JD(S) workers block Bengaluru-Mysuru highway at Kaniminike toll plaza over toll levied on motorists using the highway. (ANI)Bengaluru News Highlights, March 16, 2023: JD(S) workers block Bengaluru-Mysuru highway at Kaniminike toll plaza over toll levied on motorists using the highway. Cops can be seen detaining these workers in a video shared by ANI. National Highway Authority of India(NHAI) announced a toll fee in March for vehicles using the first stretch of the expressway from Bengaluru to Nidaghatta in Mandya district, a distance of 55.63 km. The toll collection, which had initially been announced in February, had been deferred after it drew public ire.
#WATCH | JD(S) workers block Bengaluru-Mysuru highway at Kaniminike toll plaza over toll levied on motorists using the highway#Karnataka pic.twitter.com/7vEdbtYUls
— ANI (@ANI) March 16, 2023
Karnataka High Court Wednesday allowed the government to conduct board exams for students of Classes 5 and 8 studying the state board syllabus. Earlier, private school management associations had filed a petition in the High Court seeking to quash the government order that mandated board exams for Class 5 and 8, citing that it would pressurise and cause tension among students. The court also directed the government to confidentially inform students who fail and give them the necessary training and remedial classes to improve their learning skills without detaining them. The court also directed that the examination should contain questions from within the syllabus and not outside.
In other news, the Congress Central Election Committee is likely to meet in Delhi on March 17, Friday, to pick the candidates for the upcoming Karnataka Assembly elections, as reported by ANI. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will visit Belagavi on March 20 to campaign for the polls. Earlier, on March 9, top Congress leaders held consultations on ticket distribution for constituencies in Karnataka’s Vijayapura district, as part of its preparations for the upcoming electoral contest.
A drunk Travel Ticket Examiner (TTE) was suspended in Bengaluru after he misbehaved with a female passenger in Bengaluru railway station. In the video that went viral online, the woman can be seen breaking down as the TTE repeatedly asks for her ticket. The incidence happened at Bengaluru’s Krishnarajapuram railway station.
Two days ago, Kolar Co-operative Milk Union Ltd (Komul), a key supplier of Nandini brand milk to Bengaluru, took a unilateral decision to increase the price of milk procurement from rural producers by Rs 2, up from Rs 31.90 to Rs 33.90, beginning from March 16.
Komul, however, did not pass on the increase in procurement cost to consumers on account of the Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) increasing the price by Rs 2 in November 2022. Read more
The recently-inaugurated Bengaluru-Mysuru Expressway continues to be in the middle of a storm after the project director of National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) in a statement said that if a service road is provided to the stretch, who will take the toll road.
On Wednesday, NHAI project director B T Sridhar while addressing the media had said, “There is a rule that continuity should not be given (for service roads) where the railway line passes. If we give full continuity (of service roads), who will pay the toll to us?” Read more
Senior BJP leader B S Yediyurappa called off a Vijaya Sankalpa Yatra at Mudigere in Karnataka’s Chikkamagaluru district following demonstrations against and in favour of fielding sitting MLA M P Kumaraswamy in the Assembly polls.
Yediyurappa, who arrived for a roadshow as part of the BJP Yatra—one of the four currently traversing the state — after taking part in a similar event at Sringeri in the district on Thursday, was stopped by BJP workers protesting against the candidature of the three-time MLA from the constituency reserved for Scheduled Castes. Read more
Schools run by Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) are yet to receive sweaters for this year, even as the academic year is about to end. According to BBMP officials and school teachers, the delay is because of the DBT (direct benefit transfer) method that the civic agency has adopted which allows transfer of cash directly to the bank accounts of the students or the parents to purchase the sweaters. Read more
Public notices will be issued in newspapers seeking information on villages that do not have graveyards, the State Government on Thursday informed the High Court.
The Division Bench of Justice B Veerappa and Justice T Venkatesh Naik was hearing a contempt petition accusing the government of not following an earlier High Court order directing providing land for graveyards in all villages in the State. (PTI)
Bengaluru is among five global cities that have been recognised for achievements in preventing non communicable diseases (NCDs) and injuries, with the Indian tech city's efforts in tobacco control winning a USD 150,000 award by a leading global initiative supported by the WHO.
