JD (U) may spoil BJP’s party in Karnataka

The JD (U), a constituent of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), could well spoil the BJP’s party in poll-bound Karnataka by fielding its candidates against the saffron party in more than 100 seats.

With talks over sharing of seats between BJP and JD (U) for the ensuing assembly polls in Karnataka remaining deadlocked, JD (U) National General Secretary Shambhu Srivatsav told reporters in Bangalore that his party will field its own candidates in at least 100 out of the 224 assembly seats in Karnataka if the BJP does not leave 25 seats for his party.

Shambhu Srivatsav said the party leadership disappointed with the BJP’s decision to cede only six seats for the JD (U) in Karnataka. “We are seeking our share of 25 seats, which is the same number given to us during the 2004 polls. But, they are giving us only six seats. Initially, they offered us only four seats. Later, they gave us two more seats, where neither the BJP nor the JD (U) has any presence”, the disappointed JD (U) leader said.

Shambhu Srivatsav, however, said his party would wait for three more days for a final word from the BJP. “If we don’t receive a positive response, we will be finalise our own candidates for atleast 100 seats”, he said.

He also warned the BJP that it would have to face serious repercussions on account of its reluctance to offer the JD (U) more seats under the proposed seat sharing arrangement for the coming elections.

Meanwhile, BJP leader and former Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa told reporters that his party was keen to have a tie-up with JD (U) and rejected suggestions that negotiations between the partners had broken down. “We are in touch with JD (U) leaders, trying to work out a mutually agreeable seat-sharing formula”, Yeddyurappa said.

BJP fields 80 new faces amid riding dissension in party

Amid a rising threat of dissidence by unsuccessful party ticket aspirants, the BJP in Karnataka dropped nine MLA’s of the recently dissolved assembly and fielded 80 new faces in its first list of 163 candidates cleared for the coming Assembly polls.

The list cleared by the BJP’s Central Election Committee in New Delhi does include the names of nine former MLAs, who were openly hobnobbing with rival political parties.

The new faces, whose names were cleared for nomination by the party, includes new entrants like former Ministers Bachche Gowda and M Mahadev, retired Director General of Police L Revanasiddaiah, former MLC Basavaraj Bommai, who is also the son of former Chief Minister S R Bommai, son in law of former Chief Minister Veerendra Patil B J Jawali, besides Sanjay Kheny, a close relative of Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise Ashok Kheny.

The BJP has also decided to field sitting MLCs Shobha Karandlaje and Aravind Limbavali from assembly segments in Bangalore, much to the disgruntlement of other party hopefuls.

The ticket aspirants, who were upset with the party’s choice in several constituencies, staged a demonstration in front of BJP leader B S Yeddyurappa’s residence in Bangalore.

Meanwhile, speculation was rife in the BJP that the list cleared in New Delhi had underwent several changes from the one prepared in Bangalore. Several candidates recommended by Yeddyurappa are rumoured to have been dropped by the party’s national leadership at the behest of Yeddyurappa’s bete-noire and former Federal Minister Ananthkumar.

Elections to the 224-member Karnataka Assembly are scheduled to be held in three phases on May 10, 16 and 22. The BJP has not announced its candidates for the remaining seats as it was anticipating a tie-up with JD (U).
Ananthkumar said the BJP was hopeful of a tie-up with the JD (U). “We have not fielded candidates in constituencies, where the JD (U) is strong”, he said.

Colour TV figures among Congress’s poll-eve promise in Karnataka

The Congress party came out with a tempting list of freebies including a colour television set for each family below poverty line to woo the electorate ahead of the upcoming assembly elections in Karnataka.

The seven-point populist agenda announced by former Federal Minister and Chairman of the Congress party’s manifesto committee C K Jaffer Sharief in Bangalore includes 25 kilograms of rice every month at Rs 2 per kilogram and loans at a maximum interest rate of 3 per cent per annum to farmers, weavers, fishermen, shepherds, potters and self help groups.

Also, the Congress party has promised to extend the Yashaswini health insurance scheme, hitherto restricted to members of co-operative societies, to all persons below poverty line.

Seeking to address the issue of joblessness, Sharief said that all unemployed youth, who had passed tenth standard will be given a stipend of Rs 1,200 linked to a skill training programme. If voted to power, the Congress party also promised to waive the arrears due from beneficiaries of Ashraya and Indira Awaz housing scheme, besides constructing 1.5 million houses to the poor.

The Congress leaders have described the list of seven poll-eve promises as just “sneak preview”. The complete manifesto will be released at a mammoth farmers’ rally planned to be held in Davangere on April 13, said former Chief Minister S M Krishna, who was also present on the occasion.

But, the bouquet of promises so far announced by the Congress has been enough to rattle the rival BJP and the JD (S), who have sought to dismiss them as “gimmicks”.

The Congress leaders have rejected the apprehensions expressed by the rival parties that the populist schemes like giving colour television sets would drain the Government’s resources. “The purpose is to empower beneficiaries with knowledge so that they could make use of the Right to Information Act. Each colour television set would cost Rs 5,000 and the total number of television sets required will be 6 million”, former Deputy Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said.

Krishna said the Congress party had the political will and the ability to mobilize the resources to implement the programmes that would be announced in the manifesto.

All India Congress Committee (AICC) General Secretary in charge of Karnataka Prithviraj Chauhan and Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee President Mallikarjun Kharge were also present when the seven-point agenda was announced by the Congress party in Bangalore.

American tries to rape English woman in Bangalore

Close on the heels of the alleged molestation of a Filipino woman in a serviced apartment in Bangalore, an American reportedly tried to rape an English woman in a luxury hotel in the City late on Tuesday night.

In her complaint to the police, the 32-year-old woman said she was returning to her room on the third floor of the hotel after dinner when 52-year-old Alfred Lary, who was staying in the adjacent room, staggered out of his room, dragged her inside, locked the door and tried to rape her.

When the woman screamed for help, the lounge manager Pratap and housekeeping staff member Yellappa broke open the door and rescued her.

The English woman was staying at the hotel since March 29 as she was working on an assignment with Bharat Petroleum. The accused Alfred Lary, who was also in Bangalore in connection with project, had checked into a room adjacent to the English woman.

After the hotel management reported the matter to the police, sleuths from the High Grounds police station arrived and took Alfred into custody. The accused was subjected to a medical examination and it was found that he was in a drunken state.

“The man was completely drunk. This was proved by the medical reports”, said the High Grounds police inspector.

The police have booked Alfred for trespass, outraging the modesty of a woman and attempting to rape.

