Thousands of people, including celebrities and political leaders, bid an emotional farewell to iconic Kannada actor M.H. Ambareesh at a state funeral here on Monday.

Ambareesh, 66, popularly known as a ‘rebel star’, died on Saturday night following a cardiac arrest at a hospital.

Ambareesh’s only son Abhishek lit the funeral pyre after the state reserve police gave a gun salute and a police band sounded the bugle at the state-run Kanteerava Studio in the city’s northwest suburb.

The last rites were performed as per Vokkaliga tradition and about 250 kg of firewood, including sandalwood, was used for the pyre.

The funeral site of the former Lok Sabha member from Congress and ex-Union Minister in the Studio is located adjacent to the memorial of Kannada matinee idol Rajkumar, who passed away in April 2006.

The funeral was delayed by two hours as the flower-bedecked cortege, carrying the body in a glass casket, took more than three hours to reach the Studio from the Kanteerava Stadium in the city centre.

Though vehicular traffic was cleared for the funeral procession on the 15 km route and hundreds of police personnel were deployed en route, the cortege moved slowly as lakhs thronged the route for a final glimpse of the popular actor, draped in tricolour with the famous Mysuru ‘peta’ (headgear) crowning his head.

Sandalwood stars Srinath, Jai Jagadish, Shiva Rajkumar, Puneeth Rajkumar, Upendra and Jaggesh, Telugu actor Mohan Babu and multi-lingual actress Jaya Prada were among the many from film world who attended the funeral.

Congress General Secretary K.C. Venugopal, Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, Deputy Chief Minister G. Parameshwara, many cabinet ministers, including D.K. Shivakumar and H.D. Revanna, Congress state President Dinesh Gundu Rao, BJP state unit president B.Y. Yeddyurappa and other political leaders and lawmakers were present at the funeral.

Ambareesh entered filmdom through the role of ‘Jaleel’ in veteran director Puttanna Kanagal’s “Naagarahaavu” in 1972 and has acted in over 200 films since then.

The percentage of crorepati (multi-millionaire) candidates in the ongoing Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls has gone up to 24 per cent from 19 per cent in the last elections, and the percentage of those with criminal cases has also risen by one percentile point to 17 per cent, shows an analysis.

The percentage of women candidates has also risen to 9 per cent from 7 per cent the last time, an analysis of affidavits of 2,716 candidates by the NGO Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) showed.

It could not analyse 183 candidates as their affidavits were either badly scanned or complete affidavits were not uploaded on the Election Commission of India (EC) website.

Out of the 2,716 candidates, 656 (24 per cent) are crorepatis. In 2013 Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections, out of 2,494 candidates, 472 (19 per cent) were crorepatis.

Out of the 2,716 candidates analysed, 464 (17 per cent) candidates have declared criminal cases registered against them. In 2013, out of the 2,494 candidates analysed, 407 (16 per cent) had declared criminal cases against them.

As many as 295 (11 per cent) candidates have declared serious criminal cases. Of these, 16 candidates have declared cases related to murder (IPC Section 302), while 24 candidates have declared cases related to attempt to murder (IPC Section 307).

Six candidates have declared cases related to kidnapping, such as kidnapping or abducting in order to murder (IPC Section 364) and kidnapping or abducting with intent secretly and wrongfully to confine person (IPC Section 365).

Also, 20 candidates have declared cases related to crime against women (IPC Section 498A), and assault or use of criminal force against woman with intent to outrage her modesty (IPC Section 354).

Among the major parties, 65 (30 per cent) out of the 220 candidates analysed from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), 108 (48 per cent) out of 223 candidates analysed from the Congress, 43 (21 per cent) out of 206 candidates analysed are from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), and 37 (17 per cent) out of 214 candidates analysed from BSP have declared criminal cases against them in their affidavits.

Among the major parties, 38 (17 per cent) from the BJP, 55 (25 per cent) from the Congress, 30 (15 per cent) from the AAP, and 22 (10 per cent) from the BSP have declared serious criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.

Out of the 2,716 candidates, 656 (24 per cent) are crorepatis. In 2013 Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections, out of 2,494 candidates, 472 (19 per cent) were crorepatis.

Among the major parties, 179 (81 per cent) from the BJP, 173 (78 per cent) from the Congress, 52 (24 per cent) out of 214 candidates analysed from the BSP, 38 (18 per cent) from the AAP and 17 (35 per cent) from the Samajwadi Party have declared assets worth over Rs 1 crore.

The average of assets per candidate contesting in this Assembly elections is Rs 1.73 crore.