Bengaluru was honoured on Wednesday with the 2023 Partnership for Healthy Cities Award, along with Montevideo in Uruguay; Mexico City, Mexico; Vancouver, Canada and Athens, Greece, at the inaugural Partnership for Healthy Cities Summit held in London, a statement by the World Health Organisation (WHO) said. (PTI)
BJP national president J P Nadda will visit poll-bound Karnataka over the next two days, during which he will take part in the party's programmes in Chitradurga and Tumakuru districts, and attend the election management and campaign committee meetings in Bengaluru.
Nadda will arrive at the Toranagallu Airport on Friday afternoon and will participate in the party's 'Vijaya Sankalpa Yatre' at Challakere from 3 PM, BJP's State general secretary Siddaraju said on Thursday. (PTI)
Soon, there will be only one rocket booster on the indigenously developed High-speed Expendable Aerial Target (HEAT), Abhyas, officials from Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) confirmed on Thursday.
Rocket boosters provide the additional thrust needed for the aircraft to launch.
The NIA Special Court in Bengaluru convicted another terrorist in the JMB Dacoity case on Wednesday. Arif Hussain was found guilty under sections 120-B, 395, 452, 468, 471 of the IPC, sections 17, 18, 20, and 23 of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 and section 25(1A) of Arms Act, 1959 in RC 19/2019/NIA/DLI. He has been sentenced to undergo seven years rigorous imprisonment along with a fine.
Hussain, an expert at fabrication of IEDs, belongs to Panpara in Barpeta District of Assam. He was operating from various hideouts in and around Bengaluru, alongwith 13 other members of Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen-Bangladesh (JMB). They were involved in committing dacoities across the city for raising funds (maal-e-ganimat) for JMB's cause.
Renowned Indian physicist T S G Sastry’s research papers, correspondence, scientific manuals, negatives, and photographs have found a new home — the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS).
Said to be the first non-biology collection at the NCBS, documents related to Sastry that were donated by his family members have been archived and made public on March 15. Read more
A single-judge bench of the Karnataka High Court on March 9 ruled that a German court order on the custody of a child will not overrule the best interests of the child.
The court of Justice Alok Aradhe was hearing a case involving the custody of a child who was brought from Germany to India by her mother. The petitioner in the case, the child’s father, told the court that after a dispute, his wife left Germany with their child on May 16, 2017 and he received the child’s custody order the next day. Read more
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Karnataka Police has arrested an official of a private logistics firm and a UCO Bank manager in connection with a loan scam where loans to the tune of nearly Rs 17 crore were taken in the names of 35 arecanut farmers from the Davangere region of Karnataka in the year 2020.
The private firm, CGR Ltd, was accused of conniving with UCO Bank officials in 2020 to fraudulently sanction and transfer loans ranging between Rs 42 lakh and Rs 48 lakh each (amounting to nearly Rs 17 crore) in the name of 35 farmers in the Davangere region. Read more
Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai asked the Maharashtra government to withdraw its decision to implement a health insurance scheme in 865 border villages, and warned his government too was capable of announcing schemes in the villages of the neighbouring state.
Bommai’s comments came as Opposition parties attacked the Karnataka Government over the decision by the neighbouring state, with Congress demanding the resignation of the chief minister for failing to protect the interests of the state. Read more
A major lapse by the Bengaluru Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) in Bengaluru led to a series of blasts at three different houses and injured three persons.
According to officials, the blasts were triggered after a gas pipeline of GAIL (India) Ltd got damaged while carrying out manhole work in Bengaluru’s HSR Layout’s 7th sector Thursday. The incident has also raised safety concerns. Read more
Bengaluru and surrounding districts could have some respite from soaring temperatures with showers expected in parts of the south interior Karnataka region in the coming days.
According to forecasts by the India Meteorological Department, thundershowers are likely in Bengaluru over the next three days. Several parts of the state have received thundershowers this week. The IMD has also issued a yellow alert for south and north Karnataka districts. Read more
Three days after the body of a woman was found stuffed inside an abandoned plastic drum at Bengaluru’s Sir M Visvesvaraya Terminal, the railway police said that they had cracked the case and arrested three accused.
