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Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai to brief BJP top brass on state budget

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BENGALURU: Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai is likely to visit New Delhi for two days after April 5 and meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Finance Minister Niramala Sitharaman and their cabinet colleagues to present copies of his maiden and last full-fledged budget of the BJP government before the 2023 Assembly polls.

Bommai will explain the essence of his budget and its repercussions on the government and the party to the national leadership. He also has to impress on the central leadership to release the grant-in-aid to the state.

Bommai, who held an all-party meeting on inter-state water disputes and also piloted a unanimous resolution condemning Tamil Nadu’s resolution against the Mekedatu project, is also likely to meet Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.

It is interesting to see whether he will also call on Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupendra Yadav, who is close to Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah and is in the know of political affairs concerning Karnataka.

Cabinet reshuffle and appointments to boards and corporations to give a ‘fresh’ administrative look to his government may also come up during Bommai’s Delhi visit.

BJP committee to appreciate CM Basavaraj Bommai

The state BJP executive committee meeting slated to be held on April 16 and 17 at Vijayanagara is likely to pass a resolution appreciating Bommai’s budget, calling it development-oriented. Party’s national president JP Nadda will inaugurate the meeting which will be held at Tourism Minister Anand Singh’s residence.

Singh had met KPCC president DK Shivakumar at the latter’s residence in Bengaluru recently. The BJP executive committee meeting at Singh’s residence is to send out a message that he is not quitting the party, especially after its performance in four states, sources said.

Petrol, diesel prices hiked for 12th time in 14 days

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NEW DELHI: The State-run oil marketing companies on Monday raised key transport fuel prices for the 12th time in the last 14 days.

On Monday, the price of petrol and diesel in New Delhi were increased again by 40 paise per litre. As per pump prices, petrol now costs Rs 103.81 per litre and diesel Rs 95.07 per litre in the national capital.

In the financial capital Mumbai, prices were hiked to Rs 118.83 per litre for petrol and diesel to Rs 103.07 per litre.

Besides, the prices of both the transport fuels were raised in Kolkata. The petrol prices rose to Rs 113.45 and diesel to Rs 98.22 per litre.

In Chennai too, they were increased and petrol there now costs Rs 109.34 and diesel Rs 99.42 per litre.

Till last Tuesday, fuel prices were steady since November 2021 when the Centre reduced excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 5 and Rs 10 per litre, respectively.

The OMCs revised the transportation fuel cost based on various factors such as rupee to US dollar exchange rate, cost of crude oil and demand of fuel amongst others.

Resultantly, the final price includes excise duty, value added tax and dealer’s commission. It was widely expected that the OMCs will revise the current prices due to high crude oil cost.

Lately, crude oil prices have been volatile on fears of tight supplies due to sanctions against Russia. The crude oil price range is a cause of concern for India as it may ultimately add Rs 10-15 in petrol and diesel selling prices. At present, India imports nearly 85 per cent of its crude oil requirements.

Pandits will return to Kashmir soon: RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat

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NEW DELHI:  Stating that the entire nation is with Kashmiri Pandits, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on Sunday said they would return to their Valley homes soon. Virtually addressing the Navreh (Kashmiri New year) celebration in Kashmir, Bhagwat said the government is working for creating a conducive atmosphere for the migrant Pandits. 

“The time has come for fulfilling the pledge of returning (Pandits) to their native homes in the Kashmir Valley. Pandits live in different countries despite the fact that Kashmir is an integral part of India. We can live anywhere but we cannot forget our homeland,” he said.

Speaking about The Kashmir Files movie, the RSS chief said the film highlighted the “plight of Kashmiri Pandits” and “spread awareness throughout the world about the Kashmiri Hindu community”. “Why we had to be displaced from Kashmir time and again? Whatever our shortcomings may have been, the reason for this is the bigotry of a particular class. And we have the remedy for this bigotry. If we can stay there, we will put an end to the poison of this bigotry,” he said, asserting that the removal of Article 370 has paved the way for the return of Pandits.

“Article 370 has been abrogated by our efforts, and this has paved way for our return to our homeland,” Bhagwat said, adding that the Pandits will be at their home by next year. Referring to the Jews creating the Israeli nation, Bhagwat said: “Ignominy of being refugees in own country has to be surpassed with Sankalp. Jews for 1,800 years kept their fire alive and attained their goal in the last 100 years,” he said. 
Efforts are on to make the Pandits live peacefully with their neighbours like they used to before, he said.

