HASSAN: Mild tremor was witnessed in parts of Holenarasipur and Arkalgud taluks in Hassan District early hours of Thursday. The people of Hindalahalli, Kyatanahalli Manuganahalli, Nagaranahalli and Badakyatanahalli , Hallimysuru of Holenarasipur taluk and Arkalgud town have mild Experience of vibrations. The people also shared the experience with neighbours.javascript:false

As per the Karnataka Natural disaster management centre(KANDMC) an earthquake of magnitude 3.4 was recorded at the KADMC. The earthquake epicentre with 0.8 KM of Manuganahalli exactly at 4.37:21 Am.

As per the seismic Intensity map of the said earthquake from the epic center the intensity observed is moderate and the tremor might be felt up to a Maximum radial distance of 40- 50 Km from the epicentre. This type of earthquake is not harmful to the local community although mild shaking is observed locally. The KANDMC says that the AP Centre falls in seismic zone 2nd.

The chances of earthquake occurrence is very less and the possibility of damage also is low.  Ramegowda a farmer from Badakytanahalli said he experienced a mild shake while sleeping and came out of the house. Many people who panicked because of the vibration also ran out of the house and didn’t return till morning he added. 

NEW DELHI: Speaking on his marathon questioning by the Enforcement Directorate for the first time, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said he could endure the long sittings and remain undeterred because of the strength of the party workers and leaders. However, when asked by the probe team the secret of his patience and endurance, Rahul claimed he gave the credit to Vipassana. 

Addressing Congress workers at the party headquarters,  Rahul said he was quizzed in a small room measuring about 12×12 feet by three ED officials for about 10-11 hours and gave the replies patiently without moving much, which surprised the interrogating officers.  

“Officers would come and go; perhaps they needed to take instructions from seniors. But I didn’t move even after 11 hours of questioning. Then they told me they were tired and asked what was the secret (of my stamina)? I thought I would not tell them the real reason. I told them that I practice Vipassana and while doing it, one has to sit for 6-8 hours hence I am used to it. But the truth is that I was not alone in that room; each Congress worker and leader was with me,” said Gandhi.

In 2015, Rahul’s disappearance on the eve of the budget session had hit the headlines. He had gone to Myanmar to attend a Vipassana course. 

Sonia seeks more time to appear before ED 
New Delhi: Congress president Sonia Gandhi has sought more time from the ED to join the investigations in National Herald case, citing post-Covid health complications. The probe agency accepted her request to postpone her date of appearance by a few weeks till her complete recovery from Covid-19 and lung infection. The agency has summoned the 75-year-old Congress leader for questioning on June 23. Congress communications department in-charge Jairam Ramesh tweeted that since Sonia had been strictly advised rest at home, she wrote to the ED seeking postponement of her appearance.

NEW DELHI: India logged 13,313 new coronavirus infections taking the total tally of Covid-19 cases to 4,33,44,958, while the active cases rose to 83,990, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Thursday.javascript:false

The death toll climbed to 5,24,941 with 38 new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated. The active cases comprise 0.19 per cent of the total infections, while the national Covid-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.60 per cent, the ministry said.

An increase of 2,303 cases has been recorded in the active Covid-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. The daily positivity rate was recorded at 2.03 per cent and the weekly positivity rate at 2.81 per cent, according to the ministry India’s Covid-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16.

It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19.

India crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4, three crore on June 23 last year and four crore on January 25 this year.

Amid the political crisis in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra, three more Shiv Sena MLAs on Thursday left for Guwahati in Assam to join the rebel camp led by cabinet minister Eknath Shinde.

Deepak Kesakar (MLA from Sawantwadi), Mangesh Kudalkar (Chembur) and Sada Sarvankar (Dadar) took a morning flight from Mumbai to Guwahati, a close associate of Shinde said.

On Wednesday evening, four MLAs, including Maharashtra minister Gulabrao Patil, had flown to Guwahati.

Shinde will consult the MLAs with him and then decide when to return to Mumbai, his associate said.

CHANDIGARH: After the murder of Sidhu Moose Wala, many Punjab politicians and businessmen have been complaining of getting extortion calls from men claiming to have links with the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, which was behind the singer’s killing. One new name accusing the Bishnoi gang of making extortion calls is former deputy chief minister O P Soni.

