Parmesh S Jain

Congress has failed to function as a responsible opposition party. It has violated the Flag Code by displaying the National Flag during its protest in the Assembly, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said.

Bommai was speaking to media persons at Vidhana Soudha.

National Flag Code

There is a National Flag Code defining how to use the National Flag.The National Flag should never be misused,the Code states.

But the opposition party has misused it with political motives.People are watching it all.We are prepared to reply to any issue including the minister Eshwarappa’s statement,Bommai said.

The way Congress members conducted themselves in the house does not behove the party which prides itself of having a 100 year history. Congress is getting marginalised in the country due to such conduct of its members, Bommai said.

The Opposition members could have raised issues of public grievances during the discussion on motion of thanks for Governor’s address.

Minister Eshwarappa has issued a clarification. Eshwarappa had stated that “maybe it would be possible to hoist the Saffron Flag on the Red Fort in the next 300-400 years,” Bommai said.

Eshwarappa had also stated that we have all accepted the National Flag and everyone should respect it.

Only selected parts of his statement are being quoted by the opposition to mislead the people and the house.

The minister’s statement does not amount to any violation of law.The conduct of the opposition members reflects their political bandruptcy,” Bommai said. 

Parmesh S jain

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai got emotional at the Taralabalu Hunnime Mahotsav as the Mutt honoured the spouses of soldiers who laid down their life in defending the nation.

As the Seer and the Chief Minister honoured the wives of martyred soldiers,Bommai’s eyes welled up and he was seen wiping his tears.

The mutt presented cheques of Rs.50,000 each for wives of martyred soldiers. In all 9 families were honoured.

Bommai got emotional as he listened to the background narration of the valour of the soldiers and their family background.

The families presented a memorandum seeking redressal of their grievances and Bommai assuring speedy action handed it over to the Deputy Commissioner of Chitradurga. 

Parmesh S Jain

In a major crackdown in the Guru Raghavendra Cooperative Bank scam worth Rs 1,400, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested key accused K Ramakrishna.

The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday arrested K Ramakrishna,President of Sri Guru Raghavendra Sahakara Bank in connection with misappropriation of public deposits to the tune of more than Rs1000 Crore.

The ED has taken up the case on February 2020 based on the FIR registered by Banaswadi police under the Karnataka Protection of Interest Depositors in Financial Establishments Act, against K Ramakrishna and others.

During the investigation under PMLA,it is revealed that officers and employees of the bank siphoned off the money deposited by the public with the bank.

The Bank promised to give higher interest rate to the depositors which were not in the line with the prevailing market rate.

The money deposited by the depositors was siphoned off to various persons including employees of the bank without obtaining proper security of the loans.

The bank officers created fictitious loan accounts and transferred the money to these accounts which in turn was transferred to overdue loan accounts to show strong financial health of the Bank.

The Enforcement Directorate had attached movable and immovable properties belonging to the accused persons valuing to Rs.45 Crore.

Ramakrishna has been booked under various sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 .

The accused was produced before the Principal City Civil and Sessions court and obtained four days’ custody for further investigations says ED in their release.

Parmesh S Jain

Govindpura police on Monday arrested two drug peddlers in a separate cases and recovered cocaine and brown sugar worth Rs 2.5 crore.

The accused has been identified as Chibueze Chinonso,(32),a resident of HBR Layout.

Senior officer told reporters,a special drive was organised in the city against the supply of narcotics substances in the city.

A team headed by inspector,Prakash R of Govindapura police station learnt that a local peddler had procured narcotics from Warud in Maharashtra.

Based on the information a team was pressed into action by DCP East,Dr Bheemashankar S Guled formed a special team and the team rushed to the town and with the help of technical inputs the team traced the peddlers near a hotel on the night of February 9,by seeing the police supplier managed to escape.Police caught his associate,Srikanth,30,of Ankola.

During investigation Srikanth confessed to his involvement in drug peddling and based on his confession and statement the police team seized 2,428 grams of brown sugar worth Rs 1.2 crore from him.He was allegedly involved in supplying brown sugar to peddlers in major cities,including Bengaluru.

In the second case,Govindapura police inspector,Prakash R and his team arrested Chibueze Chinonso, a Nigerian a resident of Hennur Bande extension, on February 9.

The cops grilled the accused and during a search operation the team seized 930 grams of cocaine, worth around Rs 1.4 crore,from him.

A detailed investigation by the team it has revealed that he procured the drug through the darknet from Brazil.Police arrested him when he was trying to sell it near a forest office in HBR Layout.

