Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah today hit back at BJP chief Amit Shah for attacking his government for celebrating ‘Tipu Jayanti’ and accused him of making a ‘desperate attempt’ to communalise the situation ahead of the state Assembly polls.

A day after coming under fire by the BJP chief at a rally here, Siddaramaiah claimed the election had brought ‘tourists like Shah’ who display ignorance about the state.

“We celebrate birthdays of 26 leaders & builders of Nava Karnataka. AmitShah in a desperate attempt to communalise, picks on Tipu Jayanthi,” Siddaramaiah said in a tweet.

“Election is coming! It brings tourists like Amit Shah who display ignorance about our state and call Kannada Rajyotsava as ‘Karnataka Mahotsav’,” he claimed.

Flagging-off a 75-day state-wide ‘yatra’ spearheaded by BJP state mascot B S Yeddyurappa at a rally here yesterday, Shah had flayed ‘ Tipu Jayanti’ celebrations, accusing the Siddaramaiah government of practising ‘vote bank politics.’

“Yesterday was November 1. It was Karnataka’s formation day. Karnataka Mahotsav (Rajyotsava) celebrations had to happen with grandeur, but Siddaramaiah government had no interest in Karnataka Mahotsava, they are more enthusiastic towards celebrating Tipu Jayanti on November 10,” he had said.

In a series of tweets in Kannada, Siddaramaiah defended the ‘Tipu Jayanti’ celebrations.

“People of the state have accepted Tipu Jayanti. Tipu was a patriot. He was not against Hindus or any other community,” he said on Twitter.

Siddaramaiah also took a jibe at the state BJP leaders, alleging they had once described Tipu Sultan as a freedom fighter but had become ‘enlightened’ after learning lessons from Shah.

He claimed the BJP yatra was a failure on the very first day, proving that the people were not with the party.

The BJP has been opposing the event as it sees Tipu Sultan, the 18th-century ruler of erstwhile Mysore kingdom, as a ‘brutal killer’ and a ‘religious bigot’ who converted people to Islam.

Assembly elections are due in Karnataka early next year in which the BJP is hoping to capture power, unseating the government-led by Siddaramaiah.

Making history, the BJP had installed its first-ever government in the South in 2008 before losing power to the Congress.

(PTI)

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday sought the government’s response to four petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Aadhaar Act and linking of bank accounts and mobile numbers with the 12-digit biometric identification number.

The apex court did not pass any interim order in the matter saying that final hearing in all Aadhaar-related issues would start before another bench in the last week of this month and the Centre has already extended the deadline till December 31.

A bench comprising Justices A K Sikri and Ashok Bhushan, however, said the banks and telecom service providers should indicate the last date of linking bank accounts and mobile numbers with Aadhaar in the messages sent by them to their customers.

“We make it clear that in the messages sent by banks and telecom service providers, the date of December 31, 2017, and February 6, 2018, shall also be indicated as the last date of linking Aadhaar with bank accounts and mobile numbers,” the bench said.

Senior advocate Shyam Divan, appearing for one of the petitioners, referred to a recently filed affidavit by the Centre and said the government has said the deadline for linking Aadhaar may be extended till March 31, 2018.

The bench, however, said the petitioners can raise this issue before the court which would hear all Aadhaar-related matters in the last week of November.

“There is no doubt that these arguments need consideration. The matter is going to come up in the last week of November and the time (to link Aadhaar with bank accounts) has been extended till December 31,” the bench said.

On October 30, a bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra had said that a constitution bench would be constituted and Aadhaar-related matters would come up for hearing before it in November last.

Several petitions challenging the Centre’s move to make Aadhaar card mandatory for availing various services and benefits of welfare schemes have been filed in the apex court.

(PTI)

Chennai: Actor-filmmaker Prakash Raj on Friday supported actor Kamal Haasan’s views on “Hindu extremists”.

“If instilling fear in the name of religion… culture… morality is not terrorizing… then what is it. Just asking,” tweeted Prakash Raj, a popular name in the Kannada, Telugu and Tamil film industries.