Sources said that Soni received a threat call on his personal number. The caller claimed he was a member of the Bishnoi gang and demanded extortion money, failing which the political leader was threatened with dire consequences. Soni registered a case and provided the numbers from which he had received the WhatsApp calls. He has also sought police protection for his whole family.

A few days ago, former Ajnala MLA Amarpal Singh Bony had also reportedly received an extortion call. He also got calls on WhatsApp and the caller introduced himself as a member of the Bishnoi gang. The police have increased Boney’s security.

Not only politicians, businessmen, and traders have also allegedly received threat calls. A few days back, some traders of Mansa received extortion calls from persons claiming to be linked to Bishnoi. A trader said amounts ranging from Rs 70,000 to  Rs 5 lakh were demanded from them.

Seven people from Jagraon, including a plywood trader, have also lodged complaints with the police that they have received threat calls from a person claiming to be an aide of Goldy Brar, a Canada-based member of the Bishnoi gang. Most of the calls are being made using phone numbers from abroad.

NEW DELHI: Former Union minister Yashwant Sinha on Tuesday said he will “step aside” from the TMC to work for the larger national cause of Opposition unity, amid indications that he is being considered as the Opposition’s joint candidate for the presidential elections.javascript:false

“I am grateful to Mamataji for the honour and prestige she bestowed on me in the TMC. Now a time has come when for a larger national cause I must step aside from the party to work for greater opposition unity. I am sure she approves of the step,” Sinha said in a tweet.

Opposition parties are set to meet in Delhi on Tuesday to decide on their joint candidate for the presidential polls scheduled on July 18.

A big political storm awaits in Maharashtra after the MLC elections results. Senior Shiv Sena minister Eknath Shinde is in touch with senior BJP leaders and he is likely to break a major chunk of Sena MLAs with him to topple the Uddhav Thackeray government. javascript:false

Shinde and his loyals, 20 to 25 Shiv Sena MLAs, are camped at Hotel Le Meridian in Surat in Gujarat. He was very close to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. The Gujarat police have deployed heavy security around the hotel. However, the number has not yet been confirmed

Shinde is likely to address a press conference to clear his stand. In MLC elections, BJP secured 134 votes while Maha Vikas Aghadi got 151 votes.

After the MLC elections, Thackeray along with his few key leaders called for a meeting at Varsha bungalow on Monday late night, where he was very upset with Shinde for not keeping its flock together and for not securing the votes of smaller parties and independent MLAs in the election. Thackeray told Shinde that the party had given him free hand in the government but he still failed to manage the requisite numbers in Rajya Sabha and MLC elections.

In the Maharashtra state legislative council, both Shiv Sena candidates Sachin Ahir and Ameshya Padvi won the elections but these candidates failed to get all the votes of the Shiv Sena and smaller parties and independent MLAs. In this election, 12 Shiv Sena MLAs and supported MLAs cross-voted to BJP. While the Congress party’s three MLAs also cross-voted. 

Sources said after the meeting with the Chief Minister, Shinde left directly to Surat with his supporting MLAs. “Shinde has been in touch with senior BJP leader. Gujarat BJP president CR Patil has been playing a major role to bring Shinde closer to BJP. Shinde loyalists MLAs are from Marathwada. He was not happy with the Maha Vikas Aghadi government. His loyalties were not filled in the Rajya Sabha elections and MLC elections. Besides, Thackeray’s son Aditya Thackeray was getting prominence despite being junior in government and party. That widened the gap between Thackeray and Shinde,” said a source requesting anonymity.

Shinde was the person who wanted to tie up with the BJP in 2019 and form a government. Shinde also had a good relationship with BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis.

Nilam Gore, senior Shiv Sena leader said that Shinde is a very senior and loyal Shiv Sainik, he will not take a different step. She said the media should not spread rumours about Eknath Shinde. 

MUMBAI: Major set back to Maha Vikas Aghadi in the biennial elections of the Maharashtra state legislative council on Monday.javascript:false

The BJP won all five seats while Maha Vikas Aghadi won the five seats and lost one against the BJP in this election in Maharashtra.

