Bengaluru News Highlights: CM Bommai, BSY having breakfast at Dalit’s house is ‘photo-op’ ahead of polls, alleges Congress

Bengaluru News Updates: The Congress on Wednesday termed Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and state BJP strongman B S Yediyurappa having breakfast at a Dalit’s house, as a “photo-op” for the sake of votes, ahead of the Assembly election next year in the state, news agency PTI reported. While Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah hit out at the ruling BJP for not doing enough for the sake of Dalits and other backward communities so far, AICC General Secretary in-charge of Karnataka Randeep Singh Surjewala took a dig at Bommai government by highlighting an incident where over a dozen Dalit workers were allegedly assaulted and held captive at an estate in Chikkamagaluru.

The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) has retained the top position among Indian institutes in the latest round of Times Higher Education (THE) rankings, which has been boycotted by most Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) for the third consecutive year over transparency concerns. While it is first among Indian institutions, overall, the IISc is placed in the 251-300 band. Globally, the University of Oxford has emerged as the best institute among 1,799 universities from 104 countries, according to a statement issued by THE.

The Karnataka government has made booking of autorickshaws on the ride-hailing apps of Ola and Uber illegal from Wednesday. The decision was taken following a meeting between the Karnataka Transport and Road Safety Department and the representatives of the cab aggregators Tuesday. The department has said that a penalty of Rs 5,000 per vehicle will be levied on the cab aggregators as a first-time offence in case they operate three-wheelers.