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. 

PM will address farmers’ rally at govt college in Tumkur where the Mahatma had stayed

TUMAKURU: On Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will create history of sorts. He will address a farmers’ rally at the Government Junior College ground that evening, where Mahatma Gandhi had addressed a gathering way back in 1934. The 119-year-old composite college with a high school section was founded by then Maharaja of Mysuru Nalvadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar in 1900. Siddaganga Mutt seer Sri Shivakumara Swami, who died at 111, was an alumnus of the high school and until his death on January 21, 2019, he was a patron of the alumni association. Many scholars, including scientist Raja Ramanna, are some of the alumni of the school. Gandhiji had stayed overnight in a small room on the school premises during his visit on July 16, 1927, which has now been made ‘Gandhi Bhavan.’

Although there is some ambiguity regarding the dates, as some claim that Gandhiji addressed the gathering in 1934, the fact that he paid a visit to Tumakuru on both occasions was certain. There is a framed picture at the Bapooji Institution, run by Gandhian N Basavaiah, who claims it was from the 1934 visit. Gandhiji visited the college while on a mission to abolish untouchability. He paid a visit to the panchama hostel, where another Gandhian, the late HM Gangadharaiah, offered him ragi rotti. On one of his visits, Gandhi visited the Pranidaya Sangha and held deliberations on the essence of showing compassion to animals. “We are happy that the Prime Minister will deliver his speech where Mahatma Gandhi addressed people,” said octagenarian N Basavaiah, who inspired by Gandhi, established the Bapuji Institution in 1969.

Yediyurappa oversees preparations for visit

As Tumakuru braces for PM Modi’s event on Thursday, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa held an official meeting and oversaw preparations for the same on Tuesday. The PM will launch the second year of Kisan Samman Nidhi and release funds for farmers.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat and agriculture minister Subodh Uniyal, and Haryana agriculture minister JP Dalal will receive national-level awards for the best performance in the agriculture sector. As many as 28 progressive farmers and three fish farmers will be honoured on the occasion, the CM said. The PM will land at the helipad of Tumkur University at 2.10 pm and reach Siddaganga Mutt by road. He will lay the foundation stone for an exhibition centre on the seer. He will leave for Bengaluru by 5 pm to take part in a function at DRDO.

Pramesh Jain

Bengaluru CCB sleuths of organised crime wing has arrested a gang of six inter-state arms dealers on charges of arms act.

The arrested includes an international athlete, who has represented India’s basketball team in the commonwealth games have been arrested near tank bund road under cottonpet police station limits.

The accused has been identified as,Kingpin of the gang,Aslam guthal alias Aslam,45,the international basketball player and a alleged a congress worker,Dharmanna Devalappa Chouhan,38,both from Haveri,Javed Khan alias Javed,39,of Mysuru,Rayanna Gowda,27,of Hubballi,Syed Rizwan,alias Alauddin,39,of Bismilla Nagar and Rohan Mandal,27,of Marathalli.

The gang was arrested near tank bund road area of cottonpet while they were waiting to rob people.

Acting on a credible information team headed by DCP Crime,KP Ravi Kumar and team swung into action and nabbed all the six accused and seized four weapons and live rounds from their possession.

Senior officer told,already eight cases, including four under the arms act, are registered in various police stations in the city on Aslam.Rohan Mondal is from West Bengal and the cops have also confiscated three pistols,one revolver and eight rounds of live ammunition.

Azam,the boss of Aslam has photographed himself with several Congress leaders with the shawl of Congress flag on his shoulders.It is also said that he is a alleged Congress worker.

It is said that Aslam had formed his own network and used to sell these guns to rowdies for Rs 10,000 to 20,000. It is known that he is the disciple of Azam, who is a rowdy sheeter of Brigade he added.

 Bhaskar Rao,Commissioner of police,told media persons that,a credible information was received by DCP Crime,KP Ravikumar acting on it the team headed by ACP,Ngaraj and team swung into action and rushed to the spot and nabbed all the six accused and seized all the illegal arms as three pistols,one revolver and 8 live rounds from their possession.

Bhaskar Rao,even said,in cottonpet limits our cops have arrested 6-member gang of arms dealers and robbers.One of them identified as Aslam is a national level basketball player.

He is prime accused and a kingpin of the racket in the case.Usually sportsperson are trustworthy but it may not be true is every athlete’s case.

This gang procured arms in North India and sold here.The gang is said to have been supplying arms to local criminals at cheaper rates.

A case has been registered in cottonpet police station under arms act and further investigation is on,and finally I appreciate,Joint CP,Crime,Sandeep Patil and his team as,DCP,Crime,KP Ravikumar,ACP,Nagaraj and his whole team who has nabbed the gang and busted the racket and a suitable reward will be given to whole team he added.

KSCA #BCCI #ICC #CCB #SIT

SouravGanguly

AjayShah

Political Interference

AvoidableIgnominy

By Joseph hoover

According to reports, a couple of office-bearers have been running from pillar to post, prostrating at the feet of politicians to save themselves from the possibility of being arrested by the Central Crime Branch.

In their desperation to save themselves from the ignominy of being arrested for their alleged involvement in the KPL match-fixing scandal, they have exposed themselves to the elements of doubt and guilt.

If they had conviction about their innocence, they wouldn’t have to plead for mercy. They could have steadfastly held their head up high and discarded any lingering doubts about their unholy alliance with corrupt cricketers and franchise owners .

They have sought the help of political stalwarts from the BJP, which came to power with the pledge to incinerate the corrupt, and Congress. But this isn’t going to bail anyone out of trouble.

KSCA secretary Santosh Menon’s house was raided a fortnight ago by the CCB. The CCB had availed a search warrant from the court.

