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JD(U) unveils first list of candidates

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The Janata Dal (United) has unveils its first list of candidates on Monday, April 16 for the upcoming Karnataka Assembly 2018 polls. The party state unit president Mahima J. Patel will challenge from the Chennagiri constituency.

Different competitors and their particular constituency are Arun Kumar C. Patila from Alanda, Hazarat Ali Sheik from Kungola, D.K Hittalamani from Ranebennur, Tapal Ganesh from Bellary, G N Totad from Navalagunda, Vijayendra Reddy from Chikkanayakanahalli, B.Ramayya from Nelamangala, Raju Nayaka Vadi from Hubballi Central, Purushottam S from Doddaballapur, Dodda Mali Patil from Gurumitakal, S Raddera from Gadag, S Ramachandrappa from Holalkere, Rajeev Kotyan from Kundapur and G Eshappa from Koodlagi.

The second list will be released on April 22 said Mahima Patel.

Syrian forces targeting Homs and Qalamoun near Damascus

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Army says it is preparing for more offensives to clear remaining territories outside government control near the capital Damascus.

Days after the suspected chemical attack which killed more than 40 people in Douma, Syrian government forces say they have now retaken the rebel pocket in Eastern Ghouta.

Now the Syrian government appears to be turning its attention to Homs, another strategic region in Syria.

Much of the central province has been recaptured in recent years but the opposition has long held an enclave in the northern countryside.

That area is strategic for Damascus if it wants to secure the roads linking government controlled cities in the west of the country.

Kerala agency to facilitate police clearance for UAE-bound persons

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The Roots Norka, a Kerala government agency that handles the affairs pertaining to the state’s diaspora, was on Monday approved by the UAE Embassy here to attest police clearance certificates of those wishing to go to the Emirates, an official said.

Roots Norka Centre Manager Hari Kumar told IANS that it will immensely help Kerala residents desirous of working in the United Arab Emirates.

“Hitherto, the process was that the applicants had to present all certificates to the UAE Embassy here. But now, we will do this job for the applicants,” said Kumar.

He said the centre gets around 100 certificates on an average for attestation daily. The applicants need not waste their time waiting in queues at the embassy now, Kumar said.

The police clearance certificate attestation was first done by a notary, before it was submitted to the Home Department. The certificate was then forwarded to the Ministry of External Affairs, and later handed back to the applicants for submission to the UAE Embassy.

“Now onwards, once the applicants get the Home Department’s clearance, we will handle the remaining process. This will cut the delay by almost a week,” he said.

The UAE is the most preferred destination for Keralites among all Middle East countries.

US, UK warn against Russia-sponsored cyber-attacks

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Cyber security representatives from the US and Britain have warned of Russian state-sponsored cyber-attacks that are targeting network infrastructure devices such as routers and firewalls, to compromise government and private sectors globally.

According to a US Computer Emergency Response Team (US-CERT), the Technical Alert (TA) provided information on the worldwide cyber exploitation of network infrastructure devices (routers, switches, firewalls, Network-based Intrusion Detection Systems) by Russian state-sponsored cyber actors.

The joint TA is the result of analytic efforts between the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre, according to information on the official website of the DHS.

“Victims were identified through a coordinated series of actions between US and international partners. The report builds on previous DHS reporting and advisories from the UK, Australia and the European Union,” the website said.

“The FBI has high confidence that Russian state-sponsored cyber actors are using compromised routers to conduct man-in-the-middle attacks to support espionage, extract intellectual property, maintain persistent access to victim networks, and potentially lay a foundation for future offensive operations,” the website added.

Since 2015, the US government has been receiving information from multiple sources — including private and public sector cyber security research organisations and allies — that cyber actors were exploiting large numbers of enterprise-class and residential routers and switches worldwide.

The US government assessed that cyber actors supported by the Russian government carried out this worldwide campaign.

These operations enable espionage and intellectual property that supports the Russian Federation’s national security and economic goals, the website said.

Russian cyber actors leverage a number of legacy or weak protocols and service ports associated with network administration activities.

Cyber actors use these weaknesses to identify vulnerable devices, extract device configurations, harvest login credentials, modify device firmware, and copy or redirect victim traffic through Russian cyber-actor-controlled infrastructure.

Organisations can use publicly available cyber security guidance and best practices from DHS, allied governments, vendors and the private-sector cyber security community on mitigation strategies for the exploitation vectors to safeguard their networks.

