The Karnataka High Court’s Kalaburagi bench on Friday ordered an interim stay on the investigation into allegations that Bharatiya Janata Party state president BS Yeddyurappa tried to bribe a Janata Dal (Secular) MLA, media reported. Yeddyurappa had filed a plea to get a first information report against him quashed.

On February 8, Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy had released two  accusing Yeddyurappa of trying to poach the ruling coalition MLA Naganagowda Kandkur. In the audio clips, the BJP leader was purportedly heard offering the MLA’s son Sharangouda Rs 25 lakh and a ministerial post for his father if he switched parties.

Sharangouda had filed the FIR against Yeddyurappa and his associates under the Prevention of Corruption Act. The accused had got anticipatory bail from a Bengaluru court on Saturday. The High Court reserved its verdict on Yeddyurappa’s plea on Wednesday.

The other accused are BJP MLAs Shivanagouda and Preetham Gowda and Yeddyurappa’s advisor Marakal, according to media.

Yeddurappa had initially called the clip fake and had promised to quit politics if it turned out to be true. However, he later claimed that the voice was indeed his, even as he alleged that Kumaraswamy had “doctored” it. He admitted to meeting the MLA’s son.

“Kumaraswamy sent the MLA’s son to me to make me speak according to their requirements and then doctored and edited the audio,” Yeddyurappa said on February 10. “The chief minister himself seems to have written the script for the recording.”

Nasheman News :  DMK President M.K. Stalin and actor Rajinikanth on Friday called on DMDK founder A. Vijayakant to enquire about his health.

Stalin called on Vijayakant a day after Congress leader S. Thirunavukarasar met the DMDK leader and urged him to take a decision on the alliance that is good for the nation.

Speaking to reporters Stalin said Vijayakant has returned from the US after treatment and he had met him to enquire about his health.

Stalin said he did not speak about politics with Vijayakant as the purpose of his visit was only to enquire about his health.

Similarly, Rajinikant said he met Vijayakant to enquire about his health and there was no politics involved in the meeting.

On Thursday, Congress leader Thirunavukarasar called on Vijayakant at his residence and requested him to take “a good decision” taking into consideration the prevailing conditions in the country.

“He (Vijayakant) is a leader of a political party. I am also a leader and a politician. This is election time. If we say we did not talk politics, I would be lying,” Thirunavukarasar told reporters.

On being queried about whether he asked the DMDK to join the Congress-DMK alliance, Thirunavukarasar said he had asked him to take “a good decision” in the interest of the nation.

Nasheman News :Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Friday took a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi calling him ‘Prime Time Minister’ and said that when people were crying over the deaths in Pulwama, Modi was indulging “gleefully” in a photoshoot.

“Three hours after the news of the killing of 40 soldiers in Pulwama, ‘Prime Time Minister’ continued shooting the film, Gandhi said.

“There was a lot of pain in the heart of the dear ones of the martyrs — they were going through ‘a sea of emotion’, while the PM was laughing at a photoshoot on a river,” the Congress chief tweeted in Hindi referring to the photoshoot on a lake.

Gandhi’s Twitter dig was preceded by a press conference by party spokesperson Manish Tewari where he raised question over Modi’s actions in the immediate aftermath of the worst ever attack in Jammu and Kashmir since 1989, in which 40 Central Reserve Police Force troopers were killed. 

The Congress for the second day on Friday asked why he failed to mention the attack and its victims while addressing a rally in Rudrapur district of Uttarakhand just two hours later.

“We want to ask the Prime Minister what he was doing between 3.10 p.m. (when the attack happened) and 5.10 p.m. 

At 4.40 p.m., he addressed a rally through mobile phone. To the best of our knowledge, not even once did he mention the attack,” said Tewari earlier at the presser, where he played a DD news video as evidence of PM’s address. 

“If he had condemned the Pulwama attack, he would have paid a tribute to the martyrs.. none of that happened,” he said, adding that Modi “deliberately” chose not to mention the martyrs. 

“There can be no greater insensitivity than that,” he said. 