28 of 30 districts in Karnataka report zero COVID-19 cases

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BENGALURU: For the first time through the pandemic, 28 of the 30 districts of Karnataka listed on the state health department data sheet (Vijayanagar is part of Ballari) have recorded no additions to their respective COVID-19 tallies.

The COVID-19 death toll has remained stationary at 40,054 over the past three days, although the mortality rate has remained just a notch above the 1 per cent mark (at 1.01 per cent). The health department had aimed to bring the mortality rate below the 1 per cent mark in an effort to minimise deaths.

Of the total Covid-19 death toll, the first wave of the pandemic (March 2020 to January 2021) claimed approximately 12,400 lives; the second wave (March 2021 to December 2021) claimed about 25,900 lives; while the third wave (January 2022 till date) claimed about 1,700 lives. 

The third wave of the pandemic lasted just for three months. The low death count  in this wave is being attributed to a significantly less severe Omicron variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and increasing vaccination cover among the state’s population.

Curfew stays in Rajasthan city after communal clashes

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JAIPUR: High tension and an eerie silence prevailed in Karauli city of Rajasthan on Sunday where curfew has been imposed since communal clashes erupted on Saturday evening. Tension arose between two communities in Ajmer’s Beawar city over the murder of a youth on the eve of the Hindu new year celebrations. While the situation remains tense, politics over the clashes has intensified sharply and the government and the opposition are blaming each other for the incidents that have sparked off communal tensions. 

In Karauli, curfew remains in force since communal clashes erupted on Saturday evening. People remain locked in their homes since communal tensions erupted due to stone pelting on a bike rally of Hindu extremist organisations who were celebrating the Hindu new year in a Muslim locality of Karauli. The incident left dozens of people injured and vehicles and shops were set on fire leading to a curfew. In the violence that broke out miscreants ransacked and set fire to more than 35 shops and two dozen vehicles. After this, District Collector Rajendra Singh Shekhawat imposed curfew in the city which will remain in force till April 4.  

CM Ashok Gehlot has blamed the BJP for the incidents in Karauli on Saturday and Beawar on Sunday. Talking to the media in Barmer,  CM Ashok Gehlot attributed the mobilization on religious grounds as the reason behind the Karauli incident.  While targeting the Centre, the Yogi government and BJP in UP, Gehlot said, “their approach to governance does not get attention.”

Daily COVID-19 cases fall below 1,000 in India, first time in 715 days

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NEW DELHI: India recorded less than 1,000 new COVID-19 cases for the first time in 715 days even as the virus tally rose to 4,30,29,044, while the active infection count fell below 13,000, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Monday.

India recorded COVID-19 cases below 1,000 for the first time since April 18, 2020 when 991 cases were reported.

A reduction of 416 cases has been recorded in the number of active infections in a span of 24 hours. India’s COVID-19 tally had surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19, 2020.

The country crossed the grim milestone of two crore coronavirus cases on May 4 and three crore on June 23 last year. The daily positivity rate was recorded at 0.29 per cent and the weekly positivity rate at 0.22 per cent, according to the Health Ministry.

A total of 79.10 crore tests for the detection of COVID-19 have been conducted so far, including 3,14,823 in the last 24 hours. The 13 new fatalities include eight from Kerala. A total of 5,21,358 deaths linked to coronavirus have so far been reported in the country.

This includes 1,47,789 from Maharashtra, 68,074 from Kerala, 40,054 from Karnataka, 38,025 from Tamil Nadu, 26,153 from Delhi, 23,496 from Uttar Pradesh and 21,199 from West Bengal. The Health Ministry stressed that more than 70 per cent of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities.

“Our figures are being reconciled with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR),” the ministry said on its website, adding that state-wise distribution of figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation.

Pak Supreme Court to hear dismissal of no-trust vote against PM, dissolution of Parliament

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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Supreme Court will hear on Monday the dismissal of a no-confidence vote against Prime Minister Imran Khan by the deputy speaker and the subsequent dissolution of Parliament by the President on the advice of the embattled premier, a day after taking a suo motu cognizance of the current political situation in the country.

Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, after taking a suo motu cognizance of the current political situation in the country, said that all orders and actions initiated by the prime minister and the president regarding the dissolution of the National Assembly will be subject to the court’s order as he adjourned for one day the hearing of the high-profile case.

A three-member bench held the initial hearing despite the weekend and issued notices to all the respondents, including President Alvi and Deputy Speaker of the NA Suri.

The Supreme Court ordered all parties not to take any “unconstitutional” measures and adjourned the hearing until Monday.

Former information minister Fawad Chaudhry said that the ruling given in the National Assembly by the deputy speaker for the dismissal of the no-trust motion against Prime Minister Khan was “final” and could not be challenged in any court of law.

Talking to the media outside the Supreme Court, the close aide of Khan said that the NA deputy speaker’s ruling came after completion of the constitutional process over the no-trust motion.

Earlier, the Opposition had demanded the top court to intervene and Shehbaz Sharif, the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament, announced his party’s decision to challenge the dissolution of the NA.

Ahsan Bhoon, President, Supreme Court Bar, said that the action of the prime minister and deputy speaker was against the constitution and “they should be prosecuted for treason under Article 6 of the constitution.

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) also filed a petition asking the court to declare the ruling of the deputy speaker as unconstitutional along with the dissolution of the parliament.

The crisis erupted after Suri rejected the no-confidence motion, providing Prime Minister Khan to send an advice to the president of the country to dissolve Parliament, which he could not do until any outcome of the no-confidence vote.

Leading constitutional lawyer Salman Akram Raja said that the “entire procure by the deputy speaker and the advice by the premier to dissolve the assembly was unconstitutional”.

Raja said the illegality of the ruling would also make the advice as illegal as the prime minister cannot give advice to the assembly after a no-confidence motion was presented in the parliament against him.

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw expresses concern over communal rift

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BENGALURU: Biocon chief Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw on Thursday expressed concern over recent incidents of communal tension in Karnataka, saying they could impact the state’s image globally.

Responding to Shaw’s concerns, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai appealed to people to maintain law and order and peace. “Karnataka is known for peace and progress, and every one should observe restraint and see to it that it is not affected,”he added.  

“When social issues arise, there is a possibility for us to discuss and resolve it. So before going public, everyone should observe restraint,” the CM added. Bommai also said that several issues have come up for discussion in the public domain in the state.

“Everyone should cooperate to maintain peace and order,” he added. He told reporters that the issue of school uniforms has been resolved. Shaw said, “Unfortunately, vested interests are hijacking the issue to political parties.

I am confident our CM will resolve the matter peacefully. I am a proud Kannadiga and don’t want to see these incidents detract from economic progress…” Later, Shaw said she agreed with Bommai for calling upon “all sections of society to observe restraint before going public on social issues , as they can be resolved through discussions.”

Rahul Gandhi hails Basavanna, says no place for hatred

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TUMAKURU: “At a time when hatred is spreading across the country, the philosophy of 12th century revolutionary Basavanna preaching a casteless society is the need of  the hour, and the job of the Siddaganga Mutt, which has been propagating the same, is commendable. We should remove hatred to shape a society of communal harmony,” Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said at the Siddaganga Mutt here on Thursday.  

He was speaking on the eve of the 115th birth anniversary of Sri Shivakumara Swamiji, just a few hours ahead of Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s visit to take part in the mega event at the mutt on Friday. The visits have acquired their own significance.

“Basavanna has said that we are all one, we should live together, keeping away hatred over caste and religion. I congratulate the Siddaganga Mutt authorities for imparting the preachings of  Basavanna and shaping the future of lakhs of children,” he stated.

Hailing the contributions of Sri Shivakumara Swamiji, the Congress leader observed that society  should tread the path the great saint has shown, to educate the youth and uplift the poor, for which he extended all help to the mutt. 

Relationship with Mutt is not new: MP

“It is a matter of great joy that a leader of eminence and youth icon has come here. Indira Gandhi had visited the mutt, which was momentous, and Rahul’s visit is also momentous,” remarked Sri Siddalinga Swamiji, the head of the mutt, while appreciating Rahul’s wish for a hatred-free society.

Adopting a diplomatic stance, the prominent Lingayat religious institution is giving equal footing to both national parties — BJP and Congress. Earlier, Rahul’s visit was restricted to paying a visit to the ‘gadduge’, the divine tomb of the Swamiji, but was extended wi th him addres s ing thousands of children of the mutt during an evening prayer,” remarked a Congress Lingayat leader.