Party wise, the average assets per candidate for 220 BJP candidates analysed is Rs 6.23 crore, for 223 Congress candidates is Rs 8.62 crore, 206 AAP candidates have average assets of Rs 67.72 lakh and 214 BSP candidates have average assets worth Rs 1.16 crore.

Seven candidates have declared zero assets. A total of 544 (20 per cent) candidates have not declared their PAN details.

This time, 235 (9 per cent) women candidates are contesting. In 2013, 180 (7 per cent) out of 2,494 candidates analysed were women, the ADR said.

Also, 1,365 (50 per cent) candidates have declared their educational qualification to be between 5th and 12th standard, while 1,095 (40 per cent) candidates have declared having an educational qualification of graduation or above.

As many as 155 (6 per cent) candidates have declared to be “just literate” and 54 (2 per cent) candidates are illiterate.

IANS

 Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Monday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for alleging that India made little or no progress during decades of Congress rule, saying this was an insult to the people who built the nation.

“Modiji says India was a sleeping giant before he became Prime Minister. This is an insult to all the Indians who have built this nation,” Gandhi told an election rally here.

He said Modi earlier used to talk about creation of jobs and wiping out corruption but forgot all that the moment he became the Prime Minister.

“Modi used to say ‘don’t make me Prime Minister, make me country’s chowkidar’. Before becoming the Prime Minister he used to talk about jobs, just price for farmers… But the moment he became Prime Minister, he forgot all that.”

He said youths he spoke to in Rajasthan were jobless and farmers too complained of not getting right prices for their produce.

Gandhi railed against Modi over the issue of black money, dropping hints that Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley helped businessman Vijay Mallya to flee India after failing to pay back the huge loans he had taken from banks.

“He told you that this (demonetisation) was a fight against black money… What happened was that his elite friends turned black money worth billions into white. Mere months later, Nirav Modi ran away defaulting on Rs 35,000 crore. One man alone devoured a year’s budget for MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act),” he said.

“Before fleeing the country, Mallya meets Jaitley and Jaitley lets him flee. This is Modi’s ‘fight against black money’,” Gandhi added.

 In a veiled attack on the BJP-RSS, Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Monday asserted that he and his party will never allow to succeed those who are conspiring to annihilate Indias Constitution.

“The Constitution of India is the identity of both our struggle and existence. This is our philosophy and our pride. Its colour is in our colours,” tweeted Gandhi in Hindi on the occasion of Constitution Day.

“Those who are conspiring to annihilate it, let them be aware that neither they have the ability nor I and Congress party will ever allow them to do that,” added Gandhi who during his campaigns in the ongoing Assembly elections to five states has been accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party-Rashtriya Swyamsevak Sangh (BJP-RSS) of “attacking the Constitution”.

Constitution Day is celebrated every year on November 26 to mark adoption of the country’s Constitution. While the Constitution was adopted on November 26, 1949, it came into effect on January 26, 1950.

IANS

 The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday told a Delhi court that it has received requisite sanction from the competent authority to prosecute former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram in the Aircel-Maxis deal case.

The investigation agency, however, sought more time to get prosecution sanction against other accused in the case.

The special court was hearing the anticipatory bail plea of former Minister and his son, and the matter of taking cognisance of the chargesheet.

The CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) have opposed the bail plea of the father and son.

Special Judge O.P. Saini, meanwhile, extended the interim protection from arrest of Chidambaram and his son Karti till December 18.

The CBI and the ED are investigating how Karti Chidambaram allegedly managed to get clearance from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) in the Aircel-Maxis deal in 2006 when his father was the Union Finance Minister.

The ED on October 25 filed a charge-sheet in the case naming Chidambaram and a few others.

The CBI had on July 19 filed a chargesheet against 18 persons in the case, including the former Finance Minister and Karti.

On August 29, 2014, the CBI had filed a charge-sheet in the case alleging that between July 2004 and September 2008, Dayanidhi Maran, as Minister in the UPA-I government, used his influence to help Malaysian businessman T.A. Ananda Krishnan buy Aircel by coercing its owner Sivasankaran to part with his stake.

Sivasankaran alleged that Maran favoured the Krishnan-owned Maxis Group in the takeover of his company. In return, he alleged, Maxis made investments through Astro Network, a sister concern, in Sun Direct TV Pvt Ltd (SDTPL), stated to be owned by the Maran family.

However, a special court had dropped charges against Dayanidhi Maran, his brother Kalanithi and others in the alleged kickback of Rs 742 crore in the Aircel-Maxis deal, saying the “perception or suspicion” was not backed by concrete evidence.