The attempt to rape an English woman follows the alleged molestation of a woman tourist from Philippines by the attendant of a serviced apartment on Millers Road in Bangalore on April 3.

IAS officer’s wife wants husband suspended to save his life

The wife of a senior IAS officer in Karnataka has appealed to Governor Rameshwar Thakur to suspend her husband and save his life.

J N Jayashree, wife of IAS officer M N Vijaykumar, perceives a threat to the life of her husband, who is presently posted as Administrator of Command Area Development Authority (CADA) in the border district of Belgaum.

After her repeated requests to the state chief secretary Sudhakar Rao were rejected on the grounds that the election code of conduct did not permit transfers of Government officials after announcement of polls, Jayashree was forced to write to the Governor seeking her husband’s suspension.

“My husband’s life is in danger and he is changing locations thrice every week. There is a need to shift him to Bangalore immediately if his life is to be safe. Hence, I am forced to put forward such an extremely odd request”, Jayashree told reporters in Bangalore.

Jayashree said her husband’s life was in danger as he has been attempting to introduce transparency in the system and help fight corruption. “Though I had tried to meet the Chief Secretary and convey my anxiety to him, I was not given an appointment”, she said.

In her letter to the Governor, Jayashree claimed that her husband is the only IAS officer from India to find a place in the Transparency International website for courage shown to fight corruption. “Also, he is the only IAS officer from the country, whose name figures in the Wikepedia under world famous whistleblowers”, she added.

Jayashree revealed that her husband was one of the finalists to receive the Shanmugam Manjunath Trust Integrity Award given in memory of Manjunath, the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) officer, who was murdered on the line of duty. “He received the intimation to participate in the award function in New Delhi on March 28. Though he sought permission from the Government to participate in the function, the chief secretary told him that he cannot even attend the function, let alone participating in it”, Jayashree said.

Gowda predicts hung assembly in Karnataka

Predicting a hung assembly in Karnataka, former Prime Minister and JD (S) supremo H D Deve Gowda has challenged the Congress and BJP to form a Government without his support.

“I will see who can form a Government without the JD (S) support”, Gowda said after chairing a parliamentary board meeting of his party in Bangalore.

Gowda said the JD (S) had almost finalized the list of candidates to be fielded in the coming assembly polls scheduled to be held next month. “The list of candidates will be released during this week”, he said.

Gowda, however, did not indicate whether he would align with the Congress or the BJP in the case of a fractured verdict in the assembly polls.

It may be mentioned here that Gowda had aligned with the Congress to form a coalition Government when the previous assembly elections held in 2004 threw up a hung assembly. But, mid-way through the term, the Dharam Singh-led coalition Government of JD (S) and Congress collapsed, leading to the installation of Gowda’s son H D Kumaraswamy as the new Chief Minister with the support of BJP.

Gowda trained his guns on his friend-turned-foe former Deputy Chief Minister Siddaramaiah for misusing the official machinery to target JD (S) workers. After Siddaramaiah and Gowda fell apart three years ago, the former Deputy Chief Minister has now joined the Congress.

“We will wait till the elections are over. After that we will see the fate of these leaders, who are trying to destroy our party”, Gowda said.

Rs 30 million worth opium seized from textile businessman in Bangalore

The Bangalore police has arrested a small time textile businessman, who was possessing almost 9 kilograms of opium worth Rs 30 million in the market.

Acting on a tip-off, the Bangalore police nabbed 46-year-old Prabhuram while he was trying to sell opium near Tulasi Park in Upparpet police station limits on Tuesday.

“He was caught trying to sell one kilogram of opium, which he was carrying in a bag. The remaining contraband was recovered from his house in Arakere on Bannerghatta Road in the City. We have seized a total of 8.7 kilograms of opium worth Rs 30 million from him”, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Bangalore West, P Harishekaran told reporters.

Prabhuram, who is a native of Jodhpur in Rajasthan, resides at Arakere in Bangalore along with his family. He runs a textile shop in the same area.

During interrogation, Prabhuram confessed that the contraband was meant for wholesale dealers, who regularly bought the drug from him. He also revealed that he obtained the consignment from his contacts in Madhya Pradesh and that he has been engaged in the illegal trade of drugs for the last two years.

“He used to get the contraband from one Ramesh in Madhya Pradesh once a year. Their meeting place was Santhoshi Mata temple in Arakere. Prabhuram would call Ramesh on the phone and place the order before collecting the consignment at the designated place and time”, said a police officer investigating the matter.

Apart from wholesale dealers of drugs, Prabhuram’s clients also included students, particularly the ones studying in professional colleges. Police is also on the lookout for Ramesh from whom he received the contraband. The Bangalore police had stumbled upon this drug racket after nabbing one of Prabhuram’s wholesale dealers in the City recently.

Meanwhile, S Davidson, Director of Narcotics Control Bureau, South Zone, has said that the opium would in all probability have been smuggled to extract heroin – a far more potent drug than opium. According to Davidson, one kilogram of heroin is extracted from 10 kilograms of opium.

Foreigner molested in Bangalore

A 38-year-old lady tourist from Phillipines was allegedly molested by the employee of a serviced apartment in Bangalore, where she was staying.

Police said Klondy Ramrez, who works as a nurse in a private hospital in London, arrived in Bangalore as a tourist on April 3 and checked into a serviced apartment on Millers Road in the City.

On the night of April 4, an attendant of the serviced apartment Srikant knocked on her door around 11.30 pm saying there was a phone call from her friend. When the lady tourist opened the door, Srikant barged in and locked the door before attempting to rape her.

The victim managed to wriggle out from his embrace and ran out to the lobby. “When he tried to kiss her, she slapped him and pushed him away”, said Deputy Commissioner of Police, Bangalore Central, B N S Reddy.

After the incident, the victim contacted the Phillipines Embassy, which advised her to lodge a police complaint.

“Though the incident occurred on April 4, Ramrez chose to lodge a complaint on Monday. We have filed a case of molestation under section 354 of the Indian Penal Code”, Reddy said.

Meanwhile, the management of the serviced apartment has dismissed Srikant from service. The High Grounds police station, which has registered the case, is trying to locate Srikant, who is absconding.

Bird-hit grounds flight at Bangalore airport

More than 160 passengers on board a Coimbatore-bound flight had a providential escape after their aircraft sufferred a bird-hit during its take-off run at the HAL airport in Bangalore on Sunday.

