BENGALURU:  The Legislative Council was adjourned without any discussions on Tuesday, as the Opposition BJP was firm that they should be allowed to take up a debate on the failure of the Congress government in implementing the five guarantees.

As soon as proceedings started in the morning, BJP MLC and former minister Kota Shrinivas Poojari asked the Chairman to allow discussion on the failure of the government in implementing the guarantees and setting terms and conditions in the implemented schemes. But minister Krishna Byregowda said there is a procedure that has to be followed and discussions can be allowed only after the Question and Answer and Zero Hour. Even the Chairman insisted the same and the BJP members entered the well of the House, demanding the Chairman to allow for discussion.

This created pandemonium in the House as the ruling and opposition members engaged in verbal attacks against each other, forcing the Chairman to adjourn the proceedings for a while.

The BJP continued the protest even after the House was reconvened, the proceedings were adjourned again. As the same continued even in the afternoon, the Council was adjourned till Wednesday, after tabling the secretary’s report and 12 Bills passed in the previous session and approved by the Governor, amid the din

BENGALURU: Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya and former Maharashtra minister Vinod Tawde, who were appointed BJP’s central observers to pick the Leader of Opposition (LoP) and chief of the party’s state unit, gathered the opinion of BJP MLAs and core committee members on Tuesday. It is likely that the BJP central leadership may announce names for the two posts in a day or two.

The observers held a marathon one-on-one meeting with several MLAs and core committee members before leaving for Delhi, where they will submit their report to party national president JP Nadda. Party sources said Nadda will deliberate with the party’s central leadership, following which the announcement will be made on Wednesday or Thursday.

Sources revealed that former Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and former minister and Karkala MLA Sunil Kumar were the frontrunners for the post of Opposition leader. Meanwhile, it is said that former minister Kota Shrinivas Poojari is likely to be the LoP in the Upper House.

While the state presidents of Telangana, Punjab, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh were announced on Tuesday, central observers also gathered the opinion of state leaders on appointing the chief of the state unit, as incumbent president Nalin Kumar Kateel’s tenure ended before the polls, and was extended. While names of many leaders are doing the rounds for the state president’s post, the central leadership is trying to strike a balance on the caste front, while making the two appointments.

BJP MLC and state general secretary N Ravikumar said the observers have collected opinions, and an official announcement of names for the two posts will be made soon in Delhi. Former CM and MP DV Sadananda Gowda said he had told the observers of the need to appoint an able opposition leader.

HUBBALLI:  Authorities in Hampi have brought down 17 resorts and restaurants in and around the heritage area of Hampi over the last one week. All these resorts were running despite notices served to them three months ago.

They were running within the Unesco-protected zone and buffer areas. The operations were carried out in Sanapur, Anegundi in Koppal and Kamalapur and Kaddirampur areas in Vijayanagara districts.

But many resort owners have not taken the of fer, instead, they have approached court to bring a stay against further demolitions. So far, nearly 40 structures have been razed by the authorities in the last two years. Recently, the villagers and resort owners protested against the authorities over the demolition.

“Most homestays and hospitality structures were temporary and attracted tourists from all over the world. The authorities must make alternative arrangements to ensure there is enough space for locals to run our business like before,” said a resort owner from Sanapur.

Officials from the Hampi World Heritage Area Management Authority said that all the resorts that were demolished had received notices three months ago. “The operation was conducted with the help of the police. All the demolished structures were part of the Hampi heritage zone. As per laws, no construction can be allowed in these areas,” said an official.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said that by taking political decision regarding providing rice to the State, Central Government has snatched Kannadiga’s and poor people’s share and proved that Central Government is anti Kannadiga and anti-poor

He was addressing an emergency press conference regarding Annabhagya in Shakti Bhavan here today.
State Government has already lauched one of the 5 guarantees and had decided to give 10 kg each food grains under Anna Bhagya scheme to Antyodaya and BPL card holders and had written to Deputy General Manager of Food Corporation of India that the State requires 2.28 lakh MT rice on June 9, 2023. Food Corporation of India had accepted State’s request and agreed to provide rice vide letter dated June 12, 2023 at the rate of Rs. 3400/- per quintal. CM expressed outrage about Central

Bengaluru: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah opined that MP Pratap Simha lacks political maturity.