IANS

 The BJP’s campaign for next month’s Assembly elections in Telangana is set to gather further momentum with Prime Minister Narendra Modi scheduled to address two election rallies in the state on Tuesday.

Modi will address the first meeting at Nizamabad at 11 a.m. and will then reach Mahabubnagar to address another meeting in the afternoon, state BJP leaders said.

These meetings are expected to intensify the campaign of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the December 7 elections to the state Assembly.

According to BJP’s Telangana unit president K. Laxman, Modi will again campaign in Telangana on December 3. He will address a public meeting in Hyderabad.

BJP President Amit Shah on Sunday addressed four public meetings in different parts of the state. He is scheduled to address more meetings on November 28 and December 2.

The BJP is contesting all 119 Assembly seats on its own.

IANS

 Union Minister Maneka Gandhi on Monday asked her Home and Health counterparts Rajnath Singh and J.P. Nadda to immediately constitute Internal Complaint Committees (ICC) under the Sexual Harassment at Workplace Act, 2013, in all police departments and hospitals.

“I have been informed that while the ICCs have been put in place in most government offices, the same have not been constituted in the offices of police organisation in the states,” the Women and Child Development (WCD) Minister said in her letter to Singh.

In her letter to Nadda, she raised the same issue of absence of ICCs in some hospitals under the central and state governments.

“I request you to look into this matter and issue suitable directions to the central government hospitals and state health departments to ensure that ICCs are immediately constituted and notified by all hospitals,” Gandhi told Nadda.

She also noted in both the letters that the police and hospital authorities should be advised to use the training material available on the WCD website to sensitise their staff as well as members of the ICCs.

“We have created a fully integrated complaint management system wherein any women can complain regarding sexual harassment to us on our website which has been integrally linked to all ministries, all state governments and most of the districts in the country.

“The National Commission for Women has also set up a separate cell to handle complaints of sexual harassment at workplace,” she wrote.

IANS

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Monday vowed to protect Punjab and its people from terror unleashed by Pakistan, warning Islamabad of “serious consequences” if it did not end the violence perpetrated against India.

Even as he thanked Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan for reciprocating India’s move on developing the Kartarpur corridor, the Chief Minister was scathing in his criticism of Pakistan Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa for “promoting state-sponsored terror through brutal killings of Indian soldiers and innocent citizens”.

He urged Imran Khan to rein in his Army and bring an immediate end to terror against Indian armed forces and citizens, “or else be ready to face a strong reaction from India, which has a bigger army than the neighbouring country”.

Taking a strong stand on the issue of terror, which was immediately endorsed and backed by Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu who was present on the occasion of the foundation stone laying ceremony of a road link to the Kartarpur corridor, the Chief Minister said India was a land of peace but was prepared to counter Pakistan’s aggression in kind if continued to be threatened.

Lashing out at those who felt he should have accepted Pakistan’s invitation to participate in their ground-breaking ceremony of the Kartarpur Corridor, Amarinder Singh asked how he could go there “when innocent Indian citizens and soldiers were being killed by them every day”.

“I want to go to Kartarpur and also visit Nankana Sahib and Panja Sahib gurdwaras again, but cannot go there as I have to pass Pakistan, which is killing my people every day.”

Pointing out that Punjab had seen bloodshed for 20 years, Amarinder Singh said that while his family had close ties with Kartarpur Sahib, he, as Chief Minister, had a responsibility to the people of his state, which Pakistan was trying to weaken.

Lashing out at the Pakistan Army chief, he said that as an ex-soldier himself he saw no justification in killing soldiers, which he described as “an act of cowardice, not becoming of Army personnel”.

“Soldiers are taught to protect and serve their nation, not to kill innocent people,” he said, seeking the immediate removal of Gen Bajwa and said the Pakistan Army should learn the message of love and brotherhood propounded by Guru Nanak Dev.

The Chief Minister recalled that the 26/11 Mumbai attacks was a grim reminder of Pakistan-sponsored terrorism in India.

He further pointed out that the Dina Nagar and Pathankot attacks in Gurdaspur district also stood out as major examples of the terror unleashed by Pakistan in Indian Punjab.

Describing terror as madness, Vice President Naidu said he fully endorsed Amarinder Singh’s views and vowed that India will not allow its people to be killed.

“While India wants peace and promotes friendship, it will not allow terrorism to breed on its soil,” Naidu said, urging countries that support terror to shun this path.

India wants peaceful relations with its neighbours and wanted them to change their mindset and embrace peace.