Dr Yathindra, son of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, had to be called off a meeting with the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes leaders’ midway, as the participants sought this as an opportunity to air their grievances and were not ready to listen to him.

The meeting was held at a private hotel in the city of the participants from Varuna and Chamundeshwari Assembly constituencies on Tuesday. There was commotion for sometime after the participants raised uncomfortable questions.

The leaders were displeased with both Siddaramaiah and Dr. Yathindra and complained, “You people remember us only when election approaches. When we need your help, nobody is available at your house. Without helping us in any way, now you want us to vote for you. You treat us as mere voters, nothing more.”

“Even while issuing benefits to the SC and ST community people, the beneficiaries are the same set of people. For others, no loan or financial assistance is extended, despite numerous and repeated applications to the department concerned,” they expressed.

The Dalit leaders sought opportunity to air the complaints of every single aggrieved person in the hall. The meeting had to be called off as the combined effort of Dr. Yathindra and others to pacify the participants failed.

The Congress is probably going to report its candidates for the May 12 elections on Saturday.

The Central Election Committee of the Congress is relied upon to meet on Friday to put its seal of endorsement on the list of candidates for all the 224 constituencies.

Following two days of serious considerations including screening committee administrator Madhusudan Mistry, AICC general secretary K C Venugopal, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and KPCC president G Parameshwara, Congress leaders said they don’t catch much inconvenience in finalizing the candidates.

“We have gotten our work done well, it will be a list of agreement candidates,” a senior Congress leader said.

While the Chief Minister left for Bengaluru on Tuesday evening after the two-day discussions, a few state Congress leaders were still in the national capital for discussions with the screening committee. The board is relied upon to proceed with its consultations throughout the following two days and tie the remaining details before making its proposals to the CEC. In excess of 1,000 aspirants had applied for the Congress tickets for the 224 constituencies.

Congress sources said the Chief Minister and the KPCC president were relied upon to have their say in the hopeful determination process on the lines of Gujarat and Punjab.

Party leaders guaranteed that the ticket conveyance would be adjusted and comprehensive, with competitors from minorities, Dalits and women getting satisfactory portrayal.

A senior Congress leader said the gathering would sit tight for the BJP to report the names of every one of its candidates. The BJP has effectively reported its first list of 72 candidates and is relied upon to turn out with the second list on Wednesday.

Six government authorities were raided by Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Tuesday for owning assets disproportionate to their known sources of income.

The ACB sleuths looked 22 premises over the state.

The authorities attacked Mallikarjun N Savanur, assistant executive engineer, KPTCL Hubballi; Parishwanath Varoor, assistant conservator of forests, Dharwad; Ravishankar, JE, taluk panchayat, Kundapur; G M Shivakumar, tax inspector, BBMP Hemmigepura; T S Krishne Gowda, water inspector, Mysuru City Corporation, Mysuru and Nagaraj, PDO, Gurusiddapura Gram Panchayat, Jagaluru, Davangere.

Various ACB police headquarters in the state filed complaint against the authorities.

A senior police official said that searches were still on and insights about resources seized will be known in a day or two.

The BJP on Tuesday, April 10, offered to field a member of senior leader S M Krishna’s family in the upcoming polls, in an effort to keep the former chief minister happy. Earlier in the day, it was reported in certain media that Krishna would quit BJP and will join Congress soon.

Krishna, a Vokkaliga, who was chief minister from 1999 to 2004 under Congress regime, quit the party in January last year and formally joined the BJP in March. He had cited the reason of being sidelined as a mass leader. But since joining the BJP, Krishna was only seen during a Parivarthana Yatra in Mandya in January this year and then at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rally in Bengaluru in February.

“If any of Krishna’s family member is willing to contest, the BJP is ready to give the ticket to any Assembly seat in either Mandya or Bengaluru,” BJP leader and former deputy chief minister R Ashoka told reporters.

Krishna has two daughters – Shambhavi, who is married to liquor baron Vijay Mallya’s stepbrother and Malavika, married to businessman V G Siddhartha. Krishna had considered fielding Shambhavi in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls.

“Krishna is not leaving the BJP. He is not in India right now, but I spoke to a friend of his. He is expected back home on April 13. We will discuss the election issue with him then. I am hundred per cent sure that Krishna will not leave. He is committed to strengthen the party,” Ashoka added.

Ashok also criticized Congress on the Krishna issue. “I have seen in the media Congress shedding crocodile tears. When Krishna left them, no one shed a tear. Today, knowing they will lose the election, Congress is feeling the need for a leader like Krishna. I congratulate the Congress for the wisdom has finally dawned on them,” he said.

Soon after a fake list of Congress candidates for the upcoming assembly elections in Karnataka was circulated on social media on Tuesday, the party clarified that it was a “fake press release and AICC has not issued anything regarding this”.

“A fake press release from AICC regarding the names of Congress candidates for the legislative assembly election Karnataka is being circulated in social media,” said AICC General Secretary in-charge of Karnataka K.C. Venugopal, in a statement.