It is common knowledge that no government department/ agency would raid someone’s house without evidence. No judge would issue a search warrant without clinching/corroborative evidence.

It is public knowledge that a very senior IPS officer had saved Santosh Menon from being arrested.

Menon has been asked to report to the CCB headquarters for frequent interrogation.

KSCA, Karnataka cricket and Santosh Menon could have been saved this embarrassment had the KPL governing council, chaired by Vinay Mruthunjaya, had acted on the match-fixing complaints of Sreenath Arvind and Balchander Akhil in 2017. They had briefed the then office-bearers about matches being fixed. But KSCA threw caution to the wind.

The reluctance to take action is now hurting KSCA’s reputation, Karnataka cricket and genuine cricketers.

Instead of threatening others with defamation suits, the present managing committee would do well to reprimand office-bearers who have heaped embarrassment on what was once the best administered cricket association in India.

The least the managing committee could do is to ask those who are being investigated to stay away from the affairs of the cricket association, until they are given a clean chit by the Special Investigation Team, put together by Police Commissioner Bhaskar Rao to cleanse Karnataka cricket.

The seer catapulted to the national scene in the early 1960s when then RSS Sarsanghchalak M S Golwalkar and Swami Chinmayanand sought his advice for the establishment of Vishwa Hindu Parishad

UDUPI: Pejawar seer, who came from Udupi, a small town, made his way to the national scene over a half a century ago, became an icon of Hindu religion and played a significant role in all the major movements related to Hinduism.  

The seer catapulted to the national scene in the early 1960s when then RSS Sarsanghchalak M S Golwalkar and Swami Chinmayanand sought his advice for the establishment of Vishwa Hindu Parishad. Incidentally, he was the last founding member of VHP to pass away.

The first time he was known all over the country was in 1968 with his slogan at the regional conference of VHP  held in Ujire of Dakshina Kannada. The slogan “All Hindus are brothers, my job is to protect Hindus and no Hindu should remain backward” reverberated across the country after it made to the cover pages of most of the newspapers across the country. “Because of this, the scope of his influence spread and also respect from people. It was because of this reason that though he wrote two letters to then PM Indira Gandhi condemning the imposition of national emergency, she did not dare to touch him,” said Vasudev Bhat, the seer’s disciple.  

Unlike other seers, the Pejawar seer had the great ability to reach out to people without being confined to the restrictions followed by religious leaders. He played a major role in bringing different Hindu sects and also seers and religious leaders under one banner to fight for the protection of Hindu religion. Some of the major movements in which he was actively involved were related to cow protection, anti-conversion, protection of Rama Setu, Save Tirupati, Ram Janmabhoomi, eradicating untouchability etc.
 Whenever he sensed threat to the Hindu culture, he was among the first to protest it besides guiding the community in the right direction. His words carried weight because of the huge respect he would command from his sea of followers.  

Says Sondekoppa facility is meant for African drug peddlers; govt affidavit in HC gives details of centres  

BENGALURU: After Prime Minister Narendra Modi, it is now Karnataka Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai who is backing off, and claiming that the state does not have a detention centre. Bommai says the centre, located in Sondekoppa village, 40km from Bengaluru, is meant to lodge African nationals found guilty of drug peddling. 

Interestingly, Additional Chief Secretary Rajneesh Goel has, in his affidavit before the high court, said that migrants will soon be shifted to the permanent detention centre in Sondekoppa. A copy of the affidavit is with TNIE. “I respectfully state that in response to the aforesaid letter dated 19-11-2019, the Additional Director General of Police and Inspector General of Police has furnished the temporary foreign detention centre details in Karnataka, including Bengaluru city, till such time the permanent detention centre becomes operational at Sondekoppa Village, Tavarekere, Bengaluru North. The copy of the 35 temporary detention centres with proper address is produced,” the affidavit states. 

Interestingly, Bommai had himself announced in the first week of October that the detention centre was being readied, and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) would be implemented in the state. He is now changing tack, “In qualified terms, it is not a detention centre…there is no purpose, per se, to detain someone on the issue of citizenship. I have no information about the facility being operational yet.” 

It must be noted that the state government had submitted to the Centre, locations of the 35 temporary detention centres, and said th at illegal migrants who had been granted bail would be kept in the centres till the one at Sondekoppa was ready. “All the 35 temporary detention centers, including Bengaluru city, will be equipped with basic facilities such as bedrooms, bathrooms, water and electricity, driving water facility, medical facility, food and sufficient police protection as per the requirement in each of the temporary detention centers, till such time they are shifted to permanent detention center at Sondekoppa or they are deported to their country,” the affidavit said. 

The minister claimed he has no information about the centre’s activities. “Please check with the social welfare department. I have no information about it being started. If it is operational, then people should have been there,” he said. However, senior police officials told TNIE that Bengaluru Police Commissioner Bhaskar Rao has visited the centre recently, and also done a recce on whether it can be operational soon. 
“The date given to us by our seniors is January 1. We are getting everything ready, including the kitchen. A warden has been appointed,” said an official. 

Asked about this, Deputy Chief Minister and social welfare minister Govind Karjol said, “We were entrusted with the responsibility of taking care of people who will be lodged here, irrespective of which country they belong to. The department will provide food, clothes and accommodation and other facilities till they depart. I don’t know anything about what the home minister is saying.” 

However, a social welfare ministry source said that 30 people are likely to be lodged at the centre soon, and they “might be sending the first 10 to 15 from January 1”. A senior advocate said the state government cannot “lie so blatantly”. “There are court documents in which they have submitted under oath, saying that a permanent detention centre is ready to be operational. Now, they can’t say it is only for African drug peddlers. They will have to explain it to court once bail petitions of these people under the Foreign Regional Registration Act come up for hearing,” he said.