Five accused are still absconding, the police added.
The police clarified that this case was not connected to two similar cases reported in Bengaluru in December last year and January. Read more
A Nilgiri tahr baby peeking over the edge of a cliff, a rainforest canopy forming a verdant wall, an endangered frog looking upwards.
All these and more can be witnessed at the famous Silent Valley National Park in Kerala’s Wayanad. But for those in Bengaluru who cannot make the trip, the next best option is to drop in at the Si-Lens wildlife photography exhibition at the Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath, organised by veteran photojournalist N P Jayan. Read more
Bengaluru is among five global cities that have been recognised for achievements in preventing noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and injuries, with the Indian tech city's efforts in tobacco control winning a USD 150,000 award by a leading global initiative supported by the WHO.
Bengaluru was honoured on Wednesday with the 2023 Partnership for Healthy Cities Award, along with Montevideo in Uruguay; Mexico City, Mexico; Vancouver, Canada and Athens, Greece, at the inaugural Partnership for Healthy Cities Summit held in London, a statement by the World Health Organisation (WHO) said.
According to the statement, the five winning cities each received USD 150,000 to further their work with the partnership.
The Karnataka capital was awarded for its “efforts in tobacco control, specifically, reducing smoking in public places and improving compliance with existing mandates on public smoking bans,” the statement said. (PTI)
JD(S) workers block Bengaluru-Mysuru highway at Kaniminike toll plaza over toll levied on motorists using the highway. Cops detained the protestors as seen in the video shared by ANI. National Highway Authority of India(NHAI) announced a toll fee in March for vehicles using the first stretch of the expressway from Bengaluru to Nidaghatta in Mandya district, a distance of 55.63 km. The toll collection, which had initially been announced in February, had been deferred after it drew public ire.
In a post shared on Instagram, dance choreographer Salman Yusuff Khan alleged that a Bengaluru immigration officer harassed him for not knowing Kannada. While travelling to Dubai, he wrote that this immigration officer started talking to him in Kannada. "He shows me my passport and points out my name and my birth place and my fathers name and his birthplace and has the audacity to tell me that .. you and your father are born in bangalore and u can’t speak Kannada .. to which I replied .. that being born in bangalore doesn’t mean I’m born with the language … to which he goes to the extent of saying that .. if u can’t speak Kannada I can suspect you," he wrote.
Days after a 28-year-old airhostess was found dead in Bengaluru, police investigations have revealed that her friend had allegedly pushed her off the balcony of a building as she threatened him with legal action over his relationship with another woman.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (South-East) C K Baba confirmed to The Indian Express that Archana Dhiman was murdered. He said it was too early to say whether Adesh, her friend, killed her first and threw her body or pushed her to death. Read more
A drunk Travel Ticket Examiner (TTE) was suspended in Bengaluru after he misbehaved with a female passenger in Bengaluru railway station.
The incidence happened at Bengaluru’s Krishnarajapuram railway station. In the video that went viral online, the woman can be seen breaking down as the TTE repeatedly asks for her ticket.
In what comes as a setback to private school management associations, the Karnataka High Court Wednesday allowed the government to conduct board exams for students of Classes 5 and 8 studying the state board syllabus. Read More
The border row between Karnataka and Maharashtra surfaced again over the implementation of a health scheme of the Maharashtra government in 865 villages of Karnataka, to which the northern neighbour has staked a claim. Opposition Congress condemned the move and sought the resignation of Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai for ‘failing’ to protect the interests of the state. Read More
Yet another BJP leader of Karnataka was Wednesday raided by the law enforcement agencies after the local district administration received a tip-off about R Shankar, an MLC, allegedly storing large quantities of sarees and bags for distribution to voters during the upcoming Karnataka Assembly polls. Read More
The division bench on Wednesday consisting of Justice G Narendra and Justice Ashok Kinagi allowed the school education department of Karnataka to conduct board exams for class 5 and 8 students studying the state board syllabus.
The court also directed the government to secretly inform the student who has failed and provide the necessary training to improve the learning skills, without detaining him/her. The court also directed the examination should contain questions within the syllabus and not outside the syllabus.