Sushma in China from Saturday, to hold talks with Wang Yi

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India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will hold bilateral talks with her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi during her two-day China visit beginning on Saturday.
Sushma Swaraj will meet Wang on the sidelines of the foreign ministers’ meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Summit (SCO).

She will meet a more powerful Wang, who in March was elevated to China’s top diplomatic post of State Councillor. They are likely to discuss a host of thorny issues.

India-China ties were severely hit by the 73-day military stand-off in Doklam last year. Both sides are now trying to restore normalcy to their ties by stepping up bilateral exchanges.

China’s opposition to India’s entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) and its move to block bids at the UN to list Masood Azhar, chief of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed militant group, as a global terrorist, has irked New Delhi.

In addition, New Delhi has reservations about the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which cuts through Pakistan-held Kashmir that is claimed by India.

Sushma Swaraj, whose last visit to China was in 2015, is also likely to meet other top Chinese leaders.

India’s Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will also visit China next week and hold a dialogue with her counterpart.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in June on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Summit.

India and Pakistan were admitted to the China-led block in 2017.

Congress sets up cell to quell revolt in poll-bound Karnataka

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Karnataka’s ruling Congress on Monday set up a special cell to quell the revolt brewing in the party from a dozen sitting legislators and scores of aspirants whose names did not figure in the 218 candidates declared to contest the May 12 assembly elections.

“We have set up cell headed by state unit President G. Parameshwara to pacify the members and aspirants who could not be selected to contest in the assembly poll for multiple reasons,” party’s state Vice President K.E. Radhakrishna told IANS here.

Admitting that the party was facing rebellion in at least six constituencies from sitting legislators and ticket aspirants, he said the cell would soon meet them and explain why they could not be selected to contest this time.

“Once we finalise names for the remaining 5-6 constituencies in the next 2-3 days, we will call all those who could not make it to the list as there have been many aspirants for every assembly segment,” Radhakrishna said.

According to reports from districts, hundreds of party’s workers staged angry protests at the party offices for denying ticket to their respective leaders at Chikkamagluru, Badami, Bagalkot, Ballari, Mandya, Kolar and Chikkaballapur.

The disappointed party cadres also vowed to campaign against the selected candidates if their leaders were ignored and denied opportunity to contest in the polls.

Polling will be held in a single phase for the 224 assembly segments across the state on May 12 and votes will be counted on May 15.

“Of the 122 sitting legislators, 12 could not be re-nominated for health reasons, old age and due to prospects of winning being not so bright as per our surveys,” said Radhakrishna.

The party has decided not to field its candidate in the Melukote in Mandya district in support of Swaraj India candidate Darshan Puttannaiah, son of the state’s farmer leader, late K.S. Puttananaiah, who was a member of the outgoing state assembly, representing the Karnataka Sarvodaya Paksha, which merged with Swaraj India in March 2017.

“The selection has been made solely on the winning criteria after carefully considering other social factors, including their caste and community for fair representation of all sections of society,” said Radhakrishna.

The party has fielded 42 Lingayats, 39 Vokkaligas, 52 Other Backward Classes, 35 Scheduled Castes, 17 Scheduled Tribes for the reserved constituencies, 15 Muslims, 7 Brahmins, 6 Reddy Lingayts and two each from Jain and Christian communities.

Among the selected candidates, 24 are in the age group of 25-40, 49 between 41-50 years, 72 in the 51-60 years, 66 in the 61-70 years and 7 in the above 70 age group.

Besides Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s son Yatheendra to contest from Varuna in Mysuru district, the party has given ticket to Law Minister T. B. Jayachandra’s son Santosh in Chikkanayakanahalli and Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy’s daughter Sowmya from Jayanagar in south Bengaluru.

In Karnataka, a former policewoman enters politics to police politicians

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By Bhavana Akella
Anupama Shenoy, a former woman police officer in Karnataka, has entered politics to become a lawmaker and police politicians who make promises but don’t fulfill them.

“I have entered politics, floated a party to contest in the May 12 state assembly elections and become a lawmaker to police politicians so that they fulfill their promises and fear any wrongdoing,” Shenoy told IANS in an interview here.

Shenoy, 37, a 2010 batch officer of the Karnataka State Police Cadre, resigned as Kudligi Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP) in Ballari district in June 2016 after a spat with a state cabinet minister and a local liquor baron.

As Shenoy could not get justice within the administrative system or serve the people to her satisfaction, she decided to empower herself by plunging into politics.

