Lucknow: The Karnataka Assembly polls are the new battle field for political stalwarts of Uttar Pradesh including Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, SP supremo Akhilesh Yadav and BSP chief Mayawati, who will be criss-crossing the state to turn the tide in favour of their respective parties.

Adityanath will be seen in action, addressing as many as 35 rallies and road shows the saffron party has organised for him as the Nath sect, to which he belongs, wields considerable clout in coastal Karnataka, BJP sources said today.

As per the partys plans, the chief ministers hectic Karnataka tour will begin on May 3 and he will be there holding rallies daily between May 7 and 10, BJP spokesperson Shalabh Mani Tripathi told PTI here. Samajwadi Party supremo Akhilesh Yadav will also be touring the state to champion his partys cause in those constituencies where the SP is in the fray.

“The SP has fielded over two dozen candidates in Karnataka. The party president will be campaigning there for our candidates. The tour details will be finalised in a day or two,” SP spokesman Rajendra Chowdhury told PTI.

When asked specifically as to whether Akhilesh will campaign for the Congress too, Chowdhury said, “He will campaign for SP candidates only as of now.” The Congress and the SP had contested the UP Assembly polls last year jointly, but had contested the civic body polls in the state independently.

BSP supremo Mayawati, whose party has entered into a pact with former prime minister HD Deve Gowdas JD(S), has already started working in the state with her rallies starting yesterday from Mysuru. She will be addressing a rally in Chitradurga today and Belagavi and Bidar on May 5-6 respectively.

The BSP is contesting on 20 seats in Karnataka and is hoping to open an account there with the JD(S) support. Polling will be held in a single phase on May 12 for all the 224 Assembly seats in the Congress-ruled state, including 36 reserved for the Scheduled Castes and 15 for the Scheduled Tribes. Ahead of the UP chief ministers visit, a Congress leader had made certain derogatory remarks against him.

BJP leaders here say that a counter offensive from the UP chief minister is very likely. “Expect a counter (attack) for sure,” a BJP leader said. In mid-April, Karnataka Congress working president Dinesh Gundu Rao had set the tone for Adityanaths visit by openly asking the people of Karnataka to boycott him. He later apologised for his remarks, describing them as an “emotional outburst.”

Earlier, during his February visit, Adityanath had taken on chief minister K Siddaramaiah on the micro blogging site, which blew up into a twitter war between the two chief ministers. In between his rallies and road shows, Adityanath is also expected to visit temples and mutts as the BJP looks to play the Hindutva card in a state where it is anxious to regain power it lost 10 years ago.

In December last, while addressing a “Parivartan Yatra” rally in Hubbali, the UP chief minister had stoked passions by asking people to choose between Hanuman Jayanti and Tipu Jayanti – a remark aimed at questioning Congress two-year-old decision to commemorate the birth anniversary of Tipu Sultan, the 18th century ruler who hailed from the region.

(PTI)

Patna/Siwan: Belive it or not, the Government Railway Police (GRP) personnel in Bihar’s Siwan district are banking on a “tantrik” (occultist) to crack a case of theft and catch the thief, a police officer said on Wednesday.

Instead of using high-tech gadgets and conducting a scientific investigation, the GRP has sought the help of a local tantrik “Ghoda Baba” to solve the case.

According to the district police officer, last week a case of theft was reported in the house of one Anil Kumar Srivastav in the railway colony of Siwan. But as the GRP personnel failed to make any breakthrough, in-charge of the GRP Police Station Nand Kishore, along with a tantrik, visited the house of Srivastav.

After inspecting the site, the tantrik instructed Srivastav to perform some rituals at night to ensure arrest of Siwan thief.

Tantrik, along with some GRP personnel, again visited Srivastav’s house in the railway colony on Wednesday afternoon and asked him to visit his place in nearby Mairwa town at night to solve the case.

Annoyed at the railway police’s approach, Srivastav has now written to senior police officials, including Muzaffarpur Superintendent of Police (Railway) Sanjay Kumar Singh, and questioned engaging a tantrik in the age of scientific probes to solve the case.

(IANS)

Lucknow: Thirteen children were killed and eight others injured when a train rammed into their school van at an unmanned railway crossing in Uttar Pradesh’s Kushinagar area, around 50 km from Gorakhpur, this morning, a railway official said.