The accused Chinonso used to brought the cocaine from Brazil and transporting it to Delhi. He had contacts with international drug peddlers who were getting cocaine after ingesting also known as body stuffing large amounts of cocaine in an attempt to conceal it. Later he used to bring the city trains and was selling it to the celebrities for high price.

The Govindapura PS team conducted a special drive against narcotics & arrested 2 persons including a foreign national in 2 separate cases. The foreign citizen used to procure drugs from abroad and peddle it to celebrities. 910 gms of cocaine worth Rs.1.30 Cr has been seized.

In an another interstate operation, the Govindapura PS team has arrested a person for drug peddling.2.4 Kg of Brown Sugar worth Rs.1.21 Cr has been seized and further investigation is underway.

Finally he appreciated Addl CP East, Subramanyeswara Rao,DCP East,Dr Bheemashankar S Guled,ACP,KS Jagadish,PI, Prakash R, PSI,Lokesh N,and crime staff as,Anand Kumar,Suresh Badagi,Madhu,Siddappa H,Thirkappa Sangur,Anand Nayak,Manju S, Prabhu,Badakalja M Honavad,Chinnaswamy,Sandeep,Nagaraju Y, Fakeerappa and other staff has been highly appreciated for the commendable job and excellent investigation done in nabbing the duo peddlers and recovering Cocaine and brown sugar from them worth cross and a cash reward of 50K has been announced to the team he added.

BENGALURU: Even as the Centre has recently asked all the states and Union Territories to review and amend, or end additional Covid curbs, the Karnataka Government, however, has decided to continue with the existing restrictions for a few more days.

Meanwhile, the State Government has done away with the requirement of a mandatory negative RT-PCR report from passengers coming from Kerala and Goa into Karnataka, through all modes of transport, but they must carry the double vaccination certificate.

BENGALURU: The State Government will submit its arguments before the Karnataka High Court with regard to the hijab issue on Friday. The arguments of the counsel representing some students in a batch of petitions questioning the ban on hijab in classrooms, concluded on Thursday.

During Thursday’s hearing, Dr Vinod G Kulkarni, a consulting neuropsychiatrist from Hubballi, argued on his own with regard to public interest litigation filed by him, that the hijab issue has created mass hysteria and disturbed the minds of all, particularly Muslim girl students. 

HC junks plea of social activist

Therefore, those students be permitted to wear the hijab on Fridays and in the ensuing month of Ramzan between April first week and May first week, he pleaded. The court dismissed a petition filed by Arif Jameel, a Bengaluru-based social activist, against the hijab ban on the ground that it was not maintainable as rules made for filing public interest litigation had not been followed.

Meanwhile, the court also permitted the counsel to withdraw a petition filed by five students in Bengaluru on the ground that the government order is likely to be affected, as the cause of action was not mentioned. But it gave liberty to the petitioners to file a fresh plea with full details.

Students protest denial of entry to colleges
About 40 hijab-clad students of Dr G Shankar Government Women’s First Grade College, Ajjarakad, returned home on Thursday in protest for being denied entry, while the situation at Women’s Government PU College in Udupi was normal as all students agreed to follow the court’s order. The Government First Grade College in Uppinangady, Mangaluru, declared two days holiday, after some students insisted they be allowed to attend classes. In Hassan, Kodagu, Chitradurga and Shivamogga students staged dharna outside colleges.

---

MANGALURU: A day after he said that degree colleges do not have any dress code and students are free to wear anything, minister for higher education C N Ashwath Narayan did a volte-face on Wednesday.

In another tweet, he said: “All students must strictly comply with the interim court order on uniform/dress code. In colleges where there are no prescribed uniform guidelines, students should strictly adhere to the norms of College Development Committees (CDC).” A tweet from his office said “Schools-colleges violating dress code even after court’s direction is unpardonable.”

The minister’s U-turn led to severe confusion in Udupi and Dakshina Kannada on Wednesday. In Mangaluru police commissionerate limits, at least four colleges refused entry to a total of 49 hijab-clad students after which they returned home. A statement from police commissioner N Shashikumar said students returned home from Dayanand Pai Degree College, Pompei Degree College, Indira Nagara Degree College and Mahaveera College after they were denied entry. Whereas at Mudipu Degree College and Montepadavu College, a total of 33 students removed the hijab and attended the class.

In all these colleges, police said the principal and faculty discussed the issue with the students and explained to them about the High Court interim order. While some students were convinced and decided to attend the classes, some returned home stating that they will come back only after the High Court verdict, said city police commissioner N Shashi Kumar.