The Congress leader said there was an even “more frightening scenario” than the Prime Minister merely failing to mention the attack in his speech. 

“Was he unaware of the attack between 3.10 p.m. and 5.30 p.m.? He was either not informed about it by his office or he was incommunicado. That speaks a lot about the state of communication in the higher echelons of Indian state,” Tewari said. 

He stressed the point that India being a nuclear power — surrounded by another nuclear power in Pakistan — cannot afford to have leaders who cannot be communicated in time.

“If you (Modi) didn’t know that there was an attack, can there be a greater incompetence,” he said. 

The Congress even dismissed government’s decision on Thursday of stopping water of three eastern rivers — the Beas, Ravi and Sutlej — to Pakistan as “high octane jingoism” and termed it a subterfuge to hide the failure of the national security. 

“The BJP-NDA government is a brilliant mix of arrogance and ignorance,” he said

Nasheman News : Prime Minister Narendra Modi was conferred the Seoul Peace Prize here on Friday. He dedicated the Prize to the people of India and donated its amount to the Namami Gange Fund.

Expressing his gratitude after receiving the Prize, Modi said, “I believe that this award belongs not to me but to the people of India. It belongs to the success India has achieved in the less than five years powered by the strengths and skills of 1.3 billion Indians and on their behalf, I humbly accept the award and express my gratitude.” 

He said the award was a recognition of the philosophy that gave the world the message of “Vasudhaiv Kutumbkam (the world is a family)”. “It is for the culture that has given the message of peace even on the battle field. In the Mahabharata, Lord Krishna preached the Bhagwad Gita during the battle,” he said. 

The Prime Minister said, “The Seoul Peace Prize is for the land which prays may there be peace everywhere in the sky, in the space, all over planet, in nature. May there be eternal peace. 

“This award is for the people who have always put societal good above individual ambitions. And I am honoured that it is being conferred on me this year, when we celebrate the 150 birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.” 

Donating the award money to the Namami Gange fund, Modi said, “I would like to contribute the monetary award of $200,000 i.e. Rs 1 crore 30 lakh to the Namami Gange fund for our efforts to clean river Ganga, which is not just the economic lifeline of millions of people but is also held sacred by us.”

An investigation by Cobrapost website has exposed as many as 36 celebrities from the Indian entertainment industry, who agreed to promote a political party for money by posting favourable messages on their social media accounts to help create a favorable environment in the run-up to 2019 elections.

These celebrities included actors from TV and films, singers, social media celebrities and stand-up comedians. Among actors, some of the notable names are Sunny Leonne, Vivek Oberoi, Jackie Shroff, Tisca Chopra, Shakti Kapoor, Sonu Sood, Shreyas Talpade, Amisha Patel, Mahima Chaudhry, Puneet Issar, Surendra Pal, Pankaj Dheer and his son Nikitin Dheer, Deepshikha Nagpal, Akhilendra Mishra, Rohit Roy, Rahul Bhat, Salim Zaidi, Rakhi Sawant, Aman Verma, Hiten Tejwani and wife Gauri Pradhan, Evelyn Sharma, Minissha Lamba and Koena Mitra.

Among other celebrities and singers included Poonam Pandey, Abhijeet Bhattacharya, Kailash Kher, Mika Singh and Baba Sehgal. Raju Srivastava, Sunil Pal, Rajpal Yadav, Upasana Singh, Krushna Abhishek and Vijay Ishwarlal Pawar were some of the known comedians, who too accepted on camera to promote a political party in exchange of money. Choreographer Ganesh Acharya and former Bigg Boss contestant Sambhavana Seth too were caught on camera accepting the offer of money to help a political party in the election campaign by using their social media accounts.

Cobrapost reporters approached these celebrities by posing as the representatives of a non-existent PR agency and using fake names. They contacted these celebrities with a simple question, “would you be willing to promote a political party discreetly on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram?” Almost all celebrities answered in affirmative as long as the fee was right.

Celebrities agreeing to post messages using their social media accounts for a fee wasn’t the only shocking discovery of the Cobrapost expose. Some of the admissions made on camera showed that they had no hesitation to commit what’s essentially a crime in exchange of money. For example, most of them were willing to accept the bulk of their fee in cash, which in other words means black money.