The children, students of Divine Public School, were killed on the spot when the Thawe-Kapatanganj passenger train crashed into the van at the unmanned crossing gate at Behpurva, said Railways spokesman Ved Prakash.

The train was on way to Gorakhpur from Siwan.

There were at least 25 passengers, including children who were below the age of 10, in the van, the official said.

“It was an unmanned level crossing gate at Behpurva, with Gate Mitra (rail volunteer) deployed there. He tried to stop the van but the unfortunate incident happened at unmanned gate 45 near Dudhi station in Banaras division,” the spokesperson said in New Delhi.

An accident relief medical train from Gorakhpur has been dispatched to the site, he said.

Expressing condolence, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh for the families of the victims and directed the Gorakhpur commissioner to conduct an inquiry into the accident, according to Principal Secretary (Information) Awanish Awasthi.

He said the chief minister was rushing to the accident site for an on-the-spot assessment.

Railway Minister Piyush Goyal announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh each for the kin of the deceased.

“I received the unfortunate news of the death of school children. I have asked senior officials to conduct a probe into the incident. Railways will give a compensation of Rs 2 lakh to the kin of the dead over and above the aid announced by the Uttar Pradesh government,” he said in a tweet.

(IANS)

Thane: A special NDPS court here has ordered attachment of properties of former Bollywood actor Mamta Kulkarni, who is one of the key accused in the multi-crore drug racket case unearthed by the Thane Police in 2016.

Special NDPS court judge, H M Patwardhan, last week ordered the attachment of three plush flats owned by Kulkarni in various areas of Mumbai, after she failed to appear before the court in connection with the drug case.

The present value of these flats is said to be around Rs 20 crore.

Special Public Prosecutor Shishir Hirey said the court directed for attachment of the three properties of Kulkarni after the prosecution moved an application for it.

The court has declared Kulkarni as absconding as she failed to appear before it in connection with the nearly Rs 2,000 crore drug bust case.

Kulkarni was two years back named as the prime accused in the drug racket linked to drug baron Vicky Goswami, with the police claiming that she was actively involved in illicit activities.

A senior Thane police official had then said that they would initiate the process for extradition of Kulkarni and Goswami, who were said to be in a relationship and based in Kenya in Africa.

On June 6 last year, Goswami and Kulkarni were declared as proclaimed absconders by a Thane court and the police had subsequently moved the court to attach the actor’s properties.

Hirey said the application seeking attachment of properties was kept pending and an opportunity was given to both the accused to appear before the court.

However, since later it became apparent that they were not likely to appear before the court, the judge directed for attachment of Kulkarni’s properties.

The drug racket came to light when police seized around 18.5 tonne of ephedrine, worth approximately Rs 2,000 crore, after raiding the premises of Avon Lifesciences Ltd in Maharashtra’s Solapur district in April 2016.

According to the police, ephedrine, which is a controlled drug, was allegedly being diverted from the Solapur unit of Avon Lifesciences and sent abroad after processing.

Ephedrine powder is used for sniffing and to produce the popular party drug methamphetamine.

Just before the racket was unearthed, 100 kg of ephedrine was manufactured at Avon Lifesciences’ premises and dispatched by air to Kenya.

The payment for the same was sent by Goswami to Mukesh Jain, a director of the company, through hawala (an informal channel for transferring funds), the Thane police had said.

Jain had gone abroad several times to meet Goswami, according to the police.

(PTI)

The All Indian Mahila Empowerment Party (MEP) has alleged that five of their candidates were denied filing nominations on Tuesday, ending their prospects of entering the political fray.

Party President Dr Nowhera Shaikh told Nasheman.in, that her candidates were denied entry into the nomination centres for hours, making them unable to file their nominations on time.

Tuesday was the last day of filing of nominations.

Dr Nowhera Shaikh alleged that there is a conspiracy to disrupt MEP’s political prospects from other political parties since MEP is a strong contender to win the upcoming Karnataka assembly elections.

Dr Shaikh said that she has raised a complaint with the Election Commission in this regards.

The candidates, who were denied nominations were: Asifa Khanum from Kanakpura, Nazia Shivapur from Hukkeri, A S Chandrashekhar from Tumkur, Veeresh from Sira and SA Raheem from Malur.