Archives for 2021

Bengaluru: BJP national general secretary and Karnataka in-charge Arun Singh on Monday said the Congress has a failed leadership due to infighting in the party across the country including Karnataka.

“Congress does not have any issue and it is a divided house. There is a huge difference (of opinion) between Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah and Congress state president D K Shivakumar. They try to displace each other,” Singh told reporters here.

Singh, who arrived here on Monday night on a two-day visit to attend party events and meetings, was replying to a query on Congress party’s protest against the alleged maladministration in Karnataka.

Stating that there was infighting in Congress across the country, Singh said there is leadership crisis in Chhattisgarh and in Punjab Captain Amrinder Singh has formed a separate party.

“The Congress leadership has totally failed,” Singh said.

The BJP leader said the Congress leaders were not aware of the public mood yet.

Referring to the BJP’s victory in the recent Sindgi assembly bypoll, Singh claimed the Congress, especially Siddaramaiah, tried to create an anti-Dalit issue, which fell flat.

Speaking about Hangal bypoll where the BJP lost, he said, the loss was marginal and overall performance in the bypolls was good.

Regarding his meeting on Tuesday, the BJP leader said it is about strengthening every booth and the strategies for the future elections.

“Everyone in BJP will have to work with a single motto and single aim that in 2023 the BJP has to come with a huge majority. That is the only target we have and we are working accordingly,” Singh said.

Regarding the Congress party’s charge about ‘Bitcoin scam’, he said the party does not have any issue, so they are talking about Bitcoin scam.

Bengaluru: Asserting that Karnataka government was making all honest efforts to implement the Mekedatu project across Cauvery river, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Monday slammed opposition Congress for its planned ‘Padayatra’, demanding its speedy implementation.

“What did the Congress leaders do, when they were in power, instead of implementing the project,” Bommai asked, in a statement.

Stating that it’s not right to mount pressure on the government in the name of a padayatra, he said, “The Congress took years to prepare a DPR (Detailed Project Report). Why didn’t they expedite the process and implement the project?”

The Chief Minister said that the Mekedatu project is now before the court, and the government is fighting the case legally.

“We need the Central Water Commission’s nod for the project. We are honestly trying to get it. We are confident that the permission will come. As soon as that happens, we will make an honest effort to implement the project,” he added.

Bommai’s statement came a day after the Congress Karnataka unit announced that it will organise a padayatra from Mekedatu to Bengaluru, a distance of over 100 km, probably during the first week of December, demanding implementation of the project.

State Congress President D K Shivakumar had even alleged that Chief Minister Bommai seems to be under some “political pressure” and “lacks political will” to go ahead with the project.

Earlier in the day, senior Minister K S Eshwarappa too asserted that the Karnataka government was committed to the implementation of the Mekedatu project, and asked the opposition Congress not to play politics over the issue.

“The Mekedatu project is the desire of every citizen of Karnataka. We have decided to implement the project in accordance with law and will do it. But I don’t know why Congress is remembering Mekedatu now? When their government was in power they did not pay attention to it and now when BJP is in power they are talking about it,” he said.

Mekedatu is a multi-purpose (drinking and power) project, which involves building a balancing reservoir near Kanakapura in Ramanagara district.

Neighbouring Tamil Nadu has been opposing the project, raising apprehensions that the state would be affected if the project takes shape.

The project, once completed, is aimed at ensuring drinking water to Bengaluru and neighbouring areas (4.75 TMC) and also can generate 400 MW power, and the estimated cost of the project is Rs 9,000 crore.

New Delhi: Former JNU student leader Umar Khalid told a court here on Monday that statements of the witnesses in the Delhi riots conspiracy case were written by someone else and given to them as police did not have any evidence, and a case can’t be made against him on half-truths.

Khalid and several others have been booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), a stringent anti-terror law, and are accused of being the “masterminds” of the north-east Delhi riots in February, 2020 which had left 53 people dead and over 700 injured.

Arguing his bail plea before Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat, senior advocate Trideep Pais read out the statements of three protected witnesses and claimed that they were contradictory and cooked up.

During the proceedings, Pais read out a police allegation from the charge sheet regarding an alleged secret meeting in Delhi’s Seelampur area on January 23 and 24 last year in which Khalid had allegedly directed that the protests be escalated to riots and result in the spilling of blood of policemen and others.

Denying that it was a secret meeting, Pais argued that its pictures were taken and uploaded on Facebook. I did not know that secret meeting were put up on Facebook. Does it really look secret to this Court? he asked.