Earlier private school management associations had filed a petition in the High Court seeking to quash the government order that mandated board exams for classes 5 and 8, citing that it would pressurise and cause tension among students.
From 2018 to 2022, there have been 1,956 wildlife offence cases in Karnataka. The statistics from the Karnataka Forest Department include all cases under the Wildlife Protection Act like poaching, forest fires, encroachments, trespassing into forest areas and collection of non-timber forest products (NTFP).
In 2018-19, there were 383 wildlife offence cases registered in Karnataka, 2019-20 saw 476 cases, 2020-21 saw 637 cases and 2021-22 had 460 cases. Read More
Tension prevailed in Karnataka’s Haveri district after some Hindu activists allegedly pelted stones on a mosque, Urdu school and Muslims’ houses while taking out a rally on Tuesday afternoon.
Superintendent of police Shivakumar said that 8-10 houses and cars parked outside them had been damaged in the incident in Rattihalli. Fifteen people were detained for questioning, he said, adding that the situation was now normal. Read the full story here
The Mysuru-Bengaluru expressway, which was inaugurated last week and where toll collection started on Tuesday, is in the eye of the storm after reports emerged of the “ “road being repaired”, even as officials and Mysuru-Kodagu MP Pratap Simha denied any damage to the highway. Read the full story
Two state railway police personnel were arrested along with another man in Bengaluru Tuesday for allegedly robbing gold biscuits worth Rs 1.21 crore from two men who had arrived in the city to buy the yellow metal. The police informed that the two personnel were deployed on security duty of Vande Bharat trains. Read More
Congress leader and Bangalore Rural MP D K Suresh on Wednesday said he was not interested in state politics, a day after his brother and the party's state unit chief D K Shivakumar indicated about fielding him from Ramanagara segment for the upcoming Assembly polls.
He also said it will be difficult, as he is the lone Congress member in Lok Sabha from Karnataka.
"How can I discuss with you on the topic which has not been discussed with me...I'm not interested in state politics. Also I am fed up of by-elections, after having taken the responsibility of several by-polls during the last twenty years, I don't like wasting public money," Suresh said in response to a question. (PTI)
While the Covid-19 death count in Karnataka remains low, the government hospitals have registered an uptick in admissions in the past two weeks. The weekly test positivity rate is 1.78 per cent.
The data shows that the number of hospitalisations has increased from 17 on February 28 to 52 on March 13. Two patients are on ICU ventilator beds, 14 are on ICU beds and three are on oxygen beds. The rest have occupied general beds. Of the 52 patients, 45 are admitted in Bengaluru. Read More
Amid reports that the BJP's many ticket aspirants in various constituencies for the upcoming Assembly election are in stiff competition with each other, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Wednesday said it was natural that this would happen in a party that is confident of winning, and that the party and its leadership is capable of managing the situation.
He also hit out at the Congress' poll guarantees, saying that the opposition party will not come to power to implement them, and that the schemes it promised are non-implementable.
"There will be competition in a party that will win, so there is competition naturally (in the BJP)," Bommai said in response to a question.
Speaking to reporters here, he said the BJP and its leadership is capable of managing the situation. "To whomever the high command gives the ticket, everyone will support and ensure that the party wins with an absolute majority," he added.
The ruling BJP has set a target of winning at least 150 seats in the 224 member Assembly, which will go to polls by May. (PTI)
The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear a petition filed by the Karnataka Lokayukta which has challenged a Karnataka High Court order granting pre-arrest bail to the BJP MLA Madal Virupakshappa.
Virupakshappa was serving as the chairman of the Public Sector Undertaking Karnataka Soaps and Detergents Limited (KSDL). How did the matter reach the Supreme Court? What is pre-arrest bail? Read the explainer by Khadija Khan here
While campaigning for elections at Kinnigoli near Mangaluru last week, Moodabidri MLA Umanath Kotian spoke about working in a secular manner without discriminating against minorities. However, his speech appears to have angered right-wing groups in the poll-bound state’s coastal Dakshina Kannada district.
Addressing a small gathering, he said that he did not subscribe to some of the views of the BJP leaders. “What BJP people say is that Muslims and Christians do not vote for us, so why should we do their work? Nobody else will say this, only Umanath Kotian will because I am a straight talker. Members of our party have some arrogance and ask why we should do their (minorities) work as they do not vote for us. I am working in contrast to these views,” he said.