In an accompanying post titled “To whomsoever it may concern”, Prakash Raj wrote: “If abusing and manhandling young couples on the streets of my country in the name of morality is not terrorizing… If taking law into hands and lynching people on slightest doubt of cow slaughter is not terrorizing… If trolling with abuse, threat… to silence even a slightest voice of dissent is not terrorizing… Then what is terrorizing… Just asking.”

His comment came after Kamal wrote in a Tamil magazine that earlier rightwing Hindus used to argue but without indulging in violence. But as their “cunningness” started to fail, they began to resort to violence.

“Extremism has spread into their camp as well,” said Kamal, who is said to be preparing for a political plunge. “This extremism is not a victory or progress to those who call themselves Hindus.”

(IANS)

Photo credit: Filmibeat

Bengaluru: Sandalwood actor Upendra announced the launch of his regional party named ‘Karnataka Prajnavantha Janata party’ at Gandhi Bhavan here today.

Earlier in August he had announced that he would be taking a plunge into politics. On Tuesday, he briefed the media about the party’s objectives and aspirations.

Addressing the gathering wearing khakhi uniform, Upendra stated that anybody willing to bring change in the society can join the party. The primary motto of the Karnataka Pragnyavantha Janata Paksha is to provide good education, health and infrastructure for the citizens.

“The party will contest from all the 224 constituencies in next year’s assembly polls but ruled out entering into a prepoll or post-poll alliance with any other party” he said.

“People in villages should not turn towards cities for better livelihood and they should get everything in their place itself,” he added.

Upendra reiterated that he wants to replace the modus operandi of the current day political system with ‘Prajakeeya’ which sincerely aims to create public servants rather than leaders who take the citizens for granted.

“We have around 50-60 candidates and I want to be their brand ambassador,” he added.

A website and mobile app will be launched on November 10 which will allow people to share their ideas and problems.

“The party will contest from all the 224 constituencies in next year’s assembly polls but ruled out entering into a prepoll or post-poll alliance with any other party” he said.

(Agencies)

New Delhi: The Supreme Court today directed the Centre to place before it details regarding 1,581 cases involving MPs and MLAs, as declared by politicians at the time of filing their nominations during the 2014 general elections.

The apex court asked the government to apprise it as to how many of these 1,581 cases have been disposed of within one year and how many have ended either in conviction or acquittal of the accused. A bench comprising Justices Ranjan Gogoi and Navin Sinha also sought the details of criminal cases lodged against politicians from 2014 till date as well as on the disposal of these matters.

During the hearing, the Centre told the bench that decriminalisation of politics has to be done and it was not averse to the setting up of special courts to deal with cases involving politicians and speedy disposal of these matters.

It informed the bench that the recommendations of the Election Commission of India and the Law Commission favouring life-time disqualification of politicians convicted in criminal cases was under the active consideration of the government.

The bench directed the Centre to place before it the scheme for setting up of such special courts and also indicate the amount of funds that could be earmarked for the purpose. The apex court asked the government to place these details before it within six weeks and fixed the matter for hearing on December 13.

The ECI supported the plea seeking life ban on politicians convicted in criminal cases and said they have already made recommendations on this to the Centre. The top court was hearing petitions seeking to declare the provisions of the Representation of People (RP) Act, which bar convicted politician from contesting elections for six years after serving jail term, as ultra vires to the Constitution.

Advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay has filed a PIL in the matter, while several others have come to the apex court as intervenors. The apex court had on July 12 pulled up the ECI for not taking a clear stand on a plea seeking barring of convicted politicians for life.

The Centre, in its affidavit, had said the prayer sought by the petitioner seeking life-time bar on convicted lawmakers was not maintainable and the plea should be dismissed. The petition has also sought a direction to the Centre and the EC to fix minimum educational qualification and a maximum age limit for persons contesting polls.

(Agencies)

New Delhi: Cooking gas (LPG) price was Wednesday hiked by Rs 4.50 per cylinder, the 19th increase in rates since July 2016 when the government decided to eliminate subsidy on it by raising prices every month.

Also, jet fuel or ATF price was increased by 2 per cent on firming international rates, the fourth straight increase in rates since August, according to price notification posted by state-owned retailers.