He also called the protected witness Sierra, who gave a statement to the police on this alleged secret meeting, cooked up .

From the statement, it is clear that Sierra is the chaiwala [teaseller] who comes and gives chai in the meetings. He is the only witness who says that the meeting was secret. All other witnesses do not claim this. They all contradict each other, Pais said.

He added, How would a person speak in front of a chaiwala and spill the entire beans of conspiracy? The witness waits from January to June and appears miraculously before the police. Clearly a cooked-up witness.

Pais asked how a tea seller miraculously know the names of all the people in the secret meeting, including those who are not even there.

The advocate submitted, He said Natasha Narwal was present but she was not there. Should you believe this man?

You [Police] can’t have half-truths to go and make a case against me. Clearly, these statements are written by someone else, given to these people to pass them off as theirs because you don’t have any evidence. So, you call people to the police station and tell them that I want to implicate so and so, the lawyer said.

Pais further said that after Sierra did not record the statement before the magistrate under section 164 of CrPC, the police moved on to another protected witness Smith .

Smith, however, did not say that the meeting was secret or took place in a secret office, the lawyer said. He added, Reference to Umar Khalid is his presence in a meeting and nothing beyond that. So, the secret meeting theory is diminished by this witness.

He also referred to another protected witness Bravo and told the court that heavy reliance was placed on his statements to implicate Khalid. Bravo gave a statement about a Delhi Protest Support Group (DPSG) WhatsApp group involving Khalid and the formation of a high-level committee in December 2019.

What is interesting is that only four messages were sent by me on DPSG group. I simply gave people the location of the protest site. This is the sum total of my interaction, Pais said.

He said that Bravo admittedly was part of the group and left it on February 22, 2020, due to disagreements but gave the statement to the police on June 8. I wonder how can such a statement surface after so many months, he asked.

Further, he said that bravo was an indication of a pattern of false implication in the FIR and charge sheet. Pais told the court that the witness had cherry-picked the names in his statement.

There is no high-level committee. He cooks up the high-level committee. He cherry-picks names. Most people assigned roles are not arrested and I am arrested. Whenever he refers to me, he refers to me with a clutch of other names. Their responsibilities are more. Mine are insignificant or not at all, Pais said.

He added, The witness is unable to point out a specific activity that I undertook by virtue of which it can be said that I did an illegal act, a terrorist act.

In the last hearing on November 2, Khalid had said that the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protest was secular but the charge sheet in the Delhi riots conspiracy case was communal and that the police fabricated a story to suit their narrative, calling it a “naked form of false implication”.

Besides him, JNU students Natasha Narwal and Devangana Kalita, Jamia Coordination Committee members Safoora Zargar, former AAP councillor Tahir Hussain and several others have also been booked under the stringent anti-terror law in the case.

Dubai: Captain-in waiting Rohit Sharma made short work of a modest target with an elegant half-century after spinners reigned supreme as India on Virat Kohli’s last day as shortest format captain ended their T20 World Cup campaign with an emphatic nine-wicket victory over Namibia here on Monday.

Rohit, who is set to take over as India’s white-ball captain, smashed 56 off 37 balls with seven fours and two sixes and got fabulous support from another supremely stylish KL Rahul (54 not out off 36 balls) as India chased down the target of 133 in only 15.2 overs.

It was nothing more than a stroll in the park for the Indians, who basically caught the Namibians by the scruff of their necks with spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin, snaring six wickets between them.

Then, Rohit dazzled and Rahul sizzled with some breathtaking pick-up pull shots while Suryakumar Yadav (25 not out off 19 balls) showed his 360 degree hitting skills to end a rather disappointing tournament on a sweet note.

But three comprehensive wins against smaller nations came only after the horse had bolted the door.

As outgoing coach Ravi Shastri pointed out, a “mentally and physically” drained Indian team couldn’t switch on during big-match pressure situations as Pakistan and New Zealand literally embarrassed an out of sync team.

The last three games were flawless but it was two matches too late, something that will certainly haunt Kohli, whose white ball captaincy tenure is set to end with no ICC trophy to show for his efforts.

On the night, India’s spinners were just too good for the unheralded Namibia batters as India restricted the minnows to a modest 132 for 8 in their inconsequential final T20 World Cup match.

Already ousted from the tournament after losing to Pakistan and New Zealand in their first two games, India looked relaxed and the the Namibians were all at sea as they are not used to playing world class slow bowling operators of this calibre.