Though Shenoy floated the Bharatiya Janashakti Congress (BJC) on November 1, 2017, she registered it on February 18 with the Election Commission (EC), which allotted it the “lady’s finger” (bhindi) symbol on March 15 to contest in the assembly polls and the Lok Sabha elections in 2019.

“I am in politics to create a new leadership in the state, as the youth in the three main parties have no space to become leaders unless they are wealthy to contest elections,” asserted Shenoy. The ruling Congress in the state is being challenged by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S).

As a greenhorn in politics, Shenoy knows she cannot come to power, but wants to get into the political system anyway so as to ensure better governance, clean administration and efficient delivery of services to the people across the state.

“Our party will contest in about 30 constituencies, with seven-eight in Bengaluru, three in Vijayapura, two each in Bagalkot, Kalaburgi, Mysuru and Udupi, and the remaining in other districts of the state. I plan to contest from Kaup segment in the coastal Udupi district,” said an upbeat Shenoy.

For the 225-member assembly, including one nominated, a single-phase polling will be held in 224 constituencies on May 12, with the counting on May 15.

“I want to make my party a platform for the youth and anyone committed to changing the political system and serving the people better. Their economic and social backgrounds do not matter,” she affirmed.

Candidates contesting on the BJC ticket, however, should have no criminal background or police cases against them and should know to read and write Kannada, the state’s native language.

“As I was in the police department for four years after joining government service in 2012, I am teaching my party members how to police politicians for the good of the people and the state,” Shenoy averred.

For Shenoy, winning in the assembly elections is not as much a priority as establishing her party through the democratic process. She noted that even the BJP had won only two seats when it was formed in 1980 and the grand old Congress took decades to come to power in the past.

“We have not formed the party only to contest in the assembly elections, but to sow the seeds for its growth in the years to come. We will support any party that secures majority to form the next government in the state,” hinted Shenoy.

As parties are permitted to spend Rs 28 lakh for the campaign in each assembly segment, BJC will raise funds from trusts which support new parties financially.

“In the long run, we want to support candidates who are poor by sponsoring their election expense. We are managing so far with whatever money we have from our sources,” said Shenoy.

Claiming that BJC was against corruption, Shenoy said her party would be transparent, pro-women and pro-environment with sustainable policies.

“We also want to check the rampant commercialization of the education and health sectors in the country so that better facilities can be provided to the needy. As people are our kingmakers, we have to protect them at any cost,” she said.

Shenoy left a promising career in protest against harassment by her seniors who transferred her for taking on a liquor baron in the northwest district.

“People around me think I should have continued in the high-profile job. But I had to quit as there was no other means to ventilate against my seniors,” she recalled.

Singling out former state labour minister P.T. Parameshwar Naik, who was Ballari district’s in-charge, for meddling in her work, Shenoy said she had opposed her transfer from Kudligi as the model code of conduct was in force for the local body elections by the state election commission, which supported the state government and left her in distress for 10 days.

“I have also complained to the Chief Electoral Office not to depute two IPS officers, S. Murugan and R. Chetan, on election duty as they were my seniors and harassed me on the transfer, which was not binding due to the poll code,” she reiterated.

Observing that it was very hard to be a public servant as politicians force officers to secure money through any means, Shenoy said a bad politician and a bad public servant “rot” the system when they were hand-in-glove.

For Shenoy, the ruling Congress and the opposition BJP and JD-S in the state are alike when it comes to the three Cs — corruption, communalism and casteism.

“I think corruption was high during the BJP rule (2008-2013), under the leadership of its chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, when his government looted the rich mining district (Ballari) with mining baron G. Janardhan Reddy as a cabinet minister. He made politicians believe they will not be questioned,” lamented Shenoy.

Blaming the Congress government for curbing the state ombudsman’s powers to investigate graft cases by setting up an Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah as its head, Shenoy said the executive wing of the Constitution become a mere political tool in the state.

“The state government uses ACB to threaten opposition leaders, while the central government uses the CBI and ED against the state government,” she added.

BJP second list has 82 candidates

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Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) released the second list of candidates who will contest the May 12th state Assembly elections on Monday. This list contains the names of 82 candidates. On April 9th, BJP had released its first list made up of 72 candidates. BJP has not yet finalized the candidates for the remaining 70 Assembly constituencies.

Katta Subramaniam Naidu has been selected for Shivajinagar Assembly segment in Bengaluru district. R. Roshan Baig is the Congress candidate in this constituency against whom Naidu is competing.