In this MLC election, the BJP secured 134 first preference votes against 123 votes in the recent Rajya Sabha elections. This is inch closure to house majority of 145 votes in Maharashtra state assembly. The election result also shows that there is a massive shift in the votes of Maha Vikas Aghadi to the BJP. The 20 votes of Maha Vikas Aghadi cross-voted to the BJP in MLC elections that includes three votes of the Congress, three Shiv Sena MLAs, a smaller and independent MLAs that were earlier part of Maha Vikas Aghadi.

“This is a big victory for the BJP,” said the leader of the Opposition Devendra Fadnavis.

In this election, BJP’s five candidates including Pravin Darekar, Ram Shinde, Uma Khapre, Shrikant Bhartiya and Prasad Lad won the MLC elections while NCPs two candidates Eknath Khadse and Ramraje Nimbalkar won. Congress candidate Bhai Jagtap won the elections in the third round on third preference votes but another Congress candidate Chandrakant Handore lost it against Bhai Jagtap in the third round. BJP’s candidate Prasad Lad won in the second round of counting late Monday night.

Interestingly, the Congress party’s three votes were cross-voted in this election. Out of a total of 44 votes, both Congress candidates for 41 votes as first preference. These votes include 22 votes for Chandrakant Handore and 20 votes for Bhai Jagtap. NCP had 51 total votes but secured 57 in MLC elections. It’s one vote that got disqualified during counting due to overwriting the reference numbers. Shiv Sena supported four votes and was also cross-voted in this election. Shiv Sena had 56 MLAs plus the support of six independent MLAs, despite its candidate Sachin Ahir and Ameshya Padvi getting 26 each vote only. 

Congress minister Balasaheb Thorat said that the results are very shocking for them. He said that they will not blame Maha Vikas Aghadi for the loss of its candidate Chandrakant Handore. He said it was Congress’s responsibility only to keep all MLAs together and get their votes. “If we could not get all 44 votes, then there is no point in blaming others. But as Maha Vikas Aghadi, we also need to think why we lost the one seat in Rajya Sabha elections and one seat MLC elections also,” Thorat said.

After unexpected results, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray asked all MLAs not to leave Mumbai and called an urgent meeting on Tuesday to discuss the MLC elections result. 

Earlier in the day, the counting was delayed twice — once by Congress demanding disqualification of two BJP MLAs votes Mukta Tilak and Laxman Jagtap for taking help to cast the votes and dropping the ballot paper in the ballot drop box. Congress alleged violations of the elections code of conduct.

After the voting, in the scrutiny process, BJP leader Ashish Shelar demanded disqualification of one NCP vote citing overwriting of preference numbers. NCP also demanded disqualification of BJP’s one vote for the same reasons. Later returning officer disqualified both the votes.

NEW DELHI: India’s COVID-19 tally climbed to 4,33,19,396 on Tuesday with 9,923 fresh cases, while the number of active cases increased to 79,313, according to Union health ministry data.javascript:false

The death toll climbed to 5,24,890 with 17 new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated. The active cases comprise 0.18 per cent of the total infections. The national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.61 per cent, the ministry said.

An increase of 2,613 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. The daily positivity rate was recorded at 2.55 per cent and the weekly positivity rate at 2.67 per cent, the ministry said.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 4,27,15,193, while the case fatality rate stood at 1.21 per cent, it said.

So far, 196.32 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered in the country under the nationwide inoculation drive, according to the ministry.

India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16.

It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the 1-crore mark on December 19.

India crossed the grim milestone of 2 crore on May 4, 3 crore on June 23 and 4 crore on January 25 this year.

The 17 new fatalities include six from Delhi, five from Kerala, two from Maharashtra, and one each from Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh.

Of the total 5,24,890 deaths reported so far in the country, 1,47,888 were from Maharashtra, 69,889 from Kerala, 40,113 from Karnataka, 38,026 from Tamil Nadu, 26,238 from Delhi, 23,527 from Uttar Pradesh and 21,209 from West Bengal. The health ministry stressed that more than 70 per cent of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities.

“Our figures are being reconciled with the Indian Council of Medical Research,” the ministry said on its website, adding that the state-wise distribution of figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation.