Shops, educational institutions closed down on Monday and lack of public transport affected attendance in banks and government offices as people showed support for a separatist-called shutdown in the Kashmir Valley.

The Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL), a separatist conglomerate headed by Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and Yasin Malik called the shutdown alleging a killing spree in the valley region of Jammu and Kashmir.

Reports from other district headquarters also indicated support for the shutdown.

Authorities deployed security forces to prevent any protest rallies and maintain law and order. Train services in the valley have also been suspended for the day.

IANS

President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress President Rahul Gandhi and other political leaders expressed grief over the demise of former Union Minister C.K. Jaffer Sharief, who passed away at a private hospital in Bengaluru following a heart attack on Sunday.

He was 85.

“Sorry to hear of the passing of veteran political figure C.K. Jaffer Sharief, who served the nation in many capacities including as Railway Minister. My condolences to his family members and associates in Karnataka and elsewhere,” Kovind said.

Sharief passed away around 12.30 p.m. at Fortis Hospital where he was admitted on Friday after collapsing at home. He had been suffering from age-related ailments for some time.

Expressing condolence, the Prime Minister tweeted: “Saddened by the demise of Sharief ji. As a veteran Parliamentarian, he enriched parliamentary proceedings. He was an effective voice for Karnataka’s aspirations in Delhi. Condolences to his family and supporters.”

A veteran parliamentarian from Bengaluru North and Bengaluru Rural Lok Sabha constituencies, Sharief was Union Railway Minister during 1991-1995 under the P.V. Narasimha Rao-led Congress government.

Calling Sharief’s death a day of tragedy for the Congress party, Rahul said: “My condolences to his family, friends and supporters in their time of grief.”

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said: “Condolences to the family and followers of former Minister Sharief on his passing away. As a Member of Parliament and as Railways Minister, he made his mark. He strove for a better Bengaluru and a prosperous Karnataka.”

Conveying his condolences to the bereaved family of the senior Congress party leader, Loktantrik Janata Dal chief Sharad Yadav said: “Such leaders are the need of the hour when the country is passing through a difficult time.”

Congress Leader C.P. Joshi said: “Deeply saddened by his passing away. May God give strength to his family and friends in this hour of deep sorrow.”

Rajasthan Congress chief Sachin Pilot, one of the chief ministerial aspirants in the state, said: “My condolences to his family, friends and well wishers in their time of grief.”

Former Karnataka Minister Ramalinga Reddy said: “Heartfelt condolences on the untimely demise of former Union Minister and senior congress leader Jaffer Sharief. My thoughts and prayers are with his family members and supporters.”

IANS

Voting was underway on Saturday for the third phase of panchayat polls across Jammu and Kashmir amid tight security.

Voting is taking place in 2,773 polling stations — 918 in Kashmir division and 1,855 in Jammu.

Polling started at 8 a.m. and will end at 2 p.m.

According to the state’s Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Shaleen Kabra, 727 polling stations have been categorized as hypersensitive — 493 in Kashmir and 234 in Jammu.

He said 5,239 candidates were in the fray for 358 sarpanch and 1,652 panch seats, while 96 sarpanchs and 1,437 panchs have already been elected unopposed in this phase.

“Photo Voter Slips have been distributed among the voters to inform them of their polling station,” the CEO said.

Kabra said in the first phase of the panchayat polls held on November 17, 74.1 per cent polling was recorded.

In phase two that took place on November 20, an overall 71.1 per cent polling was witnessed.

The CEO said Basic Minimum Facilities (BMF) have been ensured in all the polling stations across the state.

Panchayat polls were last held in the state in 2011.

The Kerala unit of the Congress on Saturday asked the Pinarayi Vijayan government to end the prevailing “police raj” in Sabarimala for more pilgrims to visit the Lord Ayyappa shrine.

The district authorities have now extended the prohibitory orders in and around the temple town till November 26 and according to official figures, there has been a drop of Rs 14 crore in revenue for the first week of the season as compared to the previous year.

Last year the total collection was Rs 22 crore.

“We were there at the temple town and the place looks deserted. If one looks into the previous seasons, by now a million pilgrims would have come and gone, whereas this time due to the ‘police raj’ prevailing at the temple town, just around 2 lakhs have come till today,” Leader of opposition Ramesh Chennithala told the media here.

“Pilgrims will only come when the ‘police raj’ is lifted,” Chennithala said, adding that Sabarimala was the only religious place where prohibitory orders were in force.

