Archives for April 2022

DAVNGERE: Describing the people of Karnataka as more alert, KPCC president DK Shivakumar on Sunday said that Karnataka is not Uttar Pradesh to introduce Bulldozer culture.

BJP government in state is getting 30-40 percent commission and they are a black spot in the political history of the country and state. Except the temples BJP is getting commission from all, he added. He also expressed sadness over the religious intolerance that is being spread in the state.

BJP has caused huge loss for the poor people who were involved in meat business in the state. The sheeps which were sold for Rs 8000 at Chitradurga is now sold for Rs 3 to 4 thousand and questioned whether
BJP leaders will purchase the sheeps.

Over the issue of Halal cut and Jatkha cut, he said that thousands of sheeps are sacrificed at Kabbalamma temple in Bengaluru and Muslims come for cleaning them. When this is the issue what is the importance of raising the issue, he questioned.

MUMBAI: The Mumbai Police have shifted independent MP Navneet Rana to the Byculla women’s jail here, while her MLA husband Ravi Rana was taken to Taloja jail in neighbouring Navi Mumbai amid tight security, an official said on Monday.

The Mumbai Police later slapped the sedition charge on the politician couple.

On Sunday, a Mumbai court remanded the Rana couple in 14-day judicial custody.

Subsequently, Navneet Rana, the MP from Amravati in Maharashtra, was late Sunday night taken to the Byculla women’s jail.

Her husband Ravi Rana, the MLA from Badnera in Amravati, was first taken to the Arthur Road jail in Mumbai, but due to lack of adequate space there, he was taken to the Taloja jail in Navi Mumbai after completion of the legal formalities, the official said.

Earlier, a case was registered against Ranas under Sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc, and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code, and sections 37(1) and 135 of the Bombay Police Act.

Later, the police also added IPC Section 124-A (sedition) in the case against them.

Under IPC Section 124-A, the offence of sedition is committed when any person by words or otherwise brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards the government established by law.

The police had also registered another FIR against Ranas for allegedly obstructing police from performing their duty and resisting arrest at their residence in suburban Khar, the official said.

Maharashtra Home Minister Dilip Walse Patil had on Sunday termed “appropriate” the arrest of the Rana couple.

The police had also arrested 13 Shiv Sena workers on Sunday for allegedly protesting outside the Khar residence of Ranas on Saturday.

The party workers were later released on bail, police earlier said.

CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu Assembly on Monday adopted a bill empowering the state government to appoint Vice-Chancellors to various universities in the state, in an apparent bid to clip the wings of the Governor on the matter.

Higher Education Minister K Ponmudy tabled the bill to amend the Tamil Nadu Universities Laws to allow the state government to appoint VCs to the varsities.

The BJP opposed the bill at the introductory stage while the main opposition AIADMK, taking exception to a remark on late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa by Congress Legislature Party leader K Selvaperunthagai, staged a walkout ahead of the passage of the bill.

Earlier, Chief Minister M K Stalin, while appealing to members to support the government’s initiative, said that even in Gujarat, the home-state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the vice-chancellors are not appointed by the governor but the State.

Same was the case with other states including Telangana and Karnataka.

Opposition PMK supported the bill.

BHUBANESWAR: Chief Minister and BJD president Naveen Patnaik on Saturday asked district observers to submit reports on the reasons behind the party’s defeat in several places in panchayat and urban local body (ULB) elections and suggest steps to be taken for further strengthening the organisation keeping the 2024 General Elections in view.

The Chief Minister started a review of the performance of BJD in panchayat and ULB elections with district observers on Saturday. The process will continue for three days.He  reviewed panchayat samiti results, had one to one meeting with the observers and asked them the reasons behind the party’s defeat in some of places in their areas.

The ruling BJD’s success in both the panchayat and ULB elections was unprecedented and the party broke all previous records by winning more than 80 percent of the seats in both the polls. However, in several areas the party faced reverses by yielding to the Opposition BJP. Each of the observers will have to specifically state why a BJD candidate lost the election and also suggest measures to strengthen organisation in their districts.