The price of non-subsidised LPG or market priced cooking gas has been hiked by Rs 93 to Rs 742 per bottle. At the last revision on October 1 the rate was hiked by Rs 50 to Rs 649 per bottle.

Subsidised LPG price has been hiked by Rs 4.50 per 14.2- kg cylinder to Rs 495.69.

The government last year had asked state-run oil firms to raise prices every month to eliminate all the subsidies by March next year.

Since the implementation of the policy of monthly increases from July last year, subsidised LPG rates have gone up by Rs 76.51 per cylinder. A 14.2-kg LPG cylinder was priced at Rs 419.18 in June 2016.

Every household is entitled to 12 cylinders of 14.2-kg each at subsidised rates in a year. Any requirement beyond that is to be purchased at market price.

Aviation turbine fuel (ATF) will now cost Rs 54,143 per kilolitre (kl) in Delhi, Rs 1,098 per kl more than Rs 53,045 previously, oil companies said.

This is the fourth consecutive monthly hike in ATF price, the last being 6 per cent (Rs 3,025 per kl) on October 1.

State-owned oil firms revise rates of LPG and ATF on 1st of every month based on average oil price and foreign exchange rate in the previous month.

Initially, the hike in LPG rate was Rs 2 per month which was doubled to Rs 3 from May this year. Today’s hike in the LPG price is sixth since the May 30 order of the oil ministry to raise rates by Rs 4 per cylinder every month.

There are as many as 18.11 crore customers of subsidised LPG in the country. These include over 3 crore poor women who were given free connections during the last one year under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojna.

There are 2.66 crore users of non-subsidised cooking gas.

(PTI)

Jambusar: Congress veteran Ahmed Patel on Wednesday tore into Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani for linking him with a suspected ISIS operative, asserting that it was unbecoming of a head of the government to stoop this low and the BJP had no right to speak of terrorism.

“BJP speaking of terrorism?” he asked, and referring to former Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, said “Congress leaders have suffered the most because of terrorism.”

Speaking at a public meeting here, which was later addressed by Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, Ahmed Patel said, “We don’t need lessons in nationalism from the BJP. They should look into themselves.”

He said, “It was unbecoming of a Chief Minister to stoop so low” to cast outlandish aspersions on him. Patel was referring to a suspected ISIS operative arrested by the Anti-Terrorism Squad late last month from Surat who had earlier worked as a technician at a charitable hospital in Ankleshwar where Patel was a trustee over three years ago.

Patel said, “I conducted a research. He worked in hospitals instituted by BJP leaders. Care Hospital where he (the ISIS suspect) worked was inaugurated by the Prime Minister.”

(IANS)

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday arrested prominent businessman Gagan Dhawan in connection with a money laundering probe into an over Rs 5,000 crore alleged bank fraud case, officials said.

An official of the financial probe agency told IANS that Dhawan was arrested from his south Delhi residence in a case involving bank fraud of over Rs 5,000 crore by Sandesara Group under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

He will be produced before a court later in the day, the official said.

According to ED officials, Dhawan allegedly aided bank loan frauds related to a Vadodara-based company named Sterling Biotech.

The ED official said that his involvement with a few other alleged illegal transactions are on their checklist.

His arrest comes after the ED registered a case of money laundering taking cognisance of a case filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against Sterling Biotech, its Directors — Chetan Jayantilal Sandesara, Dipti Chetan Sandesara, Rajbhushan Omprakash Dixit, Nitin Jayantilal Sandesara and Vilas Joshi and several other persons in connection with the alleged bank fraud case.

According to ED officials, Dhawan is also being probed for allegedly bribing four senior Income Tax department officials as part of an earlier criminal complaint.

On August 25, the ED officials had raided Dhawan’s office and premises and that of a former Congress MLA Sumesh Shokeen under provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).

It is alleged that Dhawan laundered the money of Sandesh Arya through his companies based in Ethiopia and some other countries.

Earlier in 2011, Income Tax officials had raided Arya’s residences and a case was registered then.

(IANS)