Airport officials said the Jet Lite’s Boeing 737 flight to Coimbatore from Bangalore had to be aborted seconds before take-off due to the bird-hit. The pilot brought the aircraft, which was already on its take-off run, to a halt immediately after sensing a bird-hit.

A thick cloud of smoke came out of the wheels due the sudden application of brakes. The aircraft was immediately towed away to the parking bay and the passengers were evacuated. Nobody was injured in the incident, officials said.

According to Jet Lite spokesperson, the flight was at full throttle when the pilot noticed a pair of kites on the runway and aborted the take-off. The sudden application of brakes resulted in the tyres getting deflated, the spokesperson said.

A team of aircraft engineers from Delhi was flown down to Bangalore to assess the extent of damage to the aircraft. The team found that the landing gear of the aircraft including the tyres were slightly damaged, but there was no problem with the engine.

After the checks were completed, the flight took off to Coimbatore later in the evening and reached the destination safely in 40 minutes, airport officials said.

Airport authorities, however, made light of the incident and said that the time schedules of other flights were not disrupted due to the incident. “There was no impact on the air traffic due to the incident”, officials said.

However, Jet Lite’s bird-hit comes close on the heels of an incident in which a Kingfisher aircraft had to abort its flight after a dog strayed on the runway at Bangalore airport last week.

Airport officials have expressed concern over the area around the airport being infested with large number of dogs and birds due to uncovered drains. The airport authorities frequent reminders to the municipal authorities to keep the area around the airport clean have fallen on deaf ears.

Kannada groups ban Rajnikanth’s films in Karnataka

Though the Karnataka shutdown scheduled for April 10 has been called off following Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi’s decision to put the controversial Hogenakal scheme on hold till a popular Government is installed in the state, pro-Kannada groups continued to target Tamil superstar Rajnikanth for the latter’s “insulting” remarks against Kannadigas.

The Kannada outfits declared that they will not allow films of Ranjikanth to be screened anywhere in Karnataka till the Tamil superstar tendered an unconditional apology for his comments made in Chennai.

“He has insulted us. Not only will we prevent his films from being screened in Karnataka, we will not allow him to enter the state”, President of Karnataka Border Protection Committee and former MLA Vatal Nagaraj said.

“The Tamil superstar fights only on the screen. Let him come to Karnataka, we will tell him how a real fight is fought. Unless he begs pardon for his insulting words, we will not let him land in Karnataka”, Vatal Nagaraj said.

Protests against Rajnikanth continued in various parts of the state, particularly in Bangalore, Mandya and Mysore. Kannada activists set fire to rolls of Rajnikanth’s films in Mysore to give vent to their ire over the Tamil superstar’s remarks against Kannadigas.

A group of Kannada activists staged a protest in Mysore yesterday against Kannada film actors Ambarish and Vishnuvardhan for their failure to participate in a film artistes rally organized in Bangalore.

Earlier, Karnataka Rakshana Vedike, which was spearheading the agitation against the Hogenakkal drinking water project, said the April 10 shutdown had been called off following Karunanidhi’s assurance to suspend the work on the project.

“The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister has given an assurance that works on Hogenakkal project would be suspended till an elected Government comes to power in Karnataka. He has also agreed to hold discussions on Hogenakkal project with the new Government. Following his assurance, we are calling off the state-wide shutdown”, Vedike President T A Narayana Gowda told reporters.

BSP leader joins Congress in Karnataka

The Congress party has managed to rope in a prominent Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader in Karnataka ahead of the assembly polls scheduled to be held in the state next month.

Former President of BSP’s Karnataka unit B Gopal joined the Congress in the presence of All India Congress Committee General Secretary Prithviraj Chauhan in Bangalore on Sunday.

Gopal, who had built a base for the BSP in Karnataka since 1984, was removed from the party by BSP supremo and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati earlier this year. “I wished to remain in politics and the Congress with its commitment to Dalits and other weaker sections was the best party to join”, Gopal said.

Welcoming Gopal and his supporters into the party fold, Chauhan told reporters that the Congress party will be further strengthened by the entry of the BSP leaders. Gopal’s decision to join the Congress is expected to hit the BSP’s prospects hard in Karnataka as the Mayawati-led party was planning to contest all the 224 seats in the election-bound state.

Gopal’s entry into the Congress assumes significance in view of the Congress party’s rout in the 2004 assembly polls when BSP cut into its votes.

Former Federal Minister T K Taradevi, a four-time MP, who had quit the JD (S) and former MP S B Sidnal were also welcomed into the party fold by the Congress leaders at the same function.

Speaking to reporters, Chauhan said Congress President Sonia Gandhi had also cleared the entry of former Federal Minister C M Ibrahim into the party. “He will be joining the Congress in the next few days”, Chauhan said.

Ibrahim, who was once a close aide of former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, has fallen out with the JD (S) supremo after former Deputy Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was removed from the party.

Chauhan described the entry of new leaders into the party as “realignment and consolidation of secular forces”.

Karnataka shutdown over Hogenakkal called off

Pro-Kannada outfits have withdrawn the call for a Karnataka shutdown on April 10 against the Hogenakkal drinking water project in the wake of Tamil Nadu’s decision to put the scheme on hold till a popular Government is installed in Karnataka.

Karnataka Rakshana Vedike, which was spearheading the agitation against the Hogenakkal project, yesterday said that the call for a state-wide shutdown had been withdrawn following Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi’s announcement to put the project on hold.

It may be mentioned here that pro-Kannada organizations under the aegis of Karnataka Border Protection Committee had called for a state-wide shutdown on April 10 after Karunanidhi declared that Tamil Nadu was determined to go ahead with the project.

The controversial project had triggerred widespread protests in Karnataka with pro-Kannada activists attacking film theatres screening Tamil films and stoning vehicles bearing Tamil Nadu registration number plates.

Though the call for Karnataka shutdown on April 10 had been withdrawn, Karnataka Rakshana Vedike activists said they would not allow the screening of Tamil films in Karnataka till the issue is resolved.

Meanwhile, former Karnataka Chief Minister S M Krishna thanked Karunanidhi for his decision to put the project on the hold and helping avert a crisis.

Krishna also appealed to various organizations in Karnataka that had launched an agitation over the project to maintain peace. “Now that Karunanidhi has come out with a statement putting the project on hold, I request all those who agitated against the project to counsel among themselves and maintain peace. No agitation is warranted”, he told reporters.

Krishna sought to clarify that Hogenakkal will not feature as part of the Karnataka Congress party’s election campaign. “It is not going to be an election issue. Certainly people are trying to make it an emotional issue. But, the people of Karnataka have innate wisdom to see through and look at it in the right perspective”, he said.