On the first day on Saturday, the party’s performance in Koraput, Malkangiri, Kendrapara, Balasore, Nayagarh, Angul, Nabarangpur, Dhenkanal and Sundargarh were reviewed.Balasore district observer and former minister Pratap Keshari Deb told mediapersons that the party chief has asked the observers to submit reports within 10 days.

Transport Minister Padmanabha Behera, the party’s observer for Nayagarh district, said that the party lost several seats in Khandapara, Ranapur and Daspalla areas in the panchayat election. BJP won the panchayat samiti chairperson post in Ranapur. A senior leader said that direct interaction of the Chief Minister with the party leaders had stopped due to the Covid-19 pandemic for the last two years. He interacted with observers as the Covid cases have come down drastically.​

KYIV: The Ukrainian military said Saturday it destroyed a Russian command post in Kherson, a southern city that fell to Russian forces early in the war.

Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said in an online interview that 50 senior Russian officers were in the command centre when it came under attack.

He said their fate was unknown. The Russian military did not comment on the claim, which could not be confirmed.

BENGALURU: With the festival of Ramzan just over a week away, Congress and JDS leaders are holding iftar parties, de rigueur for political parties in the season of fasting. While Congress leader Siddaramaiah held an iftar for his supporters, KPCC president DK Shivakumar is hosting one on Wednesday. JDS leaders HD Deve Gowda, HD Kumaraswamy and others, too, held iftar meetings a few days ago in Bengaluru, along with party MLC B M Farooq.

The importance of the iftar party has been acknowledged by most parties — it is held to reassure the electorate of one’s secular credentials, and is ideal for political messaging. Especially so now, say leaders, when the social atmosphere has been vitiated by communal issues.

As expected, the Congress iftar parties were not spared from right-wing mockery, with BJP members scoffing at Siddaramaiah and others on social media. “Topi hegide nodi,” was a comment on Siddaramaiah’s Kashmiri Karakul cap on the iftar poster. To which Siddaramaiah said, “Our nation becomes strong when all of us unite, regardless of caste and community. No one should find fault with iftar parties, every one participates in a spirit of brotherhood.”

While the right-wing fringe has raised the narrative to a shrill pitch with the row over hijab and halal meat, presence of Muslim traders in temple premises, and attack on businesses, political analyst Siddaraju recalls that the BJP itself used to once organise Iftar meetings. Insiders recall that then CM BS Yediyurappa used to participate in Iftars.

When contacted, a senior leader from the BJP’s Minority Morcha said, off the record, “We too from BJP will be holding a meeting, but after fasting is over, either on the day of Eid or the next day.” He also clarified that the BJP Karnataka unit had routinely held iftar meetings in the past few years. The RSS, too, has organized Iftars across the nation through the Muslim Rashtriya Manch, to bring Muslims close to Hindus.

NEW DELHI: The ruling alliance in Bihar appears adrift given CM Nitish Kumar’s participation in an iftar party hosted by RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav on Friday. The BJP’s central leadership is learnt to have become more cautious over political maneuvering of the JD-U leader. 

JD-U sources, however, said contentious issues raised by the BJP such as the uniform civil code or CAA would not get the party support. “Our party is in alliance with the BJP but it does not mean we support it for its bulldozer politics and polarisation,” said a senior JD-U leader.

What struck the BJP on Friday was Nitish Kumar’s alleged secrecy over his presence at the RJD’s Ifftar party. Without informing the BJP ally, he walked up to Rabri Devi’s official residence where he found Tejashwi Yadav waiting to greet him, said a BJP source.“Though Nitish Kumar went to the Patna airport on Saturday to welcome Union Home Minister Amit Shah, his Friday move has made us wary of the JD-U,” said another party source.

Over the past few days, the Bihar BJP has questioned the state government over deteriorating law and order. The recent Assembly by-election defeat of the BJP candidate at Bochaha appears to have created a rift within the ruling alliance. It widened further on Friday with Nitish’s participation in RJD’s Ifftar party. “Whenever Nitish feels uncomfortable over alliance issues, he does something of this sort to put pressure on the BJP,” said a BJP leader.