Meanwhile, principals of some degree colleges in Udupi and Mangaluru said that though the minister had said on Tuesday that there is no dress code here, they received instructions from higher authorities stating that the High Court’s interim order applies to even degree colleges and should be implemented.

Mangaluru: Congress workers on Thursday took out a rally from in the city protesting against state Rural Development Minister K S Eshwarappa’s remark about hoisting the saffron flag at the Red Fort.

The protestors, who took out a rally from Hampankatta to the clock tower, raised slogans demanding the minister’s resignation over his irresponsible statement.

Police foiled an attempt by the workers who tried to burn an effigy of Eshwarappa during the protest.

Addressing the protestors, former MLA J R Lobo said Eshwarappa appears to have lost control over his tongue. Being a senior leader who knows the Constitution, he should be more responsible while speaking to the media, Lobo said.

Former city mayor Shashidhar Hegde also condemned the statement of Eshwarappa. The minister should be sacked by the chief minister as he is unfit to hold the post, Hegde said.

Eshwarappa had recently made a controversial remark that a day will come when the saffron flag is hoisted atop the Red Fort in place of the tricolour.

Karnataka Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar

Bengaluru: The Karnataka government on Thursday lifted the condition of a mandatory negative RT-PCR test report of passengers coming from Kerala and Goa.

“Passengers coming to Karnataka from Kerala and Goa, through all modes of transportation, no longer need a negative RTPCR report,” Karnataka Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar tweeted.

He added that this waiver was given to passengers from Maharashtra last week.

However, vaccine certificate is mandatory for the passengers coming from these states, the minister said.

Following the third wave of COVID-19, which started from the last week of December 2021, the government had imposed restrictions and made a negative RT-PCR test a must along with the double dose of COVID-19 vaccine.

“Following declining cases, less hospitalisation and less fatalities compared to the first two waves, the government took this decision”, a health department official said.

The state had reported 1,894 fresh COVID cases and 24 deaths on Wednesday. The active cases stood at 23,284.

Bengaluru: Protests by the Congress demanding sacking of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister K S Eshwarappa and that he be booked for sedition, for his statement on the national flag, continued to rock the Assembly proceedings in Karnataka for the second consecutive day on Thursday.

While the Congress has decided to hold ‘day-and-night’ protests to take the issue to a “logical end”, Eshwarappa said he won’t quit.

Eshwarappa said there is no question of him resigning for any reason, and he is a patriot who had gone to jail during emergency.

“Let them protest, I won’t budge,” he said, and demanded that state Congress chief D K Shivakumar resign, accusing him and his party of ‘misusing’ the national flag for protests.

Recently, Eshwarappa had claimed ‘Bhagwa dhwaj’ (saffron flag) may become the national flag some time in the future and the same may be hoisted on the Red Fort then.

He however had said the tricolour is the national flag now, and it should be respected by everyone.

As soon as the House met for the day Congress members trooped into the well to mark their protest.

After the House paid tributes to former MLA Mallur Ananda Rao, who died on February 14, Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri took up the question hour, and Congress members began shouting slogans demanding action against Eshwarappa, calling him “Desha Drohi” (traitor).

The question hour took place amid sloganeering from Congress members, who did not participate in it, despite repeated requests from the chair.

Slogans like- “we want justice”, “we want resignation”, “Down down to corrupt government”, “Eshwarappa- desha drohi”, “this Government is RSS’ puppet”, “BJP government is anti national flag”- among others marred the proceedings.

After the question hour, the Speaker asked Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah to speak on the motion of thanks to the Governor’s address, but he did not speak and continued to protest from the well along with Congress legislators.

As the chaos continued, the Speaker adjourned the House till 3 pm.

The Chair in the assembly on Wednesday rejected the Congress’ adjournment motion demanding dismissal and sedition case against Eshwarappa.

In the Legislative Council too, proceedings were marred by Congress’ protest with placards from the well, demanding action against Eshwarappa, forcing Chairman Basavaraj Horatti to adjourn the House till 3 PM.

Addressing reporters outside the assembly, Siddaramaiah, accusing BJP and Sangh Parivar of disrespecting the national flag, said the Congress has decided to stage ‘day-and-night’ protests, to take the issue to a logical end.

Noting that the Governor, who is the constitutional head, should have intervened and given instructions for Eshwarappa’s dismissal, as his comments amount to treason, he said, “The Chief Minister is also not taking action against Eshwarappa, the RSS is implementing its hidden agenda through Eshwarappa.”