(IANS) A Congress leader was killed and his two security guards injured in a militant attack on Tuesday in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district, police said.

While police initially said that Gulam Nabi Patel was an activist of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti identified him as Congress leader.

Militants fired at Patel’s vehicle in Rajpora Chowk of Pulwama, injuring him and his guards, a police officer said.

Patel later succumbed to his critical injuries, while the injured security guards, Imtiyaz Ahmad and Bilal Ahmed, are being treated, the official said.

“Heartfelt condolences to the family of senior Congress leader, G. N. Patel who was killed by militants today in Rajpora. Such cowardly acts achieve nothing but leave one more family devastated,” said Mehbooba Mufti in a tweet.

(IANS)

India Mobile Congress 2018 will be held from 25th to 27th of October this year at Aerocity in New Delhi.

It is one of the biggest marquee Mobile, Internet and Technology events in Asia, organized by Department of Telecommunications and Cellular Operators Association of India.

According to Ministry of State for Communications, the event is an excellent platform for policymakers, industry and regulators to engage in meaningful deliberations to drive the future direction of this important sector.

India is gearing up to embrace this new digital future with the focus on 5G readiness and the facilitation of new technology adoption across sectors. More than one thousand 300 exhibitor’s companies will participate in the exhibition at the event.

Hindusthan Samachar/Shri Ram Shaw

Energy Minister DK Shivakumar is one of the most successful Congress leaders in Karnataka. He tasted political success in the 1980s when he was very young. He is known to not just keep winning for himself but can ensure victories for party men in the constituencies he is entrusted with. He has plenty of money: the man has officially declared assets worth Rs 618 crore. At 55, Shivakumar is not just young, politically speaking, he also comes from the numerically strong Vokkaliga community. It is precisely because of this combination of factors that the five-time MLA is seen as a future chief minister after the current crop of senior leaders fade. And, he is waiting patiently.
On the negative side, he has a big image issue. In 2013, after Siddaramaiah took over as chief minister, he came under tremendous pressure from activists led by freedom fighter HS Doreswamy who carried out a public campaign opposing Shivakumar’s inclusion in the Cabinet.

Shivakumar declared that he had Rs 618 crore worth assets, his wife, Usha, he said has assets worth Rs 112 crore. Compared to his declared assets of Rs 215 crore during the 2013 elections, Shivakumar&… Read More
Karunakar Rao
In August last year, Shivakumar made national headlines after he hosted a group of Gujarat Congress MLAs at a resort in Bengaluru to prevent cross voting in the Rajya Sabha elections in which AICC leader Ahmed Patel was a candidate. The senior Minister handled the task successfully, but faced a series of income tax raids which reportedly unearthed crores of undeclared income. Besides politics, he is also involved with a number of activities including running educational institutions, granite, and real estate businesses. While Shivakumar may settle tax claims and come out of it, it will take some time for the criminal cases the IT department has slapped on him — accusing him of trying to destroy evidence during the raids — to be resolved.
In the last three decades, DK, as he is popularly known, has grown from being a rude politician to a suave minister. Known for his organising skills and deep pockets, Shivakumar was chosen by his party to be chairman of the Congress’ campaign committee before the May 12 Assembly polls. The man commands some clout in the Vokkaliga belt of old Mysuru region, from where his younger brother DK Suresh is a Lok Sabha member. His focus now is to ensure a win for party men loyal to him across the state. If the Congress were to get a majority in the May 12 polls, and if Vokkaliga members get elected in large numbers, it will not be easy for the Congress to ignore his claim for the CM’s gaddi.

The Income Tax Department on Tuesday conducted searches on a number of contractors in poll-bound Karnataka in connection with a tax evasion probe, officials said. They said the raids are being conducted against at least 11 contractors in Mysore and Bangalore by the investigation wing of the department.
These contractors are linked to public works jobs rendered by them on government tenders, they said.
The department had last week said, has that it has “gathered details of all contract payments made in the last quarter of the completed financial year in the state and is making a comparison with previous years for identifying abnormal cases.”