Kannada activists stone Tamil Nadu buses

The agitation against the execution of controversial Hogenakkal drinking water project by Tamil Nadu has taken a violent turn in Karnataka with pro-Kannada activists stoning and damaging buses bearing registration number plates of Tamil Nadu.

Protestors gathered on the Bangalore-Hosur highway stoned eight buses of Tamil Nadu State Express Transport Corporation (TNSETC) while Karnataka Rakshana Vedike activists damaged four vehicles bearing Tamil Nadu registration number plates at Maddur about 80 kms from here.

One of the vehicles targetted by pro-Kannada activists at Maddur included van carrying the crew for the shooting of a Tamil film in Mysore.

In a separate incident, four passengers were injured when protestors smashed the windscreens of a private bus owned by a person of Tamil Nadu origin on the outskirts of Gulbarga.

Pro-Kannada activists also stopped a TNSETC bus on Mysore Road in Bangalore and daubed black paint on the windscreens.

With protestors targeting TNSETC buses, police have heightened security at Kempe Gowda bus stand and the Satellite bus station on Mysore road.

The activists also targetted their ire at the office of a cable television network in Bangalore for continuing to telecast Tamil channels.

When the activists hurtle stones at the office of the cable television network situated on Double Road in a bid to stop it relaying Tamil channels, the police stepped in and stopped the protestors from barging into the office, situated on the third floor of a commercial complex.

The police also resorted to mild caning before taking 50 protestors into custody for attacking the cable television office. They protestors were later let off.

Several activists of pro-Kannada outfits also turned up at the office of a Tamil daily published from Bangalore and asked the staff to stop printing and circulating the newspaper in Karnataka.
Amid heavy police security, a delegation of the protestors was allowed to meet the senior editorial staff, who assured them that the matter will be conveyed to the management.

SSLC student commits suicide

A 15-year-old student of SSLC committed suicide after she was disallowed to write her exams as she had forgotten her hall ticket.

Police said Shantala, a student of Government High School in Jeevan Bhima Nagar in Bangalore ended her life at her residence in Murugeshapalya in HAL Police station limits in the City after she was denied denied entry into the examination centre without the hall ticket.

Her distraught mother Umadevi told reporters that her daughter had left the hall ticket in her mathematics text book, which she did not carry for the examination. When the examination authorities refused to allow her to write the examination, she returned home and ended her life.

The deceased Shantala is the daughter of Umadevi, a garment factory worker, and T S Ravi, a security guard. Residents of Murugeshapalya staged a demonstration in front of the examination centre seeking an explanation from the authorities. Later, Education department officials and police pacified the agitated crowd.

Pro Kannada groups call for Karnataka shutdown on April 10

Various pro-Kannada outfits have given a call for a Karnataka shutdown on April 10 in protest against the Hogenakkal drinking water project taken up by neighbouring Tamil Nadu.

A meeting of various pro-Kannada organizations held in Bangalore under the aegis of Karnataka Border Protection Committee resolved to appeal to all political parties to support the state-wide agitation on April 10 and ensure a complete shutdown.

The pro-Kannada groups are up in arms against Tamil Nadu for taking up a drinking water project at Hogenakkal waterfalls across river Cauvery, a tourist destination on the border of the two riparian states. With Tamil Nadu as well as Karnataka laying claim over Hogenakkal, the drinking water project finds itself caught in a major controversy between the two states.

The pro-Kannada groups have decided to stall screening of Tamil films and black out Tamil television channels all over the state. “Tamil films and television programmes will not be shown anywhere in Karnataka till the issue is resolved”, said Kannada protagonist and former MLA Vatal Nagaraj, who presided over the meeting of Kannada organizations.

The agitation chalked out by the pro-Kannada groups also includes demonstrations at Bangalore City Railway station and on the highway leading to Chennai from Bangalore on April 4.

Vatal Nagaraj has urged President Pratibha Patil to take serious note of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi’s recent remarks against Karnataka, which he claimed had created unrest in both the states, and urged the Federal Government to immediately step in and put the project on the hold.

Representatives of Karnataka Rakshana Vedike, Karnataka Film Chambers of Commerce and Kannada Sene, besides film personalities and Kannada writers, attended the meeting.

Meanwhile, Karnataka Rakshana Vedike has threatened to cut off rail and road transport between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and also close down industries and trade establishments owned by persons belonging to Tamil Nadu.

Activsts of the Vedike stopped an Ooty-bound bus belonging to Tamil Nadu Transport Corporation at Mandya, about 100 kms from Bangalore, and deflated its tyres on Tuesday evening.

Meanwhile, security has been beefed in Bangalore and other parts of Karnataka in view of the agitation. “We will not tolerate any violence. We have taken all the precautionary measures to maintain law and order. Security has been provided in Tamil colonies, theatres and Tamil organizations”, Commissioner of Bangalore City Police Neelam Achuta Rao told reporters.

The police has also stepped up security at the residence of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi’s daughter Selvi, who stays in Bangalore along with her husband. “Security has been strengthened at her residence”, Rao said.

Tamil Sangam in Bangalore, which came under attack from Kannada activists on Monday, has decided to take out a counter rally seeking protection of Tamils in Bangalore.

Sangam President Shanmugasundaram, who has lodged a complaint against Kannada activists for ransacking the Tamil Sangam office, said Tamils living in Bangalore will take out a procession to Raj Bhavan to bring to the notice of Governor Rameshwar Thakur the need to protection fundamental rights of Tamils residing in Karnataka.

Watching porn films in private not a crime: High Court

Karnataka High Court has ruled that watching porn films in private does not constitute an offence under Indian Penal Code.

A single-judge bench of Justice K Bhaktavatsalam of Karnataka High Court delivered this verdict while hearing a petition filed by three engineering students of Bangalore challenging the criminal proceedings initiated against them for watching porn films on their personal computer.

The judge observed that screening porn films and viewing them in public is prohibited under the Indian Penal Code. Similiarly, making a porn film and selling them is also a crime. But, viewing them in private does not constitute a crime, the judge noted and quashed the criminal proceedings initiated against them.

Three students of an engineering college in Bangalore caught by the police while they were watching porn films in a rented room in MEI layout in Bangalore during November 2005. The police seized the computer and compact discs, arrested the students and filed cases against them.

The lower court had taken cognizance of the case and had initiated criminal proceedings on the three students.