“I would like to clarify that this is a fake press release and AICC has not issued any press release regarding this,” he added.

Venugopal also said: “Now, the screening committee meetings are going on and any list regarding the same will be released only after the Central Election Committee meeting.”

“Until now no CEC meeting has happened regarding the Karnataka Assembly Election,” he added.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah tweeted: “I am told a list of Congress candidates for Karnataka Election is under circulation. The AICC has not approved the list of candidates yet. The “list” under circulation is fake. It has been done to create confusion.”

“Please don’t patronize products of the fake news factory,” he added.

(IANS)

Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah will hold day-long fast on April 12 over disruptions during Budget session of Parliament.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah will observe a day-long fast on Thursday April 12, over disruptions during Budget session of parliament.

BJP lawmakers from across the nation will join the fast in what is being seen as an attempt to turn the tables on the Congress, a day after it held a symbolic fast at Rajghat in New Delhi.

Amid nationwide protests by Dalits after a Supreme Court order allegedly diluting the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribes Atrocities Act, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday accused the opposition of dividing the country.

“They (opposition) are creating hurdles in the work of the government from the streets to Parliament. Today you have a government at the Centre which is working to unite the people of the country while the opposition is working to divide the people,” Modi told the National Convention of ‘Swachhagrahis’ here.

Eight persons were killed and dozens injured during Dalit protests on April 2 turned violent following a Supreme Court order that dilutes a law aimed at preventing atrocities against Dalits and Tribes.

Tuesday’s event was organised as part of the centenary celebrations of the Satyagraha led by Mahatma Gandhi in Champaran.

Hitting out at the former UPA government led by the Congress for delaying projects, the Prime Minister said his government was completing all its mission and commitments with the cooperation of the people.

Describing the Madhepura Electric Locomotive Factory as a prime example of Make in India and a source of employment in the region, he said work on the project was first approved in 2007 but it began only three years ago when the NDA government came into the power.

On Tuesday, the first engine rolled out of the factory.

“This is the style of working of this government. ‘Ab atkane, latkane and bhatkane wala kaam nahin hota’. Now the culture of stopping files is not there. The government is committed to fulfil all its mission,” he said.

He said the changes brought in the society through development works had created problems for the opposition and they were unable to accept this.

“They cannot see the poor getting empowered. They feel if the poor are strengthened, then they (opposition) will not be able to speak lies. They will not be able to fool them,” he said.

The Prime Minister showered praise on Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for his patience and able administration in fighting corrupt and anti-social forces.

“It is not so easy,” he said, adding that the Centre extended its full support to the efforts of Nitish Kumar in fighting against corruption and his efforts towards sanitation drive for social change.

On the occasion, the Prime Minister launched several important development projects. He unveiled a plaque to mark the foundation stone of Motijheel Project, the Bettiah Nagar Parishad Water Supply Scheme and four Ganga Projects.

Modi laid the foundation stone for the doubling of railway lines between Muzaffarpur and Sagauli as well as between Sagauli and Valmikinagar.

He dedicated the first phase of the Madhepura Electric Locomotive Factory to the nation. Via video link, he flagged off the first 12,000 HP Freight Electric Locomotive, and the Champaran Humsafar Express.

The Prime Minister also laid the foundation stone for a road lane of NH-2 in Aurangabad Bihar-Jharkhand border section and distributed awards to Champion Swachhagrahis from across the country.

Mahatma Gandhi launched the Champaran Satyagraha on April 10, 1917 against the British to fight for the rights of farmers who were forced to undertake indigo cultivation.

The government has amended Income Tax rules that will now allow transgenders to be recognised as an independent category of applicants for obtaining a Permanent Account Number (PAN) for their tax-related transactions.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes or CBDT, which frames policy for the department, issued a notification on Monday that provides a new tick box for the transgenders to apply for the PAN.
The notification, issued under sections 139A and 295 of the Income Tax Act, specifies the new application process for obtaining a PAN number by an individual.

Until now, only male and female gender categories were available to be chosen on the PAN application form.

A senior official said the notification amending the tax rules was brought out in view of some representations received by the CBDT in this context.

“Individuals from the transgender community were facing hassles in obtaining a PAN card and this problem was further magnified as Aadhaar had the third gender category but not PAN.

“Hence, the transgenders were not able to link their PAN with their Aadhaar due to this anomaly,” the official said.

The amendment will now be reflected in Form 49A (PAN application form for Indian citizens) and 49AA (PAN application form for individuals not a citizen of India), the official added.

PAN is a 10-digit unique alphanumeric number allotted by the Income Tax department to individuals and entities.

The government has now made quoting of Aadhaar mandatory for filing income tax returns as well as obtaining a new PAN.

Section 139 AA (2) of the Income Tax Act says that every person having PAN as on July 1, 2017, and eligible to obtain Aadhaar, must intimate his Aadhaar number to the tax authorities.

As per updated data till March 5, over 16.65 crore PANs, out of the total about 33 crore, have been linked with Aadhaar. The deadline to link these two has been extended recently till June 30 by the CBDT.