Read the full story here.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has carried out informal inquiries for launching a possible money laundering probe against Karnataka BJP MLA Madal Virupakshappa and his son Prashant Madal, according to sources.
Virupakshappa is the prime accused in the bribery case in which his son Prashant was arrested on March 2 while receiving a bribe of Rs 40 lakh from the owner of a private firm to clear contracts to supply raw materials to the state-run Karnataka Soaps and Detergents Limited, of which the MLA was the chairman till March 3.
The Lokayukta police probe has also found irregularities in awarding as many as 30 tenders for procuring over 80 substances at the KDSL in the last two years, according to sources. Read more.
Infosys Foundation, the philanthropic and CSR arm of Infosys Wednesday announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Directorate of Indian Army Veterans (DIAV) to provide educational grants and scholarships worth INR 30 crore to widows and children of army personnel, who have been physically affected by casualties.
More than 14,000 widows and children of army personnel from across the country will be able to advance their educational journey, through this collaboration.
The benefit will also be extended to individuals wanting to pursue education from classes I to XII, graduation, post-graduation, professional courses, and grants for computer literacy.
Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai Wednesday laid the foundation stone for various development projects in the Belgaum (Belagavi) South Assembly constituency. He inaugurated the Shri Mahantesh Kavatagimath Souharda Sahakari Institute and its new building in the district.
Bommai also attended the foundation-laying ceremony of the statue of Sri Jagajyoti Basaveshwar near Tinusukatte at the Basaveshwar circle in Belagavi.
Attibele in South Bengaluru will soon be a destination for innovation with the city's first organised life sciences cluster. Bengaluru Lifesciences Research (BLR) District, planned as a 52-acre campus with a total development of 2.5 million square feet, is poised to be an integrated, self-sustained cluster with state-of-the-art infrastructure for R&D and manufacturing.
The project is a part of the portfolio of Rx Propellant, India’s leading life sciences infrastructure platform and is being developed by Roach Lifescapes (formerly known as RBD Shelters).
The project comprises lab space modules and built-to-suit Flexi Factories catering to Biopharma, Medtech, Agriscience, Nutraceutical and allied sectors. BLR District is ideal for start-ups, scale-ups and established organizations. The first phase of about 200,000 square feet is ready for fit-outs offering multi-tenanted wet laboratories, incubation facilities, and associated office spaces.
Commenting on BLR District, Dr C.N. Ashwath Narayan, Minister for Higher Education, IT, BT and S&T, Skill Development, Entrepreneurship and Livelihood, Government of Karnataka said, “Bengaluru has been at the forefront of the biotech industry with a thriving network of reputed universities, research institutes, well-established companies and fast-growing start-ups. The city is a hub of start-ups offering top-notch talent and a vibrant ecosystem for innovation. The new life sciences cluster in Attibele is expected to accelerate this growth further by attracting investment upwards of Rs 2500 crores and creating 15,000+ skilled and semi-skilled jobs. This first-of-its-kind dedicated life sciences destination will be at par with international clusters and will strengthen the region’s position globally”.
The much-awaited 12.75 km-long Whitefield-KR Puram metro line is likely to be inaugurated on March 25, sources in the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL) said.
A total of seven trains manufactured by BEML, a PSU under the defence ministry, will also be pressed into service on the KR Puram-Whitefield section, according to the BMRCL official.
Officials, however, did not provide clarity on when operations might begin on the stretch. Read the full story here.
The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) Tuesday started collecting user fee for buses operating through the first phase of the newly constructed express highway between Bangalore-Nidhaghatta at Kaniminike toll plaza on National Highway-275 on the Bengaluru-Mysuru route from March 14.
The corporation stated that it would levy a user fee of Rs 15 from each passenger travelling in Karnataka Sarige buses, Rs 18 in Rajahamsa buses and Rs 20 in other buses or multi-axle buses so as to offset the cost. Read more here.
Keeping the interest of students and farmers in Karnataka, the five electricity supply companies (ESCOMs) will ensure that there is no load-shedding or power cut for the next three months.
