BALLARI: The police detained Congress MLA Zameer Ahmed Khan and his followers while they were on their way to the residence of Ballari MLA G Somashekara Reddy. Khan was in Ballari on Monday to stage a protest against an alleged hate speech by Reddy. They were taken to Kuditini police station and later released.

Recently, during a pro-CCA rally held in the city, Reddy had made provocative statements against the Muslim community. A police case was filed against Reddy over his remarks, after which Khan said he would stage a protest at Reddy’s residence.

Addressing a rally, Khan had charged that the BJP and RSS were targeting minorities and that issuing warnings for anti-CAA protests was undemocratic. “Keep in mind that we are Indian Muslims, we want to live like brothers in India,” he had said.

Further, he said that no action has been taken Reddy yet, giving the police a ten-day deadline to arrest him. Ballari SP C K Baba said that as police had denied permission to Khan to protest, he was detained 5 kms outside the city. “We released him and he returned to Bengaluru later, Baba added.

Konaje: An Eicher truck parked at the site of Sunday’s protest in the city against the CAA and NRC was charred down to ashes after it was reportedly set on fire by miscreants on late Sunday night.

According to the reports the Eicher truck which was plying to chairs to the protest site was parked at the site in Deralakatte after people protested against the CAA and NRC on Sunday evening. The truck was under the flames when people noticed it at midnight.

The incident resulted in panic among the locals who informed the police immediately after noticing the fire. It is speculated that miscreants might have set the truck on fire.

Police reached the spot and controlled the situation. An investigation into the matter is also initiated.

Mangaluru: In a tragic road accident reported from near Nanthoor on Sunday night, a 18-year old college student died when his bike skidded here.

The deceased has been identified as Mohammed Omar (18), a first year engineering student of St. Joseph Engineering College in the city.

According to the reports, Omar was immediately rushed to the hospital for treatment after the incident where he breathed his last after not responding to the treatment.

Bengaluru: With the selection of next Congress Legislature Party leader and state Congress president on the cards, former chief minister Siddaramaiah will meet the party high command in Delhi on Tuesday, a senior leader said on Sunday.

“Yes… He is leaving for Delhi on Monday evening. There is a meeting scheduled with the party high command on Tuesday,” said a Congress leader close to Siddaramaiah.

Names that are doing rounds for the post of CLP leader include H K Patil and former speaker K R Ramesh Kumar whereas D K Shivakumar and K H Muniyappa are the top contenders for the state party chief’s post.

Siddaramaiah had stepped down as the CLP leader while Dinesh Gundu Rao had resigned as state Congress president on December 9 after the party’s poor performance in the assembly bypolls at 15 places.

While the ruling BJP won 12 seats, Congress could secure only two seats namely Hunasuru and Shivajinagar. An independent candidate won from Hoskote.

The bypolls were necessitated due to the disqualification of 17 MLAs which brought down the coalition government of Congress and the JD(S).

The bypolls were held at 15 places whereas the decision regarding the two other assembly segments was put on hold pending court order. The BJP’s thumping victory in the bypolls helped the saffron party gain majority in the Karnataka assembly with 117 seats minus the speaker.

The Congress and the JD(S) were expecting a substantial victory in the bypolls but the BJP’s stellar performance left the leaders of the two parties in a state of shock. The bypolls were being seen as an acid test for Siddaramaiah and Rao.

The strike has also been called to press for demands like fixed minimum wages.

NEW DELHI: Trade unions across the country will go ahead with their proposed 24-hour Bharat Bandh beginning 12 am on Wednesday despite warnings from the Centre, which said the unions would have to face consequences if they went ahead with the strike.A total of 25 crore workers are expected to take part in the strike which has been called by the CITU against the policies of the government which it calls anti-labour. The strike has also been called to press for demands like fixed minimum wages.

The CITU on Monday had claimed that the Centre’s policies and labour laws had affected 80 crore people and the country was going through a “major crisis”. Department of Personnel and Training in its letter to all government departments has said that the instructions prohibit government servants from participating in any form of strike including mass casual leave etc.