This data is being co-related with all bank transactions and available cash withdrawal intelligence, it had said.
It had said that as part of the enhanced alertness in the wake of the single-phase polling scheduled on May 12, the investigation wing of the department in Karnataka and Goa has “stepped up its surveillance and monitoring activities”.
In an instance unearthed recently, the department claimed a contractor in one of the districts of the state was searched and it was found that “he had made payments to another person who in turn had withdrawn cash from the amount transferred”.
“The cash withdrawn of Rs 55 lakh was seized and the contractor also admitted to concealment of Rs 16 crore,” it had said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said the promulgation of an ordinance + on rape demonstrated his government’s determination to act on the issue, but stressed that people had to respect their daughters and make their sons more responsible for an atmosphere of safety.
Modi also pitched for a social movement to ensure the safety of women and girls while addressing a rally here.
“Shivraj ji (Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan) just referred to the capital punishment provided in the ordinance for rape against minors and I could see that it (the remark) received cheers from everyone present here,” he said.
“There is a government in Delhi which listens to your voice and takes decisions. So, the Centre has made a provision for capital punishment to the monstrous intent,” he said while referring to the recent ordinance.
The Union Cabinet on April 21 approved the ordinance under which the death penalty could be awarded to those convicted of raping girls below 12 years of age, amid a nationwide outrage over cases of sexual assault and murder of minors in Kathua + and Surat + and the rape of a teenager in Unnao + .
Modi, however, called upon the people to create an atmosphere for the safety of daughters.
“Families will have to enhance the honour and respect of daughters. Families should also make their sons more responsible,” he said while addressing the National Panchayati Raj Sammelan at Ramnagar in the tribal-dominated Mandla district.
Modi called upon the people to create an atmosphere for the safety of daughters
He also pitched for a social movement to ensure the safety of women and girls
Families should also make their sons more responsible,the PM said

“There is a government in Delhi which listens to your voice and takes decisions. So, the Centre has made a provision for capital punishment to the monstrous intent,” he said while referring to the recent ordinance.
The Union Cabinet on April 21 approved the ordinance under which the death penalty could be awarded to those convicted of raping girls below 12 years of age, amid a nationwide outrage over cases of sexual assault and murder of minors in Kathua + and Surat + and the rape of a teenager in Unnao + .
Modi, however, called upon the people to create an atmosphere for the safety of daughters.

“Families will have to enhance the honour and respect of daughters. Families should also make their sons more responsible,” he said while addressing the National Panchayati Raj Sammelan at Ramnagar in the tribal-dominated Mandla district.

“In this way, the safety of daughters would not be a difficult task. We have to launch a social movement in this direction,” he said.

Former Union minister Salman Khurshid has said that his party does have blood on its hands and that people should learn from that mistake.

Pushed to the wall with a point-blank query from an Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) student at a programme as to how the Congress will wash off the blood stains of Muslims on its hands, he said, “It is a political question. There is blood on our hands. I am also a part of the Congress so let me say it, we have blood on our hands. Is this why you are trying to tell us that if someone attacks you, we must not come forward to protect you?”

“I am telling you. We are ready to show the blood on our hands so that you realise that you too must not get blood on your hands. If you attack them, you are the ones who would get stains on your hands,” he said at an AMU event on Sunday. “Learn something from our past. Learn from our history and don’t create such situations for yourself where if you come back to Aligarh Muslim University after 10 years, you find no one like yourself putting out questions,” he said.

The student had asked, “The first amendment was in 1948. Then there was Presidential order in 1950… after that Hasanpura, Maliana, Muzaffarnagar and there is a long list of riots under the Congress regime. Then there was the opening of the gates of Babri Masjid, placing idols inside and then the demolition of Babri Masjid while the Congress was in power at the Centre. Congress has Muslims’ blood on its hands. With what words will you wash them off?”. Later, talking to media post his remark, Khurshid said that he was defending the Congress party. Fear of losing social status drove US voters to elect Trump in 2016 election, finds study Karnataka elections: Yogi Adityanath to address 35 rallies from May 3 Delhi: 12-year-old girl raped by a minor in Ghazipur Featured Posts He said, “I am not a representative of the Congress party, I am the Congress party. I was defending Congress party. What I said I will continue to say, I made the statement as a human being.” The former Union minister was the chief guest at the annual function of BR Ambedkar Hall of the AMU.

The KPCC did not give in to tantrums and high drama of former minister MH Ambareesh and gave B-form to Ganiga Ravikumar to contest from Mandya Assembly constituency on the last day of filing of nomination papers.
As a final call, KPCC chief G Parameshwara had called Ambareesh to meet him. However, Ambareesh didn’t turn up to meet the party chief. Left with no other option on the last day of filing of nominations, Congress gave B-form to Ganiga Ravikumar.
Actor-turned-politician Ambareesh had been given a deadline by Congress party to decide on his contest from Mandya assembly constituency. The party followed wait and see approach till the last moment since Ambareesh is a prominent Vokkaliga face in the Congress party. He refused to collect the B-form though his name was announced in the first list.

The Karnataka BJP has appointed party state chief BS Yeddyurappa’s son BY Vijayendra as the Yuva Morcha state general secretary. Announcing the decision, the party twitter handle said that Vijayendra would “be campaigning extensively for candidates in the Old Mysuru region”.

The tweet reads: “Congratulations to Shri BY Vijayendra on his appointment as State General Secretary, Yuva Morcha. His addition will greatly boost the party cadre and strengthen our organisation in the Old Mysuru region. He will be campaigning extensively for candidates in the Old Mysuru region.”