Jadeja (4-0-16-3) and Ashwin (4-0-20-3) took six wickets between them for 36 runs to make it a lop-sided contest after Namibia, courtesy their opener Stephan Baard (21) and Michael van Lingen (14), had added 30-plus runs in the first four overs.

Once Van Lingen was dismissed by a short ball and extra pace from Jasprit Bumrah (4-0-19-2), the will to fight was not evident on the African nation’s batters when Jadeja and Ashwin jointly operated. Mohammed Shami (0/39 in 4 overs) was the only bowler who had an off-day.

Jadeja saw Craig Williams jumping down the track and stopped on his tracks and pitched on length to get enough away turn. Williams missed it and stood mid-pitch looking completely bamboozled.

Baard was out to a typical Jadeja arm ball, which he tried to sweep and was caught plumb in-front.

Once Jadeja got a coupe of wickets, it was Ashwin’s turn to get into action as he removed Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton (5), inducing a cut, a shot that landed into slip fielder Rohit Sharma’s palms and then bowled one with the angle that cleaned up Zane Green (0). In between he also removed rival skipper Gerhard Erasmus (12).

But the highlight of India’s fielding effort was a superb diving catch by Rohit at short cover when he had roughly 0.16 seconds reaction time to pluck the ball inches above the ground to dismiss JJ Smit (9).

Namibia’s plight was understandable as they hit only eight fours and two sixes in the entire innings while consuming 58 dot balls.

Srinagar: Militants on Monday shot dead a civilian in the Bohri Kadal area here, the second attack carried out by the ultras in the city in the past 24 hours, officials said.

Militants fired upon Mohammad Ibrahim Khan, a resident of Bandipora district, at Bohri Kadal around 8 pm, they said.

The officials said Khan was rushed to a hospital in a critical condition where he succumbed.

He worked as a salesman in the nearby Maharajgung, they said.

The officials said security forces have cordoned off the area to trace the attackers.

Khan’s killing was the second attack by the militants in the city in the past 24 hours. A policeman was shot dead in the Batamaloo area on Sunday evening.

National Conference leader Omar Abdullah condemned the killing of the civilian.

“The dastardly killing of Ibrahim is reprehensible & I unreservedly condemn it. Unfortunately Ibrahim is the latest in a series of targeted killings in the valley, especially Srinagar. May Allah grant him place in Jannat,” Omar tweeted.

Hyderabad: Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao has threatened BJP leaders that he would cut their tongues if they don’t refrain from using bad language to criticise him.

Hitting out at Telangana BJP president Bandi Sanjay, Rao on Sunday in a press conference said the saffron party leader is resorting to cheap talk and looking for political gain out of farmers.

The chief minister alleged that it was the Centre which refused to buy paddy from farmers though the state is setting up centres to buy the commodity from peasants.

“TRS is the largest party with the highest number of representatives in the state. So far we have tolerated your comments as dog barking. Henceforth if you indulge in loose talk, utter nonsensical words we will take legal action against you and question you on roads. If you continue to talk nonsense we will slice your tongues, be careful,” Rao warned.

The ruling TRS and opposition BJP are indulging in a war of words on paddy procurement making allegations against each other.

Daring the BJP leader to get an order from the Centre on procuring paddy from Telangana, the chief minister said his party is extending issue-based cooperation to the centre.

“The same BJP leader resorted to cheap talk against me. He even said they have a strategy to send KCR to prison. He publicly made such comments. Can you send me to prison?…Can you even touch KCR? You touch me and see…,” Rao said.

Rao further alleged that the BJP will try to rake up communal sentiments or international border issues at every opportunity.

Reacting to the CM’s comments, Bandi Sanjay on Monday in a press conference said there are letters from the Centre that it would procure paddy from farmers.

The BJP leader also alleged that the chief minister blatantly lied that the state government has never increased VAT on petrol and diesel in the past seven years though it issued orders enhancing the tax in 2015.

Narrating the various central funds to the state, Sanjay demanded to know what Rao did for farmers.

He further claimed it was Telangana which opposed bringing of petroleum products under GST purview.

Bengaluru: Karnataka logged 283 new COVID-19 cases and six deaths on Monday, taking the total number of infections to 29,90,235 and the toll to 38,118.

The day also saw 290 discharges, taking the total number of recoveries in the state so far to 29,44,099, a health department bulletin said.

Bengaluru Urban topped in the number of cases (159), as the city saw 104 discharges and one death.

The total number of active cases in the state is now 7,989.

While the positivity rate for the day stood at 0.26 per cent, the Case Fatality Rate (CFR) was 2.12 per cent.

Out of 6 deaths reported on Monday, two were from Mysuru and one each from Bengaluru Urban, Koppal, Tumakuru and Udupi.

Behind Bengaluru in number of cases was Hassan 24, Mysuru 15, Kolar 11, Dakshina Kannada 10, followed by others.

Bengaluru Urban district topped the list of positive cases, with a total of 12,52,990, followed by Mysuru 1,79,312 and Tumakuru 1,20,897.

Among discharges too, Bengaluru Urban was on top with 12,30,274, followed by Mysuru 1,76,704 and Tumakuru 1,19,558.

Cumulatively a total of 5,14,92,433 samples have been tested in the state so far, out of which 1,05,278 were tested on Monday alone.

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Sunday accused the BJP government of forcing people into “suicidal hopelessness”, citing an NCRB report that said a total of 9.52 lakh people have committed suicides since 2014.

Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said there was an increase of 55 per cent in the number of students committing suicide, 58 per cent increase among the unemployed, and 139.37 per cent increase among farmers, labourers and daily wagers, as per the report.

“During the last seven years between 2014 and 2020, the failed and insensitive policies of the Modi government pushed 9,58,275 Indians into ending their lives by committing suicide,” Surjewala said through a statement.

“Today in an attempt to mask its failed anti-people policies the government is nakedly resorting to perpetuating divisiveness, negativity, hopelessness amongst the people,” he said.

Surjewala said that despite the damning figures, the BJP “continues to lust after power”.

He said the data presented in the report is “frightening and heart-rending”.

The report titled ‘Suicides and Accidental Deaths in India’ was released last month by the National Crime Records Bureau which comes under the Union Home Ministry.

Surjewala said the report represented a “saga of unending hopelessness” for people from all walks of life, “as opportunities for the aspiring have been converted into cesspools of suicidal depression”.

“Faced with hopelessness and gloom of unemployment, inflation, rising prices of crops and overall uncertainty the people of the country are embracing death over life by choosing to commit suicide,” he said.

The Congress leader said housewives are bearing the brunt of consistent inflation that’s causing a rise in prices of most household goods.

He said high prices and lack of employment opportunities have been the main reasons behind domestic discord leading to housewives preferring suicide.

“The NCRB data displays the ‘Yamlok Sidhar’ picture of the government rather than that of ‘Lok Sudhar’,” he said.

Surjewala attributed the suicide of 78,303 farmers — 35,122 of whom were farm labourers — recorded in last seven years to the “crony-capitalist and anti farmer policies” of the Modi government.

He said these were the “anti-farmer” policies of the government that drove the 19 per cent rise in farmer suicides from 2019 to 2020.

Surjewala said country’s future was in dark and cited suicide of 69,407 students between 2014 and 2020 to support the claim.

Parmesh Jain

In a bid to crack down on rowdy elements and habitual offenders,West divisions Police raided houses of 180 rowdies and conducted searches.

As many as 121 suspects have been detained for questioning while cases booked against three wine shops in the market area which were operating in early hours.

As many as 600 police personnel divided into several teams led by,DCP,West,Dr Sanjeev M Patil,DCP,and his team conducted the drive across the six police stations in the west division including Chamarajpet,Cottonpet,JJ Nagar,KP Agrahara and Magadi road and the team raided the house and searches for contrabands and weapons .

Leo,Karthik,Hidayat,Wasim pasha,Decree Saleem,
Ayub Khan,Vinod,Venkatesh,Vijay and Satish were detained for questioning on Suspect basis.

The police team under ACPs,as,P Ravikumar, Nanjundegowda and Kodandarama formed a special team headed by PIs,as, Kumaraswamy BG,BS Lokhapur,Manjunath,Sadananda M, Sreenivas M, Praveen K,and conducted raid in the areas of Padarayanapura,Anjanappa garden,Jolly mohalla,Netaji Nagar,Gopalpura,Shamanna garden,Bapuji Nagar,Cholurpalya, Manjunathnagar,Bhuvaneshwarinagar,Bakshi Garden,Azad Nagar,Goripalya,Magadi road,KP Agrahara,and other areas.

Many of the rowdies and habitual offenders were later rounded up and produced before senior police officers as part of the parade.

The rowdies and habitual offenders have been strictly warned to keep away from anti-social activities or face strict action,a senior police officer,said .

So far the police have not found anything objectionable but few of the habitual offenders were found missing from home during the search.

The police have summoned them for questioning to ascertain their whereabouts,a police officer, said and a drive will be continued for the safety of general public and society.