The occasion helped the mutt and Gandhis reiterate their long-term relationship. “Our relationship with the mutt is not new, my grandmother, mother and I have visited the mutt in the past,” recalled Rahul, which Sri Siddalinga Swamiji also stressed in his speech later.

“Sonia Gandhi had dropped her security personnel from her car and picked me up to go to the venue, along with Sri Shivakumara Swamiji, to take part in his 105th birthday celebrations,” he said, turning nostalgic. Rahul and the Swamiji posed for a photograph along with the children of the mutt.

Rahul had snacks and was also felicitated. Congress leaders D K Shivakumar, Siddaramaiah, B K Hariprasad, M B Patil, Eshwar Khandre, Dhruvanarayana and others put up an united front throughout the visit.

Pakistan levels ODI series with six-wicket record win over Australia

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LAHORE: Captain Babar Azam and Imam-ul-Haq smashed powerful centuries Thursday as Pakistan leveled the three-match series against a depleted Australia with its biggest ever successful run-chase in an ODI.

Australia had earlier made another imposing total of 348-8 after Babar won the toss and elected to field for the second game in a row.

Ben McDermott’s (104) maiden test hundred formed the cornerstone of Australia’s strong total.

Khushdil Shah scored an unbeaten 27 off 17 balls and Iftikhar Ahmed (8 not out) raised Pakistan’s memorable victory with six balls to spare after Babar and Imam had dominated an inexperienced Australian bowling attack.

Travis Head (89) missed out on his second successive century while Marnus Labuschagne (59) and Marcus Stoinis (49) also played cameos to set up another challenging total for Pakistan after Australia had defended 313-7 in the first game of the three-match series.

The emphatic win broke Pakistan’s 10-match losing streak against Australia, which is missing several leading players and only had 13 fit players to chose from after the white-ball squad in Lahore was hit by COVID-19.

The imposing Pakistan chase eclipsed its previous highest successful chase in the 50-over format when it made 329-7 to beat Bangladesh by three wickets in an Asia Cup game at Mirpur in 2014.

Two days ago Imam’s century went in vain when Australia recorded an emphatic 88-run, but the left-handed opening batter ensured Pakistan did not slip up for the second successive time by featuring in two solid century partnerships.

Imam laid a rollicking platform of 118 runs with Fakhar Zaman, who made 67 before Fakhar was undone by Stoinis’ slower delivery and was clean bowled in the 19th over.

Australia’s understrength bowling attack cracked up against the brilliant strokeplay of Babar, who dominated the twin spin threat of Adam Zampa and Mitchell Swepson with flurry of boundaries on both sides of the wickets.

Imam, who also scored a century in each innings against Australia in the first test earlier this month, batted resolutely and hit six fours and three sixes before he perished in the 35th over when he holed out at long-on off Zampa.

But Babar, who was criticized for his slow strike rate in the first game, took charge against the spinners and inexperienced fast bowlers as he raised his century off just 71 balls.

Babar departed in the 45th over with Pakistan needing 40 for victory when he was smartly caught at mid-wicket by Labuschagne in Ellis’ return spell before Khushdil kept his cool and carried Pakistan home with two sixes and two fours.

Earlier, McDermott, who scored his maiden ODI half century in Australia’s 88-run win on Tuesday, added 162 runs for the second-wicket stand with Head after captain Aaron Finch was out plumb leg before wicket off the first ball he faced from Shaheen Afridi.

McDermott reached his half century with a straight six off spinner Iftikhar and raised his century with an identical shot against left-arm spinner Khushdil.

McDermott hit 10 fours and four sixes before he missed a full toss from Mohammad Wasim and holed out to mid-wicket but Stoinis provided a late flourish with his breezy knock off 33 balls.

Afridi, who returned after missing the first game due to a knee injury, picked up three late wickets to finish with 4-63, but it was the Pakistan spinners who struggled against Australia’s top-order batters.

Iftikhar and Khushdil leaked 95 runs off their combined 10 overs while Zahid Mahmood went for 71 off his 10 overs for the sole wicket of Head, who top-edged a sweep against the leg-spinner.

The third and final ODI will be played on Saturday before Australia round off its tour to Pakistan with a one-off Twenty20 next Tuesday.

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