Inspector Nandeesha H L / CM Basavaraj Bommai

Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Sunday said he will instruct the state’s Director General of Police to look into the case relating to the death of a suspended police inspector, and get an inquiry done if required, following allegations that it was linked to “cash for posting”.

Main opposition parties Congress and JD(S) have sought a judicial and high-level probe into the death, respectively, following a purported video conversation that had gone viral.

In the video, state Municipal Administration Minister M T B Nagaraj was allegedly heard telling police officers that the suspended inspector had died under pressure, as he had paid huge amount for his current posting.

Speaking to reporters here, Chief Minister Bommai said, “Our DG (Director General of Police) was not in town, he has returned last night. Today, I will give instructions to him to gather all the information, and if anything is found, an inquiry should be done. We will not show any hesitation in it.” Nandeesha H L, attached to the K R Puram police station, was recently suspended over dereliction of duty. He had died of a cardiac arrest on October 27.

Latching onto the purported claims made by the minister, the opposition parties have accused the Bommai-led government of corruption by fixing rates for every posting and indulging in “cash-for-posting” scam. 

Bengaluru: Following allegations that his office tried to bribe some journalists by sending Rs 1 lakh cash gifts to them on Deepavali, along with sweet boxes, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Sunday denying his role, called it a “lie” and part of the “Congress’ toolkit”.

The Chief Minister said someone has filed a complaint before the Lokayukta on the issue, and let the investigation happen and truth come out.

The Congress on Saturday alleged that Bommai tried to bribe journalists by sending Rs 1 lakh cash gifts to them on Deepavali and demanded the registration of a graft case as well as his resignation. It also sought for judicial inquiry into allegations.

“This is the result of Congress’ tool kit, they are trying to create a lie. I have not given any instructions to anyone (to give cash gifts),” Bommai said in response to a question regarding Deepavali cash gifts to journalists from his office, Congress’ tweets in this regard and journalists in general are being looked at like “thieves” because of this.

Speaking to reporters here, he said when the Congress was in power, what gifts were given by various people are “clearly known”, and the media had reported it, whether it was iPhones or laptops or gold coins.

“What morality do they (Congress) have? Above all, someone has filed a complaint in this regard to Lokayukta and Lokayukta will investigate. It is not right to interpret that the gifts were given or all journalists have taken it. Yesterday, a Congress spokesperson interpreted it very wrongly. I condemn it,” he added.

Reiterating that he had given no instructions to send out any gifts for journalists, Bommai further in response to a question, whether he will order for any inquiry as his own office is facing an allegation, said, “The matter is before the Lokayukta, it has a police agency, let the truth come out from the inquiry.” A non-government organisation ‘Janaadhikara Sanghasha Parishath’ has lodged a complaint with the Karnataka Lokayukta against the Chief Minister alleging that he paid a bribe to the journalists in the guise of Deepavali gift.

The complainants R Adarsh Iyer, Prakash Babu B K and Vishwanath V B of the JSP said chief reporters of several media houses were paid bribes by the Chief Minister through his close aide, and some of them informed their higher-ups in their organisations and returned the money. 

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge with party leaders Sonia Gandhi and Shashi Tharoor in New Delhi, Wednesday, Oct 26, 2022.

New Delhi: New Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday set up a 47-member Steering Committee that includes former prime minister Manmohan Singh and the party’s ex-presidents Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.

The interim panel headed by him would take the place of the Congress Working Committee, the apex decision-making body, till a new CWC is formed after Kharge’s election is ratified at the party plenary.

All members and permanent invitees of the last CWC have been retained in the committee except Vivek Bansal.

Bansal, a former MLA who was a permanent invitee in the previous CWC, is now the in-charge for Haryana affairs of the party.

None of the special invitees to the previous CWC under Sonia Gandhi have found a place in the new Steering Committee announced by Kharge hours after he took over as the new party Congress president.

Shashi Tharoor, who contested against Kharge, is not among the panel members. He was earlier heading the Professional Congress wing of the party but resigned ahead of the party’s presidential election.