“Any employee going on strike in any form would face the consequences which, besides deduction of wages, may also include appropriate disciplinary action.” The order also prohibited government servants from participating in the strike. The order urged government officers not to sanction leave asked by employees during the period of the proposed strike and called on the CISF to keep vigil. Union leaders have claimed the government has failed to tackle challenges posed by a crisis-ridden economy.

Smooth sailing for Congress, but JDS may need surplus votes

BENGALURU: The names of JDS supremo HD Deve Gowda and Congress veteran Mallkarjun Kharge are doing the rounds for the Rajya Sabha elections from the state in June when four sitting members’ tenure will end.
While it will be smooth sailing for Kharge, Gowda will require some support from the Congress to make it to the Upper House.

The RS members whose tenure will end are B K Hariprasad and Rajiv Gowda (both Congress), Prabhakar Kore (BJP) and Kupendra Reddy (JDS).After the bypolls, BJP strength in Legislative Assembly has gone up to 117, while Congress’s numbers have come down to  68 and the JDS to 34. With its current strength, the BJP can get two RS members elected without any difficulty as 45 votes are required for one candidate to win.

While the Congress can comfortably ensure victory of one candidate, it will still be left with surplus votes that the JDS will be looking for in the polls.Congress sources said Kharge is interested in contesting the elections. Kharge, who had won 11 elections consecutively — nine assembly and two Lok Sabha — lost to BJP’s Dr Umesh Jadhav in the 2019 LS polls.

On Tuesday, speaking to reporters, Kharge refused to comment on his candidature stating that the party high command would decide.According to JDS sources, party leaders are keen on 87-year-old Gowda contesting the polls. “Deve Gowda is our voice. We need someone like him to raise issues related to Karnataka in Parliament. We are appealing to him to contest. But he is not keen,’’ JDS MLC T A Saravana said.

Sources said after the party’s poor show in the bypolls as well as the Lok Sabha elections in 2019, JDS has been on a revival mode. JDS has 34 MLAs in the state as against the required 45 seats to elect the RS member. “We will talk to Congress leaders. Since we have time, we will do that in the coming days,’’ said a senior JDS leader on the condition of anonymity.

A six-time MP since his 1991 Lok Sabha election, Gowda has lost the LS elections thrice including the 2019 Lok Sabha election where he contested from Tumkur. He was an RS member from 1996 to 1998.
For BJP, it is early for it to decide on a candidate, say sources.Members of RS are elected by the elected members of State Legislative Assemblies in accordance with the system of proportional representation.

Yediyurappa was on a door-to-door campaign to make people aware of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and to allay their fears.

BENGALURU: BJP leader and Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa once again blamed the Congress of creating ‘confusion’ among the Muslim community over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act-2019 while launching a door to door campaign to dispel such rumours.

Yediyurappa was on a door-to-door campaign to make people aware of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and to allay their fears.

“Unnecessarily, the members of Congress are creating confusion among the Muslim community. I assure you that not a single Muslim will be affected because of CAA,” said B. S. Yediyurappa.

“Almost all previous Prime Ministers have supported it, now Congress is creating a problem so as to create confusion among Muslims. That’s why we are out on the door-to-door campaign,” he said.

The Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019, seeks to grant Indian citizenship to Hindu, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist and Parsi refugees from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh and who entered India on or before December 31, 2014. 

Speaking to reporters later, she said that the girl, who was brought from Kasaragod to Electronics City, where the accused youths run a business, was allegedly raped here.

BENGALURU: BJP leader and MP Shobha Karandlaje met city Police Commissioner Bhaskar Rao and demanded to initiate action against two youths who allegedly raped a girl for almost one year and also threatened to convert her to Islam.

The MP met the commissioner on Sunday and submitted the complaint copy.

she said that the girl, who was brought from Kasaragod to Electronics City, where the accused youths run a business, was allegedly raped here. “I have asked the Police Commissioner to direct the Electronics City police to register an FIR and arrest the youths,”she said.