Pornstar-actor Sunny Leonne told Cobrapost journalists that she will support the BJP if the Centre’s Narendra Modi government gave her husband Daniel Weber the status of Overseas Citizen of India.

She said, “Modi Sir ne Daniel ko overseas citizen banaya toh hum zaroor support karenge(We will definitely support provided Modi Sir [the BJP government] grant Daniel overseas citizen status).”

Sunny has in excess of 23 million followers on Facebook, close to 4 million on Twitter and nearly 19 million on Instagram. According to one Cobrapost reporter, who was a part of the investigation, Sunny asked for Rs 5 crore for pushing the BJP’s agenda using her social media pages.

Actor Vivek Oberoi, who will be seen playing the role of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the biopic made his father Suresh Oberoi, was so eager to close the ‘deal that he was heard saying on the camera, “I would like to tell you to close the formalities before I leave so that I can start it from  September, because after that I would go to Kerala and from there to Azerbaijan. I can tweet from anywhere, but if you close these formalities, I would arrive at an understanding. [Turning to his manager]You can discuss it all with them and also give me a list of issues with facts and figures in the form of a docket. After that, I, you and my social media team will make a phase out [sic] plan; for instance, today we will cover this topic, and the topic to be covered every week, month you will mail me in a chunk, telling me we will be covering these issues in 1, 2, 3 and 4 week, we will talk about this issue).”

Sonu Sood asked for Rs. 20 crore to execute the task offered to him by the Cobrapost journalists. He later demanded Rs. 2.50 crore a month, saying, “Let me tell you directly … Since if I am talking to you … you see I think I shall work seriously. There can be five or seven [posts/tweets]. My messages will be very, very strong and nice. If I say I will do only four not five on a given day … I will repeat something written by somebody else, for example, and I will add my answer to it. Is that okay? I will do all that … but I feel that the price 1.5 crore you have quoted, it should be at least 2.5).”

Former Bollywood singer Abhijeet Bhattacharya, suggested that he would use his mobile phone to make videos for the promotion of the BJP in situations which look natural. He said, “It should look natural. Suppose, I am at a traffic signal and I say something while sitting in my car or sipping tea at a coffee shop … yes [that would look] natural).”

Here too, the former singer did not lose a chance to spew venom against Muslims. Referring to a controversial statement made by one of the BJP legislators from Hyderabad, Bhattacharya observed, “This fellow did the right thing. Raja Singh, the BJP MLA from Hyderabad, visits me. He is Yogi [Adityanath] of Hyderabad. He had said why give Rohingyas any shelter, why not shoot them. This should be the attitude … No, I will say shoot the Rohingyas and shoot those who support them. First kill their supporters and then them).” Bhattacharya was involved in a controversy after he abused a female journalist on Twitter before abusing Janta Ka Reporter’s editor-in-chief Rifat Jawaid on a LIVE TV in 2016. He was later arrested by the Mumbai Police with his Twitter account being disabled by the microblogging site.

Shakti Kapoor had no hesitation in accepting all cash to discreetly push the BJP’s agenda using his social media account as he bragged how he had been a supporter of the saffron party. He said that the BJP had made him its star campaigner for Uttarakhand in 2014, when he and Modi gave public speeches from the same stage.

Singer Mika Singh said, “Why not make a small tweet on NRC in Assam? Mika is willing to help “Sahi baat … Main chahta hoon ki aap mujhe uska content bhej do main usko halka-fulka edit kar doonga”

Courtesy : Cobrapost

A week after the Pulwama terror attack in which 40 soldiers were killed by a suicide bomber, Rahul Gandhi resumed his attacks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a stinging tweet.

“The brave are martyred. Their families struggle. Forty jawans give their lives but are denied the status of “Shaheed (martyr)”. While this man has never given and only taken. He’s gifted 30,000 crore of their money and will live happily ever after. Welcome to Modi’s NEW INDIA,” tweeted the Congress president, sharing the media story on the Supreme Court ordering industrialist Anil Ambani to repay dues to Ericsson or face jail.