But, when the students moved the High Court, Justice Bhaktavatsalam observed that it was not the prosecution’s case that the students possessed compact discs with obscene content for the purpose of sale, distribution or circulation.

Hence, the lower court’s judgement was set aside and the criminal proceedings against the students were quashed.

Kannada activists threaten to disrupt bus and train services to TN

The execution of the Hogenakal drinking water project by neighbouring Tamil Nadu is threatening to snowball into a major controversy with pro-Kannada groups planning to disrupt bus and train services between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

A day after targeting film theatres screening Tamil movies in Bangalore and warning cable operators to stop telecasting Tamil programmes, Karnataka Rakshana Vedike has threatened to stop bus and train services to Tamil Nadu if the controversial drinking water project is not stalled.

“As a first step we will ban Tamil movies and television channels. We have asked the cable operators to stop telecasting Tamil programmes. If Tamil Nadu goes ahead with the project, we will stop bus and train services between the two states”, President of the Vedike K Narayana Gowda told reporters.

The Vedike’s threat to disrupt bus and train services to Tamil Nadu comes a day after hundreds of pro-Kannada activists stormed nine film theatres across Bangalore demanding a halt to screening of Tamil films in protest against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi’s remarks over the Hogenakal project.

Karunanidhi was reported to have come down heavily on pro-Kannada organizations for protesting against the project and declared that Tamil Nadu will execute the project at all costs.

The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s remarks saw Kannada activists come out on motorcycles in large numbers and attacked the film theatres screening Tamil movies. After evacuating the audience, the angry protestors tore down the banners and warned the theatre owners against screening Tamil movies. Many theatres in Bangalore voluntarily stopped screening Tamil movies.

Meanwhile, security has been heightened at vulnerable places in Bangalore, which has a sizable Tamil population. “Security will be intensified. We will not allow anybody to take law into their hands”, said Bipin Gopalakrishna, Additional Commissioner of Police (Law and Order), Bangalore.

Chief Secretary to the Government of Karnataka Sudhakar Rao told reporters that the State Government had written to the Federal Water Resources Ministry seeking its intervention to resolve the dispute between the two states.

He also said that Karnataka and written to Tamil Nadu Government requesting it to stop all development projects at Hogenakal till the issue is resolved.
The Rs 13.34 billion Hogenakal project taken up at Hogenakal falls on Karnataka’s border with Tamil Nadu envisages supply of 160 million litres of water per day to 4 million people in Krishnagiri and Dharmapuri district of Tamil Nadu.

Youth Congress launches call centre to pep up enrollment drive in Karnataka

Ahead of Congress MP Rahul Gandhi’s five-day visit to Karnataka from yesterday, the Karnataka Pradesh Youth Congress Committee set up a call centre, the first of its kind in the country, to pep up its enrollment drive across the state.

Established by Karnataka Pradesh Youth Congress Committee President Krishna Byre Gowda at the behest of Rahul Gandhi, the call centre received a total of 275 calls on the first two days after it became operational on Kumara Krupa Road in Bangalore.

The call centre is equipped with eight telephone lines and is manned by trained personnel well versed in Kannada, English and Hindi from 9 am to 7 pm. “We received 124 calls on the first day and 150 calls on the second day”, said Ajay Kumar Singh, a Youth Congress member, who is supervising the call centre.

The Youth Congress is expecting the response to increase manifold after the visit of Rahul Gandhi, who is touring the state. “It is just two days old and the response has been good. We have received calls from all parts of the State, but most of the calls came from Bangalore. We are sure the calls will increase after the tour of Rahul Gandhi”, Singh said.

At the call centre, the caller’s details like name, address, phone number, e-mail address and professional details and taken and fed into a computer. “The caller will receive a primary membership card delivered at his doorstep. The members are segregated district-wise and their details will be sent to the district unit of the Youth Congress. The member will be roped into the activities of the party based on his or her interest and commitment level”, he said.

The high-tech enrollment drive of the Youth Congress does not end with the call centre. Persons interested in becoming a member can also send an SMS or an e-mail. The SMSes and e-mails are processed at New Delhi and sent to the respective state unit offices for follow up action.

Youth Congress functionary Yatish Babu said the party will also be enrolling members through the traditional method of filling up a form during Rahul Gandhi’s visit. “We will have stalls with application forms set up at places, where Rahul Gandhi stops during his tour”, he added.

Software engineer kills wife before committing suicide

Suspecting his wife’s fidelity, a 30-year-old software engineer strangulated her to death before hanging himself in a shocking incident in Bangalore.

Police said Amit Budhiraj, a software engineer from Delhi employed with a leading Information Technology (IT) company in Bangalore, had allegedly smothered his wife Rinku Sachdeva, 28, a marketing professional working for a multinational bank, with a pillow and later hanged himself from a ceiling fan in their house in Koramangala in Bangalore.

The incident came to light when Rinku’s friend Urmila came to their house on Sunday to pick her up for a movie after her repeated phone calls went unanswered. Urmila was worried when she found her friend’s house locked from inside with all the lights on. Milk and newspapers lay strewn before the door. She immediately alerted the owner, who stayed on the first floor of the same building.

The police was also summoned soon and the house was opened with a spare key only to find Rinku’s dead body lying on the bed while Amit’s body hanging from the ceiling fan in a separate room.

The police also recovered a suicide note left behind by Amit, who said that he had killed his wife over an alleged extra marital affair with a colleague. In the elaborate suicide note, police said, Amit had claimed that he had collected evidence of his wife’s reported extramarital affair in his laptop. The police have seized the laptop.

“Rinku told me when we got married that she should murder me and them commit suicide if she ever found out that I had an extramarital affair. I have only followed her idea”, said the police quoting from Amit’s suicide note.

The police sent the dead bodies to St John’s Hospital in Bangalore for a post mortem. Rinku’s parents arrived in Bangalore from Muscat while Amit’s flew into the City from Delhi.

Holi reveller stabbed to death in Bangalore

The festival of holi took a bloody turn in Bangalore with the stabbing to death of a reveller by a friend with whose wife he allegedly misbehaved.

Police said the deceased Santosh, 27, and four of his mates, barged into the house of their friend Shravan in Kadirenahalli in Bangalore in an inebriated state on Saturday and began throwing colours. After dousing Shravan and his wife with colours, the revellers began misbehaving with the woman.

Much against Shravan’s appeals the revellers pulled the couple out and later even tried to allegedly molest the woman. When the revelry turned nasty with the tearing of the clothes worn by Shravan’s wife, an angry Shravan entered the house and came out with a kitchen knife and stabbed Santosh.