An uneasy calm has been prevailing in the temple town ever since protests by Hindu groups started after the September Supreme Court verdict that allowed women of all ages to enter the temple that hitherto banned girls and women aged 10-50.

The apex court on November 13 refused to stay the September verdict, three days before the temple opened for this season.

The Left Democratic Front government led by the CPI-M has been trying to implement the apex court’s verdict even as the Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party and several Hindu groups were up in arms against it.

Reacting to the drop in revenue, State Minister for Devasoms (temples) Kadakampally Surendran told the media that while the state government will not have any issues due to it, the salaries, pension and other expenditure of the Travancore Devasom Board will be affected.

IANS

Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray, accompanied by his wife Rashmi and son Aditya, arrived here on Saturday.

Upon his arrival, he was greeted by senior Shiv Sena cadres and other officials to the slogans of “Jai Sri Ram”.

He left for the Laxmi Fort from the air strip in a heavily guarded cavalcade of cars.

Earlier in the day, two trains full of Shiv Sena cadres had arrived in the temple town.

The cadres first took a dip in the Saryu river and then prayed at Ram Lalla and Hanumagrhi.

Section 144 has been clamped in the town which prohibits the gathering of four or more persons at any public place.

On Sunday morning, Thackeray will go for a darshan of Ram Lalla accompanied by local party leaders, sants and sadhus, interact with the media and later with the public, though plans for a public rally were not finalised yet.

For the Ayodhya visit, Thackeray is carrying an urn containing the earth from the Shivneri Fort – the birthplace of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in Pune district of Maharashtra.

Over 4,000 Shiv Sainiks from Maharashtra, besides more from other parts of the country have preceded him to Ayodhya since the past couple of days, a party spokesperson said.

Party leaders including Sanjay Raut, Ministers Eknath Shinde, Rajan Vichare, Mumbai Mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar and others have been camping in Ayodhya since the past few days to prepare for Thackeray’s visit.

This will be the Thackerays’ first-ever visit to the holy city, though in the past his father and founder of the Shiv Sena, the late Bal Thackeray had travelled to Uttar Pradesh on a couple of occasions.

The party’s prime demand is to expedite the construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya by promulgating an Ordinance to the effect.

IANS

Sugarcane cultivators, on Friday, called off their indefinite agitate following Minister D K Shivakumar’s assurance that by Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy to them on the issue would be fulfilled in two weeks time.

Shivkumar who met with the farmers, protesting outside the deputy commissioner’s office on the sidelines of his visit to the city to attend a function was successful in managing to convince them to call off the stir.

Farmers, under the banner of Bharatiya Krishik Samaj and Raitha Sangha and Hasiru Sene have been staging the protest seeking settlement of their arrears from the sugar factories and increased Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) among others.

Meanwhile, Bagalkote farmers have said that they would call off their three-week-long strike only after the sugar mill owners give an undertaking to the deputy commissioner that they would pay Rs 2,500 per tonne of cane and honour the current year FRP.

PTI

The Election Commission (EC) has issued a notice to senior Congress leader C.P. Joshi after the state’s BJP unit submitted a written complaint against him for making caste-based remarks at a public gathering in Rajasthan.

The Bharatiya Janata Party submitted the complaint on Friday for his comment that “only Brahmins have the right to speak about Hinduism”.

According to the state’s Chief Electoral Officer Anand Kumar, Joshi has been given time till Sunday to respond to the notice.

Joshi is contesting from Nathdwara in Rajsamand district for the upcoming state Assembly polls slated for December 7.

In a video gone viral, Joshi is seen saying: “It is strange that Uma Bharti, who is of the Lodhi community is talking about Hindu religion, Narendra Modi is of some other religion and he talks about Hindu religion.

“In this country, if anyone knows about religion, it is the pandits and the Brahmins.”

Rebuked by his own party and facing a backlash from the BJP, Joshi on Friday apologised for his remarks.

But the BJP rejected his apology and instead demanded his expulsion from the party.

IANS

 At least 25 people drowned on Saturday when a private bus they were travelling in plunged into a canal in Karnataka’s Mandya district, police said.

“At least 25 people have drowned as the private bus fell into a canal at 11.30 a.m. at Pandavapura. Prima facie, the accident seems to have occurred due to the driver’s negligence,” a police officer from the office of Mandya Superintendent of Police (SP) told IANS.

“Over 30 people were travelling in the bus, which also had several school children,” he added.

District officials along with locals were still recovering bodies from the canal.

Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy directed the district officials and in-charge Minister C.S. Puttaraju to monitor the rescue operations.

IANS