After the terror attack, Rahul Gandhi, in a press conference along with former prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh, had said that he and his party would support the government and not get into any other discussion for the next few days.

“I will support the government and jawans in this difficult time,” said Rahul Gandhi, refusing to respond to questions on political controversies.

But after a week’s hiatus, both the Congress and its chief have picked up from where they left. The renewed attacks signal a change in stance after BJP leaders including party president Amit Shah took digs at the Congress after the Pulwama attack.

Amit Shah said at a rally in Assam that the soldiers’ sacrifice “will not go waste as it is a BJP government in power, not Congress”.

Rahul Gandhi’s tweet today refers to his often-repeated allegation that the government and PM Modi settled for an overpriced deal for 36 Rafale jets from France’s Dassault to help Anil Ambani’s inexperienced defence firm bag an offset contract.

The government, Anil Ambani and Dassault all have denied the allegations.

Agencies

A fire broke out in the City Centre Mall in Mangaluru at around 11:35 am on Thursday morning. Thick plumes of smoke were seen coming from one of the upper floors of the mall which prompted fire officials from nearby fire stations to reach the spot and extinguish the fire.  According to the Fire Department, no casualties have been reported. The fire has been put out, said officials. 

“We received a call around 11.40 am and 20 officials from Kadri and Pandeshwar stations with fire engines rushed to the spot. The fire had broken out in the food court, in one of the chimneys which had blockages due to carbon accumulation and oil. The fire was put out by the mall management but the smoke created panic. We took an hour to clear the smoke with the smoke exhauster and also created cross ventilation by breaking the glass windows. By 12.30 pm smoke was almost cleared,” T N Shivashankara, Chief Fire Officer (Mangalore).

The mall was opened in 2010 and has four floors. However, at the time of its inauguration, reports suggested that it had been opened without clearance, particularly an occupancy certificate (OC). An OC is issued only after a no-objection certificate (NOC) is furnished by the fire department.   

“The mall was opened without an occupancy certificate and for many years it has operated without an OC. We followed up with the then DC and ministers because this was a disaster waiting to happen,” said activist Vidya Dinker. She added that the multiplex on the fourth floor of the building received a fire department clearance, however, the building itself did not receive the required clearances. 

Responding to the question of whether the mall was opened without a no-objection certificate from the fire department, Shivashankara said, “I yet have to study the file. During my visit, I have found that all the necessary precautions to control fire as well as fire alarms, water system were present at the mall. However, I need to inspect the file to check in case there are violations and then decide on the action to be taken.”

The mall was built at a cost of Rs 115 crore and was opened to the public in an event attended by several politicians, reported The Hindu. The Citizens Forum for Mangaluru Development, an NGO based in Mangaluru, had also written to then Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar in 2012 pointing out the fact that the building was allowed to be opened despite lack of clearances and had also accused the district administration of “favouring, parroting and pushing through” the clearances for the building despite proof of the lack of safety of the building.

Agencies

In a scathing attack on the Congress after its leader Veerappa Moily accused Indian Air Force chief BS Dhanoa of “lying” on the Rafale deal, the BJP Thursday said it “totally exposes” the opposition party feeling “shattered” by the ongoing probe into the VVIP chopper contract.

In Hyderabad, Moily on Thursday had accused Dhanoa of “lying”, a day after the latter called the Rafale deal a “game changer” and the Supreme Court verdict on it a “very fine” judgment. 

“Comments of a senior leader like Moily totally exposes the Congress as he calls the IAF chief names. It shows its desperation is complete and it is totally shattered by the speed of inquiry that the government is doing against corruption,” Union Minister Prakash Javadekar told reporters.

He was apparently referring to the CBI probe into the purchase of VVIP choppers from AgustaWestland when the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) was in power. 

Moily had also demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi apologise for having sacrificed the security of the nation by entering into the deal. He said the IAF chief along with the head of Dassault Aviation, the manufacturers of Rafale fighter jets, had visited public sector HAL’s Bengaluru headquarters days before the Paris agreement and found it a “competent body with necessary expertise”.