Soon, Shravan and other revellers shifted a bleeding Santosh to a nearby hospital, where he was declared brought dead.

The police have taken Shravan into custody and booked a case of culpable homicide against him. The police have also registered an attempt to rape case against the other revellers and sent the woman for medical examination.

Police said Shravan and other revellers hailed from Uttar Pradesh, who were working as painters and resided in the same locality.

Illegal Bangladeshi immigrants arrested in Bangalore

The Bangalore police has arrested sixteen illegal Bangladeshi immigrants, including four women, who had taken up rented accommodation on the outskirts of the City after sneaking across the border without any documents.

Joint Commissioner of Bangalore City Police Gopal Hosur told reporters that the illegal immigrants were staying as tenants in Bellatur, Kadugodi, Hoskote and Kothanur on the outskirts of Bangalore ever since they crossed the border six months ago by paying Rs 1,000.

Acting on a tip-off, sleuths from the City Crime Branch nabbed 18-year-old Sabu Sheikh, a native of Nadiyal in Bangladesh, when he was trying to push counterfeit currency notes of Rs 1,000 denomination at Bellatur bus stand.

During interrogation, the accused confessed to have carried around 50 such counterfeit notes of Rs 1,000 denomination before illegally entering India and had already put 38 of them into circulation. The police recovered from him the remaining 12 notes, which had been printed in a foreign country.

Based on Sheikh’s disclosures, the police arrested the other illegal immigrants, who had taken up small-time jobs and work as construction labourers. Gopal Hosur said the accused, who did not have passports or any documents, had visited Mumbai before coming to Bangalore. “They have booked under Foreigners’ Act for illegal stay”, he said.

Hosur said the police would also investigate whether the illegal immigrants from Bangladesh had any links to terror outfits. The police will also probe them for networking with other illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

Meanwhile, the Bangalore City police, following the arrest of illegal Bangladesh immigrants has advised landlords to verify the antecedents of the tenants, their occupation and family details before renting out their premises.

S M Krishna feels “liberated”

Senior Congress leader S M Krishna has claimed that he felt “liberated” after Congress President Sonia Gandhi permitted him to resign as Governor of Maharashtra.

Speaking to reporters after assuming charge as the Chairman of the Election Management and Co-ordination Committee of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee, Krishna also said that he was grateful to Sonia Gandhi for paving the way for his re-entry into Karnataka politics.

A former Chief Minister of Karnataka, Krishna was appointed as Governor of Maharashtra after the Congress party could not secure a majority in the 2004 assembly polls. Though he reluctantly assumed charge of the gubernatorial post in neighbouring Maharashtra, Krishna had been bringing pressure on the party High Command to relieve him from the post as he was interested in active politics.

With the party High Command yielding to his request just ahead of the assembly polls in Karnataka, Krishna said he was “at ease” ever since he left the Raj Bhavan in Mumbai.

Krishna also sought to clarify that he was not eying the post of Chief Minister in Karnataka if the Congress returns to power after the coming polls. “I have no interest in posts. My only aim is to bring the Congress back to power in the State”, he said.

“If I were to be interested in plum and coveted posts, the position of Maharashtra Governor is no ordinary post. Its capital Mumbai is the financial capital of India. I am not enamoured by posts”, he sought to clarify.

Unseasonal rains lash several parts of Karnataka

Several parts of Karnataka have been receiving unseasonal rains, damaging a variety of crops in countryside and forcing people to remain indoors in the urban areas.

Though the rains, which have been lashing southern and coastal parts of the State intermittently since the last one week, had brought down the mercury levels, which had begun soaring, the downpour has also caused anxiety among the farmers over the safety of their crops.

Agriculture department officials said coffee crop in several parts of Kodagu, Hassan and Chikmagalur would be hit severely on account of the rains. Similiarly, the rains in Mysore and adjoining areas will cause damage to mangoes and bring down the yield this year.

The present bout of unseasonal rains have been attributed to low pressure in the Arabian Sea off the Kerala-Karnataka coast. Meteorological Department officials have predicted more rainfall for the next 24 to 48 hours in the region.

Meanwhile, Bangalore, which received as much as 94.5 mm rainfall of a single day last week, is experiencing a massive fluctuation in temperature on account of the rainfall. The temperatures, which had soared to 32.6 degrees before the rains began, had plummeted to a minimum of 14.4 degrees.
The rains have also thrown vehicular traffic out of gear in several areas on account of the collapsed electricity and telephone poles in several parts of the City.

Karnataka Muslim organizations accuse police of harassment in terror probe

Muslim organizations in Karnataka have expressed anguish over the perceived harassment and victimization of the community by the police in the guise of investigations against terrorism.

A recent visit by a team of Corps of Detective (CoD) officials to Mansura Arabic College near Hassan in the state and the reported questioning of the college principal, teachers and even minor students has sparked off an outrage among the members of the Muslim community.

The Federation of Muslim NGOs has registered its protest and strong resentment against the terror probe, which has instilled a sense of fear and alienation in the minds of the Muslim community.

At a press conference in Bangalore, representative of the Federation and leader of Jamaat E Islami Hind, Bangalore, Saad Belgami told reporters many innocent Muslims and organizations have borne the brunt of the terror probe and the investigating agencies were “hell-bent on maligning the entire Muslim community”.

Expressing strong disapproval of the manner in which the CoD officials recently raided the Mansura Arabic College, Belgami said the officials not only interrogated the principal and the teachers, but also paraded students of standard V and VI and questioned them.

Though the CoD officials had visited the college on the basis of information that calls had been made to terror suspect Yahya Kammakutty, who had been arrested recently, Belgami said a mere telephone call should not warrant a police raid on an educational institution.

“The police should have conducted the investigations more discreetly and maintaining the confidentiality of the probe. Deliberately stories about the investigations are leaked to the press with the aim of maligning the entire Muslim community”, Belgami said.

The Federation of Muslim NGOs has accused a section of the police officials from the CoD, which is engaged in the investigation, of harassing Muslims to please the fascist forces. “Their behaviour clearly shows that they are more interested in creating hatred towards Muslims and vitiating the atmosphere in the State than finding out the truth”, he said.

Quoting media reports, Belgami said senior police officials have repeatedly clarified that there is no evidence of any terrorist outfit being active in Karnataka and that the police have not been able to establish any evidence to link the arrested Muslim youth to any terrorist group. He also cited the case of City-based doctor Mohammed Haneef, who was wrongly accused of terrorism by Australian police.