He was speaking to media persons here today.

Responding to thestatements made by MP Pratap Simha, the CM said ‘he says that he is responsible for the construction of Bengaluru roads. ‘Is he the MP for the Bengaluru roads’ questioned the CM. I have never spoken to opposition parties in my political life and never have visited their houses while in power. If I happened to come across them I will only talk courteously, but won’t discuss politics”, he added.

In response to the allegation made by MP Pratap Simha, that the Congress and the BJP had joined hands, the CM said that, ‘If they know who has joined hands, let them come out with information”. Responding about the MP’s statement regarding conducting investigation about Pay CM allegation made by the Congress, The Chief Minister questioned ‘did they ask us to carry out an investigation? It is up to us to decide when and by whom the investigation should be carried out.

Not an official meeting
Responding to a reporter’s question regarding two Government officials attending a meeting chaired by Karnataka in-charge Randeep Surjewala in yesterday’s BBMP meeting, the CM said that it was not an official meeting. He said that the Deputy Chief Minister met the MLAs and participated in the meeting to seek legal opinion Incidentally, they also spoke about the BBMP elections in the meeting. Surjewala was waiting to visit the Hebbal flyover the CM explain

Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah and deputy CM DK Shivakumar.

Bengaluru: The High Court of Karnataka on Friday quashed a case against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar in relation to violation of Covid-19 restrictions, during the Mekedatu Padayatra in January 2022, when they were in opposition.

The case against the two Congress leaders and several others was filed under the Karnataka Epidemic Diseases Act and the IPC, which was challenged before the HC.

Justice M Nagaprasanna noted that the state government had not issued any notification under the Karnataka Epidemic Diseases Act barring padayatra and such activities.

The HC also quashed four other proceedings against Shivakumar — who is also the state Congress chief — that were initiated against him under the same Epidemic Diseases Act.

“The notification which the State relies upon is the one issued under the Disaster Management Act and not under the Epidemic Diseases Act. Therefore unless notification under Epidemic Diseases Act is issued barring such activities, taking recourse to the Disaster Management Act and bringing it into Epidemic Diseases Act is unavailable,” the HC said in its order quashing the case.

The complaint against Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar along with eleven others was filed by the tahsildar of Ramanagara on January 12, 2022. It was alleged that they had violated the Government orders and went ahead with the padayatra without permission.

A local magistrate had taken cognizance of the crime and initiated proceedings.

The Congress, then in opposition, had staged a padayatra demanding the implementation of the Mekedatu reservoir project across the Cauvery river, near Kanakapura in the Ramanagara district.

Quashing the case, the HC said, “The registration of the case and the filing of the charge sheet by the police for violation of Epidemic Diseases Act is rendered unsustainable. All other offences alleged under IPC are offshoots of Section 5 of the Epidemic Diseases Act. That having been rendered unsustainable, all other offences would also follow suit.”

BENGALURU: BJP on Friday slammed the Congress government for reversing the policies of the previous government and accused it of trying to turn Karnataka into a “mini-Pakistan.”Former minister and BJP MLA R Ashoka told reporters that BJP will not allow Congress to misuse the mandate given by people. Questioning the state government’s decision to undo the amendments to the Anti-Conversion Law, he asked what is wrong with the policy to prevent forcible conversions and allow conversions as 
per law. Congress goes to any extent for vote bank politics and its government is making changes in the law to appease a particular community, he alleged.

He said the BJP government had amended the APMC Act to allow farmers to sell their produce in any part of the country and not just at APMC yards, but now the Congress government is undoing those changes to help middlemen.

The government has failed to implement its pre-poll guarantees and there is talk of industries moving to other states because of power tariff hikes, he said.

On the state government’s allegations against the Centre for not providing rice for Anna Bhagya scheme, Ashoka asked whether they think “the Centre is like their in-laws’ place to provide whatever they ask. Tomorrow, if they want to sell Karnataka, can the Centre agree to it?”