The CWC special invitees not included in the new panel are Ajay Kumar Lallu, Chinta Mohan, Deepender Singh Hooda, Sachin Rao, besides Seva Dal chief organiser Lalji Desai, IYC chief Srinivas B V, NSUI chief Neeraj Kundan, Mahila Congress chief Netta D’Souza and president of Intuc G Sanjeeva Reddy.

Anand Sharma, a CWC member and a prominent leader of the G23 dissident group that was pushing for organisational overhaul, has been retained in the Steering Committee.

Earlier in the day, soon after Kharge took over as the new chief, all CWC members and office bearers of the party tendered their resignations to the new party chief to enable him to choose his own team.

There is a tradition of all office bearers of the Congress resigning soon after the election of the new president.

“All the CWC members, AICC general secretaries and in-charges have tendered their resignation to Congress president,” said AICC general secretary Organisation KC Venugopal.

According to a communication from the AICC general secretary (Organisation), the steering committee members include senior party leaders Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, A K Antony, Ambika Soni, Anand Sharma, K C Venugopal, Randeep Surjewala and Digvijaya Singh.

“As per Article XV (b) of the Constitution of the Indian National Congress, the Congress president has constituted the Steering Committee which would function in place of the Congress Working Committee,” Venugopal said in the order.

The CWC is the highest decision-making body of the Congress and the Steering Committee will now take all decisions till the ratification of Kharge’s election at the party’s plenary session attended by all PCC delegates.

According to the party Constitution, 11 members of the CWC will be nominated and 12 will be elected. Besides, the leader of the party in Parliament and the Congress president will also be the members of the working committee.

The session is likely to be held in March next year.

Among those who resigned was Anand Sharma who assured of all cooperation to the new chief and thanked Sonia Gandhi for her leadership.

Congratulating the new Congress chief, Sharma said, “It has been a privilege for me to have served as a member of the CWC with the outgoing president Sonia Gandhi and also with former president Rahul Gandhi.”

“As you assume the office of the Congress president, I am submitting my resignation from the CWC. I consider, that it is important for the new president to have the freedom to reconstitute the CWC as required under the provisions of the Constitution of the Indian National Congress,” he said, assuring his support in all endeavours for strengthening the party.

Bengaluru: A two-day national executive meet and national council meet of the Janata Dal (Secular) would take place in the party head office JP Bhavan here from Thursday, former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy said on Wednesday.

The office-bearers and executive committee members of the party from 13 States would participate in the meeting, the JD(S) second-in-command told reporters here.

“During the two-day meet, we will discuss political developments in the country and the State along with economic and communal issues. Some important decisions will be taken in these two days,” Kumaraswamy said.

The JD(S) leader explained that the party would launch its pancha rathna’ scheme from Kurudumale Ganapati temple in Kolar from where a ratha yatra’ would start on November 1. On Thursday, a ritual would be performed on the chariot of the proposed meet.

The pancha rathna scheme is aimed at focusing on employment, education, irrigation, agriculture, health, women and youth empowerment, the JD(S) leader said.

According to him, his father and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda started his election campaign in 1994 from Kurudumale due to which his party came to power in the Karnataka Assembly on its own.

“Now, we have also decided to organise our election campaign from Kurudumale Ganapati temple,” Kumaraswamy said.

The leader said the first list of the candidates for the upcoming Assembly election would be released on November 1 at Kurudumale at a public event.

Kumaraswamy told reporters that the ratha yatra would pass through 5 Assembly constituencies of Kolar from November 1 to 5.
From November 6 to 10, it would go around Chikkaballapura district.

The yatra would be conducted in Bengaluru Rural district from November 11 to 13; in Tumakuru from November 14 to 23; in Hassan from November 24 to 30; in Kunigal on December 1; and in Ramanagara from December 2 to 5.

The first phase of the ratha yatra would go on for 35 days and it would pass through various villages and towns, Kumaraswamy said.

The next phase of the pancha rathna ratha yatra would start in January next year after offering tribute to Goddess Chamundeshwari in Mysuru and the entire region would be covered, he added.

The JD(S) leader clarified that his ratha yatra is different from Rahul Gandhi-led ‘Bharat jodo yatra’ and BJP’s ‘jana sankalpa yatra’ in Karnataka.

Kumaraswamy said he may not be able to attend the next Assembly session as he would be busy with the ratha yatra.

Nasheman news

The event was held from 09.10.2022 to 15.10.2022 and saw 159 participants in this category from across the country.
Baig has recently joined this sport after completion of his B.tech at PES University.
On his first attempt he bagged a silver medal in 10th karnataka state shooting competition held at Bangalore from 08.07.2022 to 12.07.2022

All these achievements are without professional training. He is expected to achieve more medals for the state and for the country once he gets professional training.

BENGALURU: As Mallikarjun Kharge takes charge as AICC president on Wednesday, one of his biggest challenges will be in his home state of Karnataka, which is going to the Assembly polls in April/May 2023. He has to prove his mettle by ensuring that Congress returns to power by patching up differences among different factions

The internal bickering is likely to bubble up, especially when the process to pick candidates begins, and Kharge has to do the fine balancing act. DK Shivakumar has already said that Kharge would have a say in ticket distribution which lifts the burden off his shoulders.

The ticket distribution will not be the decision of just a few leaders, as the party high command has onboarded election strategist Sunil Kanugolu, who is expected to send reports time to time assessing the winnability of candidates. But the final list could cause much heartburn as followers of top leaders may not find a place in it and could rebel or join other parties ahead of the polls. It is a billion-dollar question as to how Kharge would tackle this attrition, which is likely to benefit BJP and JDS. There are multiple candidates from each constituency and all those who miss out could work against the official candidates. It is said that Kanugolu is already quite alarmed about such a possibility.

It is an open secret that Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah has his own set of loyalists, while Shivakumar has his acolytes pitching for tickets from the same constituencies.

Besides keeping sulking veterans, including KH Muniyappa, Motamma and SR Patil, in good books, Kharge also has to protect the interests of those joining from other parties at this crucial juncture. “Then, the question of loyalty to the party versus winnability arises. But given Kharge’s seniority, most leaders may not go against his decision,” a Congress leader said.

In Kalyana-Karnataka and Mumbai-Karnataka regions, Kharge has to take into confidence Veerashaiva Lingayat leaders and Siddaramaiah if the caste combination has to work, he said.

“The most challenging will be the communally sensitive coastal areas, as Congress that won 12 seats in 2013 was relegated to just one seat in 2018. That was because backward Billavas had lost faith in Congress. Kharge has to show his political acumen to win their trust back,” said a leader, who is a staunch supporter of veteran leader Janardhan Poojary.

Nasheman News

By:Trisha V

Bengaluru’s most happening college hosted their annal pre-culah event, spanning for a total of three days on the 17th, 18th, and 19th of October. The event is typically organized in an intra- collegiate level for the first two days and welcome students from colleges outside to participate. Over fifty six events are put together, allowing respective cultural associations to across the college to set up events and activities, encouraging students to be part of the same. Events like singing, dancing, debates, improv, quiz, aircrash, fashion show, among others are some of the activities carried out. Besides cultural slate of events. Owners of small businesses are also invited to put up their stalls and sell various items like jewellery, clothing, anime toys, cakes and cookies, and other such items. Another exciting event that took place was the Dhol, played by professional drummers who perform groovy beats and the students danced their hearts out.

Mount Carmel College takes great pride in hosting these events as they get to enhance the student’s experience on campus. The three festive days are held as a prequel to the traditional inter-collegiate fest Cul-Ah, that spans for two days and end it with a DJ night.

KALABURAGI: Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Wednesday hit out at the Congress over the issue of alleged encroachment of wakf properties in Karnataka.

Addressing the BJP’s Jana Sankalpa Yatra at Mahagaon in Kamalapur taluk, Bommai said that the State Government will probe the matter on the basis of the Anwar Manippady report on the misuse of wakf properties. He questioned the Minority community members how they could believe a party (Congress) which played a role in encroachment of wakf properties.

“The Anwar Manippady committee, which studied the encroachment of wakf properties in Karnataka, has submitted its report to the government. We will probe the matter on the basis of this report.

The BJP government is not against the Minority community,” Bommai said. On his government increasing SC/ST reservation, Bommai said the Congress that claims to champion the cause of Dalits failed to increase the quota during its rule. “Siddaramaiah calls himself the leader of AHINDAs… he has to introspect as to whether the AHINDA voters are still with him as hindulida (Backward) and Dalit voters have deserted him. Minorities too are also losing faith in the Congress,” the CM added. “We have launched the Sankalpa Yatra now.

After the 2023 Assembly elections, we will launch Vijaya Yatra (Victory rally),” he said. Meanwhile, Bommai reiterated that his government is committed to the welfare of the Kalyana-Karnataka region. “Our government has sanctioned Rs 3,000 crore to Kalyana Karnataka Region Development Board. An additional Rs 5,000 crore will be sanctioned next year.

The government has already announced that it will construct 2,000 classrooms in the region. Sanction has also been given for procuring 316 buses to KKRTC. Bommai also announced that the government will establish a textile park in Raichur and Kalaburagi and a pharmaceutical park in Yadgir district As CM Bommai was addressing the gathering, it started to rain heavily causing trouble to those who had gathered. The CM thanked the people for listening to his speech amid the rain and bless the BJP in the next Assembly polls.

CM: RAHUL GANDHI WILL NEVER BECOME PM

Yadgir: CM Basavaraj Bommai on Wednesday took a dig at Rahul Gandhi saying the latter “does not know anything about the country nor knows the languages spoken in different states” and hence will never become the PM. Bommai was speaking at the UKP camp in Hunasagi town in Yadgir district. On the ‘PayCM’ campaign by Congress workers, Bommai said, “Let them agitate. They do not have much work to do. We are responsible for developing the state.”

Congress revs up #SayCM campaign

BENGALURU: After the ‘PayCM’ campaign, Congress leaders are trying to put the government on the mat with the ‘SayCM’ campaign. Opposition leader Siddaramaiah lashed out at CM Bommai, tweeting, “@ BSBommai has stated that he will send the details of corruption of @INCKarnataka leaders to Shri @RahulGandhi. @BSBommai should not forget that @narendramodi is the PM now, and not Shri Rahul Gandhi. #SayCM.’’ The Congress is using the hashtag ‘SayCM’ to allege that the BJP does not keep its assurances.

BENGALURU: A relentless spell of rain through Wednesday evening left Bengaluru’s underpasses, roads. The continuous rain, lightning and thundershowers across the city, from 8:30 pm to 10:30 pm, flooded Shivananda Circle and Railway underpass, CBI Road underpass, RT Nagar, Shantinagar bus stop, Wilson Garden, Russell Market, Doddanekkundi and surrounding areas. The rain slowed down traffic, resulting in snarls in Majestic, Malleswaram and surroundings. 

Heavy rains resulted in waterlogging, incidents of tree fall, damage to certain infrastructure and power outages in several parts. The central, southern and eastern parts of the city faced the brunt of the thunderstorm.

Metro’s retaining wall collapsed near Seshadripuram, leading to several cars and bikes being damaged.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecast a few spells of rain or thundershowers, heavy at times is very likely during the next 24 hours.

The city has been receiving rain for the last few days.

The deluge last month had caused havoc leading to large-scale destruction to properties in the city and several offices had asked its employees to work from home.

Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai

Bengaluru : Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Tuesday said he has sought appointment with the BJP central leadership this week to discuss the much-awaited expansion or rejig of his cabinet, and will be heading to New Delhi as soon as he gets communication from them.

BJP national General Secretary in-charge of Karnataka Arun Singh had recently said, cabinet exercise is the prerogative of the Chief Minister and he would decide on it.

“I have sought time (with central leaders) this week amids the Jana Sankalpa Yatre (by BJP in the state), once I get the appointment, I will go this week itself,” Bommai said in response to a question regarding his travel to New Delhi to discuss with BJP high command the cabinet expansion.

The CM has been under intense pressure for some time now, over expansion and rejig of Cabinet not taking place, to make way for the fresh faces, ahead of assembly elections next year.

Though there were reports of Cabinet expansion by filling in six vacant posts or some kind of a rejig by dropping a few and inducting equal number of new faces, also talks that- Gujarat like complete top to bottom overhaul of the state ministry- may take place, nothing has happened so far, and many aspirants feel it is “too late now” with polls fast approaching.