The decision was taken on Monday in a meeting headed by BESCOM MD Mahantesh Bilagi who is also the chairman of the Power Trading Committee for all ESCOMs. The managing directors of all the ESCOMs attended the meeting.
"Power demand is very much high during summer since SSLC and PUC exams have started, and farmers have requested the government to supply uninterrupted power during summer, so the decision has been taken to ensure uninterrupted power supply for the next three months," said BESCOM MD Bilagi. Read more.
A 34-year-old man was arrested in Bengaluru on Tuesday for allegedly cheating a person of Rs 1.75 crore, after posing as an IPS officer. The police also seized three high-end bikes, including one BMW, worth Rs 23 lakh from his possession.
Inspired by films, the accused, identified by police as R Srinivas, got a fake ID card and clothes tailored to look the part, according to the police. He posed as a probationary officer and allegedly travelled to cities across Karnataka to dupe people.
Srinivas was arrested after a person named Venkatnarayan approached the Thalagattapura police station saying he had been cheated of Rs 1.75 crore on March 6. Read the full story here.
Days after the death of a 28-year-old air hostess in Bengaluru, police investigations have revealed that her boyfriend had allegedly pushed her off the building as she threatened him with legal action over his affair with another woman.
The Deputy Commissioner of Police (South-East) C K Baba confirmed to The Indian Express that Archana Dhiman was murdered, however, it was too early to say whether Adesh killed her first and threw her body or he pushed her to death.
Archana's body was found in Renuka Residency apartment in Koramangala early Saturday, where she was living with her boyfriend Adesh. Read more.
Observing that it was not prudent to pollute the environment in the name of worship, the High Court of Karnataka on Tuesday rebuked the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) for allowing construction on the Mallathahalli lake bed during the recent Shivaratri festival.
The Division Bench of Justice B Veerappa and Justice T Venkatesh Naik opined that the civic bodies were primarily responsible for creating litigations.
On Tuesday, petitioner Geetha Mishra filed an interlocutory application in the public interest litigation she had filed against the filling up of the lakebed of Mallathahalli lake in the Rajarajeshwari Nagar Assembly Constituency. She alleged that on Shivaratri an open air theatre and statue of Lord Shiva had been installed on the lakebed. (PTI)
“I use less than 10 km of this expressway. There is no other road for me to head to my company. Why are they now asking me to pay Rs 135?,” Hemanth, a private firm employee, was seen shouting at staffers at the toll plaza on the Bengaluru-Mysuru Expressway on Tuesday morning. Read More
Among the 75 water heritage sites in the country which are more than hundred years old are five water bodies of Karnataka which date back hundreds of years.
The Hesaraghatta tank in Bengaluru, spread over 1,500 acre, has been selected as one of the five water heritage sites in Karnataka, according to the Ministry of Jal Shakti. Based on the inscriptions, the origin of the lake, located northwest of Bengaluru, dates back to 1292. The custody of the tank is with the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB). Read to know the full story
While the Covid-19 death count in Karnataka remains low, the government hospitals have registered an uptick in admissions in the past two weeks. The weekly test positivity rate is 1.78 per cent. Read More
BJP leader K S Eshwarappa on Tuesday said the ruling BJP does not claim to have adopted the entire Hindu society, and pointed out that anyone has a right to contest in a democracy in light of Sri Rama Sene chief Pramod Muthalik's decision to fight the upcoming Karnataka polls.
Speaking to reporters at the party's 'Vijaya Sankalpa Yatre' in Udupi, the former state minister said the ruling BJP is making all efforts to protect the interests of the Hindu community.
While reacting to a query on Muthalik's decision to contest from Karkala constituency in Udupi district, the BJP leader contended that everyone has a right to contest elections in a democratic setup. (PTI)
Amid intense speculation that he might join Congress ahead of the Assembly polls in Karnataka, senior minister V Somanna on Tuesday clarified that he would not quit BJP, and would remain in the party.
The MLA from Govindrajnagar in Bengaluru, who turned emotional while speaking to reporters about the rumours, said he was not disgruntled with the party.