Representative of Bangalore Islamic Foundation Mateen told reporters that the terror investigations have forced many students to flee their homes and hostels. “People are clearing up their bookshelves so that there are no books on Islamic literature, lest they are hounded by the police”, Mateen said.

Rahul Gandhi to tour poll-bound Karnataka

Congress MP and AICC General Secretary Rahul Gandhi will be touring Karnataka for five days from March 25 as part of hi Discover India programme.

Announcing the schedule of Rahul Gandhi’s tour of the State, Karnataka Pradesh Youth Congress Committee President C Krishna Byre Gowda said Rahul Gandhi would arrive in Bangalore on March 25 and immediately leave by helicopter for the border district of Chamarajanagar.

After completing his engagements in Chamarajanagar, which include interactions with the general public as well as the Youth Congress workers, Rahul Gandhi will proceed to H D Kote in adjoining Mysore district. Later, he will fly in a chopper to Raichur in North Karnataka.

He is also scheduled to visit Bagalkot, twin cities of Hubli-Dharwad and Mangalore during his five-day visit.

Rahul Gandhi’s tour of Karnataka assumes significance as the young Congress leader was not only visiting the State for the first time after donning the mantle of AICC General Secretary, but also at a time when the state is bracing for keen electoral battle with the BJP in the forthcoming Assembly polls scheduled to be held in May.

Rahul Gandhi’s itinerary was finalized by senior Congress leader Jagadish Tytler, Congress MP Sachin Pilot and Krishna Byre Gowda in Bangalore.
Briefing reporters, Krishna Byre Gowda said the tentative schedule had to be slightly modified in view of the RSS meeting, which is scheduled to be held in the twin cities of Hubli- Dharwad around the same time as Rahul Gandhi’s visit. Instead of starting his tour with Hubli-Dharwad, Rahul Gandhi will start with Chamarajanagar and later visit Hubli-Dharwad, he said.

77-year-old American lady found dead in Bangalore

A 77-year-old American woman was found dead under mysterious circumstances in her rented flat in Shantinagar in Bangalore.

The deceased, who has been identified as Margareth Alexandria from Virginia in the United States, was a devotee of Satya Sai Baba and had been staying in the first floor an apartment in Shanthinagar for the last eight years.

The police broke open the door of the apartment, which was bolted from inside, after neighbours complained of foul smell emanating from the house only to find the elderly American woman’s body in a composed state on Wednesday.

Police investigations had revealed that Margaret used to frequent the Ashram of Satya Sai Baba in Whitefield on the outskirts of Bangalore, where she used to stay for a week or two and return to her house.

A fortnight ago, the woman had complained of severe pain in the abdomen and had even visited a doctor. The Bangalore police found a strip of tablets used for digestion next to her body.

Police said Linden, 65, another foreigner residing in Bangalore was the only person known to the deceased in the City. Alexandria had told Linden that she had no family relations and was alone.

“On Saturday, Alexandria had handed her room keys and also her personal belongings to Linden before entering the house and locking it from inside. She had even covered the key-hole with a sticker from inside the room to avoid others peeping inside her room. She might had decided to kill herself and made such arrangements”, said a police official.
The police are awaiting the post mortem report to ascertain the exact cause of death. The police is also not ruling out the possibility of Alexandria killing herself due to health reasons.

Child prodigy bags three international awards for directing film

Child prodigy Master Kishan from Bangalore, who is Guinness record holder for being the youngest film director, has received three international awards at the 18th International Film Festival for Children held at Cairo in Egypt recently.

Kishan, who is now 12 years old, had begun directing the film “Care of Footpath” based on the lives of street children three years ago at a tender age of 9 years to rewrite the Guinness Book of World Records.

At the International Film Festival for Children, Kishan bagged the Children’s International Jury award under long and short film category, Special International Jury award under long and short film category as well as the Special International Jury award under long and short film category.

The Special International Jury award under long and short film category was closest to Kishan’s heart as the same award was conferred on his favourite hero Amitabh Bachchan about six years ago.

Back in Bangalore with awards, Kishan told reporters that he was thrilled with the awards, particularly the Special International Jury award, which is given after senior members of journalists’ syndicate viewed rare films in their premises and acknowledge rare film personalities with the award.

During the film festival in Cairo, the members of syndicate arranged for viewing the film. “I was very excited when I learnt that the syndicate will be viewing my film. I was curious to know their reaction. After viewing the film, they asked me a series of questions after which I was given the award”, said Kishan.

Incidentally, this is the fifth international award Kishan has bagged for his film so far. The previous two were Chamber of Deputies Award for the second best film and the Children’s Rights Award at the Giffoni International Children’s Film Festival held in Italy in2007.
Kishan, who is studying in standard VII, said he would not rest of his laurels. After being away in Egypt for almost a fortnight, the child prodigy will now be studying hard for the annual exams, which are just round the corner

Live band racket busted in Bangalore

The Bangalore police have busted a live band racket by arresting two men and women, besides rescuing a total of 20 girls, who were entertaining patrons gathered in farmhouses on the outskirts of the City.

Acting on a tip off, the Bangalore police raided a house in the City’s Brindavan extension and rescued 20 girls, hailing from Mumbai and Kolkata, all aged between 18 and 25 years.

The kingpin of the racket, Pandit, 35, his associate Salman, 22, and woman identified as Pandit’s sister in law, who were also present in the house have been arrested.

Police said the accused, who had brought the girls to the City a couple of months ago, were engaged in deploying them as live band artistes to clients. The girls performed at farmhouses on the outskirts of Bangalore in Sarjapur, Nelamangala and Bagalur clandestinely as the Karnataka Government has banned live band performances.

The accused had taken a three-storeyed building belonging to a former counciller in Bangalore on rent to house the girls. Pandit had told the owner that he would occupy one the house on one floor while his brother and sister in law will stay in the house on the other floor. He had not disclosed to the owner who would be staying in the third house.

When police raided the house on Tuesday, eight girls were found staying in one house while the other 12 girls were staying in another house.

Apart from sending them to perform as live band artistes in farmhouses, police said the accused was also coercing the girls into prostitution. The police have registered a case under Immoral Trafficking Act.

The unearthing of a clandestine live band racket by the City police comes as several hotels and restaurants across Bangalore were seeking licences from the police to resume live band performances in their establishments.

Rousing welcome for S M Krishna in Bangalore

Veteran Congressman S M Krishna, who resigned as Governor of Maharashtra recently, was given a rousing reception on his arrival in Bangalore.