“Today, to say it is fine (the SC judgement)…I think that IAF chief is not fine….He is not fine, he is lying. He is suppressing the truth. He is a party to suppressing the truth,” Moily told reporters here.

Later, talking to a TV news channel, Moily said, “Apology has to be given by Narendra Modi for having sacrificed the security of the nation, having sacrificed the exchequer.” He said Congress president Rahul Gandhi, who has been assailing the prime minister over the deal, need not apologise for the “bold stand” he has taken on the “scam of the century”. Instead, Gandhi should be appreciated, he said.

The BJP has been demanding an apology from Gandhi for attacking Modi over the Rafale deal even after the Supreme Court’s verdict which found no wrongdoing in it.

“Even the words expressed by the Supreme Court you have heard is based on falsehood and web of lies made by the government of India,” he said.
Moily said Modi gave a “certificate of incompetency” to HAL.

Dhanoa had on Wednesday hailed the SC order and deprecated attempts at politicising defence purchases, suggesting that this had earlier led to the delay in the Army acquiring the Bofors gun. “I am not going to comment on the judgment but the Supreme Court has given a very fine judgment. It has also said that this plane is badly needed,” he had told reporters in Jodhpur. 

Agencies

Nasheman News : Seventy people, including four children and five women were confirmed dead on Thursday while 56 were reported injured in a massive blaze in the Bangladesh capital that engulfed several multi-storey buildings in the Chawkbazar area of the old city.

The fire began in one building from a reported transformer blast, before spreading to at least seven-eight other buildings. Police said Bangladesh Air Force helicopters had to be used to douse the flames, Dhaka Tribune said. 

According to the Fire Service Control Room, 37 units from 31 stations worked for five hours to douse the blaze that started at 10.35 pm in a chemical unit in the Haji Wahed Mansion at Nanda Kumar Lane in Chawkbazar’s Churihatta. 

Muradul Islam, officer-in-charge (investigation) of Chawkbazar police station, said 67 bodies have been kept at the morgue. Of which, 58 are men; five women and the rest of them are children. He said so far, they have been able to identify only 19 victims. 

The injured were being treated at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) and Mitford Hospital. 

Earlier, Dhaka Fire Service Control room official Mizanur confirmed the death of 70 people to the newspaper. 

While visiting the spot, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal told the media that the fire has been brought under control completely. Road, Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader also visited the spot in the morning.

According to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) registrar a total of 56 people were treated at the hospital. 

Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) officials said the fire spread rapidly due to the multiple chemical godowns that were situated in the area. 

The devastation was so huge that the mansion housing a warehouse of plastic products appeared to have tilted around 1.45 a.m., the media report said. 

A Fire Service Control Room official Mahfuz Riben confirmed: “We have so far recovered all 69 bodies.” An hour later one more body was recovered.

The Dhaka Metropolitan Police said the blaze spread rapidly due to multiple chemical godowns situated in the area. Fire Service Deputy Director Dilip Kumar Ghosh confirmed that the fire was finally doused completely around 3 a.m.

The death toll in the devastating inferno will rise, warned fire officials, who have been working throughout the night to douse the devastating blaze that first broke out in a three-storey building situated at the intersection of roads leading to Rahmatganj, Churihatta and Chawkbazar areas.

Numerous people, including women and children, were also injured and admitted to nearby hospitals, including Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) and Sir Salimullah Medical College Hospital (Mitford Hospital).

“Our priority right now is to douse the fire completely and tend to the wounded,” Dhaka South City Corporation Mayor Sayeed Khokon said.

Khokon and MP Haji M. Salim who had rushed to the spot, however, did not respond to questions about the warehouses in the buildings in Old Dhaka where chemicals are kept in unsafe conditions.

Wednesday night’s fire reminded many Old Dhaka residents of the Nimtoli fire tragedy that took place barely one kilometre from the spot on June 3, 2010 and killed at least 124 people.

In the last nine years though there has been little progress made in addressing the issues that led to the Nimtoli fire, or many smaller subsequent fires that took place, the media report added.