The state government requires over Rs 1,10,000 crore to implement all its guarantees and that will push the state to bankruptcy. He said BJP leaders will hold a meeting to discuss their planned protest against the decisions of the state government on June 20. 

BENGALURU:  Following the launch of Shakti scheme, the number of women taking BMTC buses soared manifold. The scheme is advantageous for women as it offers free travel, but according to urban mobility experts, the overall ridership too has increased, including men who have to pay for their commute.

The experts felt that there might be two kinds of shifts after the launch of Shakti scheme — one is women, who were using other modes of transport like private buses and autos, shifted to BMTC due to the fare advantage and the second is that those who were either walking to their destinations, or not commuting, have opted to use the public transport. One more reason they attribute to the high ridership is the euphoria around the launch of any free government scheme.

While the average daily ridership of BMTC is 27.34 lakh, the data shared by the transport utility shows that the total ridership was 34.94 lakh (17.57 lakh women passengers) on June 12; 40.17 lakh (20.57 lakh women) on June 13; 33.44 lakh (16.85 lakh) on June 14, and 33.28 lakh (17.67 lakh) on June 15, indicating that the number of men passengers has gone up. 

Shaheen Shasa of Bengaluru Bus Prayanikara Vedike said, “The jump in the number of women passengers in BMTC is significant with 17 lakh on June 12 and 20 lakh on June 13. On June 14, it might have dropped to 16.85 lakh, but it is close to the numbers recorded on June 12. We will have to wait and see where things settle in around 10 days.” 

“Commuters who were using other modes of transport are shifting to BMTC due to fare advantage and those who were walking have also started using buses,” she said. 

Mobility expert Shreya Gadepalli attributed the sudden jump in the ridership of BMTC due to the euphoria around the launch of any scheme, and said, “We should look at the data once things settle down.”
“I think we should allow a few months’ data to come in before doing any assessment and making any judgements,” Gadepalli said.

A BMTC official said all these years they did not have any gender-wise data and added that it is too early to predict any trends as the Shakti scheme has just been rolled out.

Bengaluru: In a tragic incident reported at the Pulakeshinagar police station, a man stabbed his elder brother to death with a knife following a heated argument. The motive behind the shocking act was attributed to the victim’s alleged habit of creating noise at home after consuming alcohol.

The deceased has been identified as Karthik (30), a resident of Doddagunte. Following the crime, the Pulikeshinagar police successfully apprehended the brother of the deceased, Vijay, who had fled the scene after committing the act.

According to the police, Vijay had been summoned to his brother’s house by his sister-in-law. An argument ensued between the two brothers, and the situation quickly escalated, culminating in the tragic murder.

Karthik resided in Doddagunte with his wife, Sandhya, while Vijay lived separately. Both brothers were engaged in various small jobs to make ends meet. However, Karthik’s excessive drinking and subsequent disturbance at home had led to growing resentment, particularly between him and his wife.

Unable to endure her husband’s angry outbursts any longer, Sandhya contacted Vijay and requested his assistance in addressing the issue. Vijay obliged and went to his elder brother’s residence. The police revealed that a heated altercation broke out between the brothers, tragically resulting in Karthik’s murder.

The Pulakeshinagar police are further investigating the case.

Bengaluru: The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lodged a complaint with the Governor on Wednesday, alleging the presence of Congress state in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala in a meeting with Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) officials, chaired by Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar.

Former minister R. Ashok personally met Governor Thawar Chand Gehlot at the Raj Bhavan in Bengaluru to file the complaint. A delegation comprising MLA Suresh, MP PC Mohan Sadhri, and several other party leaders accompanied him.

The BJP and Janata Dal (Secular) (JD(S)), the opposition parties, have strongly criticized the state government after a photograph of Randeep Singh Surjewala, the Karnataka Congress in-charge, surfaced on social media. The photo depicted him attending a meeting with officials at a hotel in Bengaluru.

The BJP’s complaint to the Governor raises questions about the alleged involvement of Surjewala in the government’s affairs, demanding a thorough investigation into the matter