Vasudeva Murthy will be contesting from Shantinagar in Bengaluru. Congress has not yet finalized the name of its incumbent legislator N.A. Harris for this constituency. N.A. Haris son is still in judicial custody for attacking Vidvat.

Congress defector N. Narendra Babu will be contesting from Mahalakshi Layout.N Nandish Reddy will contest from K R Puram Assembly constituency. The prominent candidates selected to contest in the Assembly elections include G Somasekhar Reddy (Bellary City), Sanna Fakirappa (Bellary – ST) and S Krishnaiah Shetty (Malur).

BJP candidates for undivided Dakshina Kannada are:

Belthangady- Harish Poonja
Moodbidri- Umanath Kotian
Bantwal- Rajesh Naik
Puttur- Sanjeeva Mattandoor
Byndoor- B Sukumar Shetty
Last week release of BJP’s first list of candidates includes S Angara (Sullia- SC), Sunil Kumar (Karkala) and Halady Shrinivas Shetty (Kundapur).

All India Mahila Empowerment Party (MEP) unveils first list of candidates

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A week after releasing its manifesto, All India Mahila Empowerment Party (MEP) today released its first list of candidates to contest for the upcoming Karnataka Assembly Elections.

While announcing the candidates, Dr Nowhera Shaik, President, All India Mahila Empowerment Party, said, “We have chosen our candidates after a lot of careful deliberations. They all believe in our platform of social justice and equality for all. Their concern too is the welfare of the downtrodden and oppressed groups. Our candidates, too, are concerned with the welfare of women who are at the wrong end of the spectrum.”

She added, “Our candidates have worked at the grassroots, and so they know what needs to be done to uplift the conditions of the people, especially women. All of them are passionate about the issues concerning women in the country. They are all leaders in their own right, and they all want to uplift the economic conditions of women by giving them equal opportunities.”

Dr. Nowhera Shaikh said that her party is confident of winning over 150 seats, in its maiden elections.

“We are contesting on a platform of social justice and equality for all. The welfare of the downtrodden and oppressed groups is our main aim. We are especially concerned about the welfare of the voiceless women who face the maximum discrimination and economic suffering, she added”.

OPCW inspectors ‘not yet’ allowed in Syria’s Douma: UK delegation

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British delegation calls on Russia and Syria to allow access as Russian deputy FM says delay is due to US-led strikes
Chemical weapons inspectors have not yet been allowed access to Syria’s Douma, UK officials said as the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) met to discuss the “alleged use of chemical weapons” in Syria.
“Russia and Syria have not yet allowed access to Douma,” the British delegation tweeted on Sunday, adding that “unfettered access [is] essential” and “Russia and Syria must cooperate”.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov immediately denied the allegations that inspectors were not being allowed access, according to Russian news agency RIA.

He said the arrival of the inspectors were delayed as a result of the US-led air strikes on Saturday.

The OPCW, an intergovenmental organisation that oversees the implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention, met with delegates in The Hague on Monday to discuss events surrounding the April 7 attack in Douma.

Syrian government forces retook Douma last week, gaining full control over the former rebel-held enclave of Eastern Ghouta, Russian military officials announced at the time.

The announcement came just days after dozens people were killed by alleged chemical weapons attack in the town, sparking international outcry and prompting the US, UK and France to launch missile strikes on facilities believed to be used to research, develop and store chemical weapons inside Syria.

The Chemical Weapons Convention outlaws the production or stockpiling of chemical weapons.

Syria is a signatory of the treaty. Egypt, Israel, North Korea and South Sudan are the only nonsignatory nations.

‘Barbaric use of chemical weapons’
Peter Wilson, the UK’s OPCW envoy, told the watchdog body that failure to act in Syria will cause “further barbaric use of chemical weapons.

Syria has lived through a seven-year civil war that has killed at least half a million people and created an international refugee crisis.

“The Syrian Regime has an abhorrent record of using chemical weapons against its own people. Chemical weapons use has become an all too regular weapon of war in the Syrian conflict,” Wilson said, going on to cite 390 allegations of chemical weapons attacks since 2014.

Russia has impeded international bodies from investigating these attacks, Wilson added.

Russia told the UN last Friday that its experts found no trace of “toxic substance use” during their investigation in Douma.

Vassily Nebenzia, Russia’s UN ambassador, said Russia has “clear evidence” that the chemical attack was staged.

For its part, France has said it has evidence Russia was responsible.

US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley has said her country will announce new sanctions on the Russian government in response to its support for Syria’s Bashar al-Assad.

Aljazeera

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