“I have spoken to the survivor and she said that the youths were also forcing her to convert to Islam and threatened her with dire consequences if she did not,” the MP alleged.

She suspects that there was a gang that could be operating to forcibly convert Hindu women to Islam.
The BJP leader also met Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa along with the survivor’s family members and gave a petition.

I want to ask PM Narendra Modi and Amit Shah, if they have certificates of their fathers and grandfathers, says Zameer

BENGALURU: Thousands of Muslims gathered at the Idgah Grounds in Chamarajpet to protest against the Citizen Amendment Act (CAA), in response to the call by Congress legislator and former minister BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan. Addressing the protesters, Zameer Khan said, “More than 700 Muslims died during the struggle for Independence, and we had made it clear during Partition that we will live and die in this land, so we strongly oppose this religion-based CAA and we can’t accept it. 

Before asking us for details about our forefathers, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah should show their own documents as proof. “I’m a four-time MLA and two-time minister. It took me four months to get my certificates. I want to ask the PM Modi and Shah, if they have certificates of their fathers and grandfathers. Let them get their certificates first and then we will provide ours,” he said.

Freedom fighter HS Doreswamy too joined in the protest. “We are not Muslims or Hindus. We are all Indians and we are fighting today as Indians,” he said. Traffic was affected at JC Road and Corporation Circle.  

Ballari
Ballari MLA Gali Somashekhar Reddy on Friday stoked controversy by issuing veiled threats to the Muslim community, for reservation against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).At a rally here on Friday in support of CAA and National Register of Citizens (NRC), Somashekhar called for unity among Hindus in favour of the Act and warned those agitating against it of serious consequences. Since the Act was passed by Parliament, where is the room for opposing it, he asked.

He said that some misguided Muslim members of the party were also expressing apprehension that they would be sent out of the country. The MLA also dragged family planning into his speech, saying, “If Muslims can give birth to 20-30 babies, Hindus would also deliver 50 babies.” He also defended the ‘puncturewallah’ comment by Bangalore South MP Tejasvi Surya, saying that these are illiterate people being misguided by the literate, so they are coming out on the streets. He also warned that if any untoward incident occurs during CAA protests, the consequences would be dangerous.

Cautioning anti-CAA protesters, the MLA said that only 5 per cent of the people have attended these rallies. If the other 95 per cent come out, the protesters would vanish. He also warned protesters not to test the patience of Hindus.

Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah on Friday played ‘Good cop, bad cop’ as he poured out sympathy for Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa and trashed him in the same breath.

BENGALURU: Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah on Friday played ‘Good cop, bad cop’ as he poured out sympathy for Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa and trashed him in the same breath. However, the BJP jumped to the CM’s defence. Siddaramaiah lashed out at the Prime Minister for first ignoring Karnataka’s plight and then snubbing his own party’s leaders. “…PM Modi deliberately ignoring Yediyurappa and humiliating him on the stage is equivalent to insulting Kannadigas. I condemn this,” said Siddaramaiah. He then went on to deem Yediyurappa a weak chief minister. 

“Yediyurappa on Thursday said the state has received only Rs 1,500 crore from the Centre despite asking for Rs 36,000 crore. The PM should at least address this issue seriously,” he added. While the Congress leader questioned the need for PM to politicise a speech in front of children, the BJP replied saying, “The Prime Minister defended the Citizenship Amendment Act and did not seek votes for BJP while addressing children. CAA has been passed by the Parliament and is now an Act. It is not just his but our responsibility too to inform children about it. Calling this politicisation exposes Siddaramaiah’s lack of political understanding,” said Laxman Savadi, Deputy Chief Minister. Reacting to PM Modi’s allegation that the Congress is reluctant to talk against Pakistan and is opposing the Parliament, Siddaramaiah said, “East Pakistan was liberated as Bangladesh was under Indira Gandhi. Pakistan was beaten in a battle and 90,000 of its soldiers surrendered. All of this was done during Congress government, where was Modi then?” he asked.