skills or character.”
DeSantis’ changes at New College follow other efforts to reshape higher education in Florida. Earlier Tuesday, the GOP governor proposed several changes to Florida’s university system, including pressing the GOP-led Legislature to cut all funding for diversity, equity and inclusion programs and to allow university leaders to launch tenure review of professors. Last year, DeSantis and state Republicans placed GOP allies in top university posts and pushed legislation that could limit how professors teach race.
New College is also now set to review its Office of Outreach & Inclusive Excellence at the request of Rufo as part of the state’s stance against diversity, equity and inclusion programs in schools. Rufo originally pushed to abolish the office outright, including four positions, and take other actions tied to diversity and equity, but decided to request further details on the program for a discussion in February.

Tuesday’s meeting was tense at times, with audience members frequently shouting over and at the new trustees as they spoke. Several parents and students addressed the board before they huddled, often criticizing their plans to retool the university and asking them to leave the college alone.
Some faculty said students felt “hopeless” about what could happen at the school, which is a unique college of under 700 undergraduates where students craft personalized education plans and don’t receive letter grades.
“Many students came here to feel safe and access the education that is their right as Floridians,” Diego Villada, Assistant Professor of Theater and Performance Studies, told the board. “And the impulse to make this a place where race, intersectionality and DEI are banned indicates to them that you want everyone to be the same – to be like you.”
Trustees, though, made it clear that the New College overhaul is fully underway, a message that came the same day DeSantis pledged to invest millions of dollars into recruiting faculty to the school.
“The campus needs a deep culture change. You sat up here, you called us racists, sexists, bigots, outsiders,” said trustee Mark Bauerlein, professor emeritus of English at Emory University who was appointed by DeSantis. “We are now in a position of authority in the college. And the accusations are telling us that something is wrong here.”
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#Conservative #trustees #oust #president #Floridas #College #leadership #overhaul
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

February 1, 2023