"I'm clarifying to you that I will not quit BJP, I will remain in BJP. I'm a minister in the BJP government and the BJP people have not treated me disrespectfully in recent times. Being a minister I would not like to cause even a slightest disservice to the party, this is a national party," Somanna said. (PTI)
After the conclusion of the Assembly elections in three Northeast states, all eyes are on Karnataka, which will go to polls in May. It will kick off the Assembly election season in right earnest, with six big states to hold polls ahead of the 2024 general elections.
Karnataka, which accounts for 5.04 per cent of the country’s population, elects 28 (5.35 per cent) of the 543 Lok Sabha members. This places it seventh in the list of states with the highest Lok Sabha MPs – after Uttar Pradesh (80 seats), Maharashtra (48), West Bengal (42), Bihar (40), Tamil Nadu (39), and Madhya Pradesh (29).
There have been 14 Assembly polls in Karnataka since 1956, when Kannada-speaking regions were merged to form the state as part of the reorganisation of states. (Read more)
The Supreme Court Tuesday agreed to hear plea of the Karnataka Lokayukta against grant of anticipatory bail by the high court to BJP MLA Madal Virupakshappa, the main accused in the Karnataka Soaps and Detergents (KSDL) contract scam.
The plea was initially mentioned for urgent listing before a bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, who asked the Lokayukta's counsel to mention the matter before a bench headed by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul.
When the counsel requested that the matter be listed as earlier as possible, the CJI said since the court of the Chief Justice is hearing a constitution bench matter, it will not be possible for the bench to hear it.
CJI Chandrachud said, "You can mention the matter before the bench headed by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul. We are hearing a constitution bench matter or else we would have taken it at the end of the board". The counsel said the matter can be taken up at 2 pm. (PTI)
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear Karnataka Lokayukta's plea against grant of anticipatory bail to BJP MLA Madal Virupakshappa in corruption case, reports the news agency PTI.
In the third incident in as many months, the Railway Police Force (RPF) Monday found a decomposed body of an unidentified woman in a plastic storage drum at Sir M Visvesvaraya Terminal.
RPF personnel at the terminal became suspicious after they found a foul smell coming from an unattended drum next to an automatic sliding door and informed the Baiyappanahalli police at around 7.30 pm. (Read more)
Karnataka BJP leader and former minister K S Eshwarappa defended his controversial “Allah is deaf” remark on Monday, saying that he was just expressing what “a common man” felt about sounding the Islamic call to prayer through loudspeakers.
A day after he made the remark at the ruling party’s Vijaya Sankalpa Yatra in Mangaluru, he asked at a news conference in the city whether azaan (Islamic call to prayer) would “enter Allah’s ears” if two to four microphones were used for the purpose. (Read more)
Commuters taking the Mysuru-Bengaluru Expressway will now have to pay a toll fee. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has announced a toll fee for vehicles using the first stretch of the expressway from Bengaluru to Nidaghatta in Mandya district, a distance of 55.63 km.
The Mysuru-Bengaluru Expressway was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday and the toll fee for one of the two stretches will be collected from Tuesday. The toll collection, which had initially been announced in February, had been deferred after it drew public ire. (Read more)
Here's what Bengaluru's Meteorological Centre predicts.
For 24 hours: Partly cloudy sky. Mist is likely in some areas during the early morning hours. Maximum and minimum temperatures are very likely to be around 32 and 19 degrees Celsius respectively.
For 48 hours: Partly cloudy sky. Mist is likely in some areas during the early morning hours. Surface winds are likely to be strong at times. Maximum and minimum temperatures are very likely to be around 32 and 18 degrees Celsius respectively.
THE NATIONAL Centres for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), US, has declared that the prolonged La Niña event has finally ended.
Commenced in September 2020 and prevailed till February 2023, it is the 21st century’s first ‘triple’ La Niña event spanning three straight years.
“During February 2023, below average sea surface temperatures prevailed and they weakened. Currently, they persist only in the central Pacific Ocean. The latest Niño – 3.4 index value is minus 0.2 degrees Celsius and the Niño – 1+2 index value at +1.1 degree Celsius. Collectively, the coupled-atmosphere system was consistent with ENSO neutral,” the NCEP’s final ENSO alert status issued on March 9 stated. (Read more)