Thousands of party workers from various parts of the State had thronged the HAL airport in Bangalore to welcome Krishna, a former Chief Minister of Karnataka, who will be returning to active politics in the state after a hiatus of almost of four years. Krishna arrived at the airport on Monday along with his wife and two daughters.

Krishna, who has been appointed as the Chairman of the Congress party’s Election Management and Co-ordination Committee, is expected to oversee the party’s election strategy in the forthcoming assembly polls.

Soon after his arrival in Bangalore, Krishna cut short the plans of his followers to take him in an open motorcade and instead chose to address the party workers at a venue near the airport. “I am overwhelmed with the reception. I had not expected so many people to come”.

“I have returned to state politics on the directions of the party high command to strengthen the party. We will work unitedly to build a beautiful India and Karnataka”, Krishna said.

Former Minister D K Shivakumar, who was among the large contingent of party leaders present to receive the former Chief Minister, said the people of Karnataka need a leader like Krishna. “Right from the common man to the farmer to a businessman, they are all looking forward to a leader like him”, he said.

Though Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee President M Mallikarjun Kharge was conspicuous by his absence at the airport, he made up by calling on Krishna at the latter’s residence at Sadashivanagar in Bangalore in the evening.

When Krishna’s attention was drawn to the discordant notes heard in the party over his return to state politics, the former Chief Minister said the Congress party was like an ocean, where there are many cross currents. “But, the main current is Sonia Gandhi”, Krishna said.

Telgi’s wife appeals against auction of property

Wife of Abdul Karim Telgi, the alleged kingpin in the multi-billion rupee stamp paper scam, has appealed to the Income Tax department in Karnataka not to auction the property belonging to the jailed scamster’s family on Brigade Road in Bangalore.

Shahida Telgi, wife of Abdul Karim Telgi, has sent a letter to the Income Tax Commissioner, Karnataka, stating that the family is dependent on the Rs 80,000 they receive as rent from a commercial building on Brigade Road.

If the request is not considered, Shahida wrote in the letter, that she and her daughter will have no option but to end their lives. The Income Tax Department has attached all other properties belonging to Telgi, she said.

Shahida also said that she ailing from diabetes. Besides, the cost of Telgi’s treatment is also being borne out from the rent her family was receiving from the building on Brigade Road in Bangalore.

Gowda’s night-long homa catches even party workers by surprise

Former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, who is known for visiting temples across the country and holding religious ceremonies to propitiate gods, surprised even his party workers by holding a night-long homa at the party office on Race Course Road in Bangalore.

The ritual, which was kept under wraps, became public only the next morning when JD (S) workers reached the party office. The party workers were in for a rude shock when they were initially denied entry into the office premises as Gowda had left strict directions to the security personnel not to allow any person inside.

Though smoke of homa, fragrance of agarbathis and chanting of vedic hymns that reverberated from the building gave an indication that a religious ceremony was underway, the party workers were still not sure what was going on inside. However, it later dawned on them that Gowda was holding yet another ritual when the security personnel emerged from the building and distributed flowers as offerings.

Party leaders later confirmed that Gowda had engaged a team of priests and performed the religious including a night-long homa, apparently to seek divine blessings for the party’s good performance in the forthcoming Assembly elections in Karnataka.

The rituals were performed under the direct supervision of Gowda and his son H D Revanna. While Gowda’s wife and Revanna’s wife too attended the ceremony, former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy and his wife were missing.

Later, Kumaraswamy told reporters that the religious ceremony was held for the “good of all”.

Boy killed by pet dog in Virajpet in Karnataka

An eleven-year-old boy died after his pet dog turned violent and bit him to death in Virajpet in Karnataka’s Kodagu district.

Bhuvan Bopanna, a fourth standard student in Virajpet’s Triveni Primary School died after his German Shepherd dog suddenly turned violent, knocked him down and bit him on the neck.

The boy, who was very fond of his pet dog, used to feed snacks and play with it every day after his return from school. Recently, when the boy returned home from school as usual and went to the German Shepherd with biscuits, the dog suddenly turned ferocious and pounced on the boy before fatally biting him on the neck. The profusely bleeding boy died on the spot.

The boy’s grieving parents told reporters that the dog used to very friendly with their son. They are unable to explain the bizarre behaviour of the dog, which led to the death of their son.

The death of the eleven-year-old boy comes even as the news about the killing of children by street dogs in Bangalore and other parts of the state is still fresh in public memory.

188 former Karnataka lawmakers owe dues to Legislators’ Home

More than 185 out of the 224 MLAs of the recently dissolved Karnataka Assembly will not be able to re-enter the electoral fray in the forthcoming elections if they fail to clear their dues towards the rent of the rooms they had occupied in the Legislators’ Home in Bangalore.

For, the State Legislature Secretariat has refused to issue a No Objection Certificate (NOC), which has to be compulsorily filed along with the nomination papers of the former MLAs who seek re-election to the Assembly.

As many as 188 former MLAs, most of whom are still occupying the rooms in the Legislators’ Home, are yet to clear their dues, according to officials in the Legislature Secretariat.

Soon after the dissolution of the 12th Karnataka Assembly in November 2007, the State Legislature Secretariat wrote to the occupants of the Legislators’ Home to vacate the rooms by January 2008. The rent of the rooms, which was a paltry Rs 100 per month before the Assembly was dissolved, was raised to Rs 50 per day soon thereafter till January end, the deadline set by the Secretariat for vacating the rooms.

But, many former MLAs refused to vacate the rooms by January end and sought more time. The Secretariat obliged by giving two more months till March end, but fixed a higher rent of Rs 100 per day.

Among the defaulting former MLAs is former Minister H S Mahadev Prasad, who owes a whopping Rs 211,000. For, the former Minister had refused to vacate the room even after he became a Minister in the H D Kumaraswamy-led coalition Government.

According to rules, a legislator has to vacate the room in Legislators’ Home as becomes eligible for a Government bungalow. Mahadev Prasad, who did not vacate the room in Legislators’ Home even after becoming a Minister and occupying a Government quarters, has to pay a monthly rent of Rs 10,000 for the room according to the rules.

Other former Ministers, who figure in the list of top defaulters are Alkod Hanumanthappa, Shashikanth Akkappa and Katta Subramanya Naidu, who owe Rs 164,000, Rs 146,000 and Rs 58,000 respectively. All these former Ministers continued to occupy the Legislators’ Home room even as they were staying in the Government bungalows.

Though a couple of former Ministers are bargaining hard with the Secretariat officials to bring down the monthly rent from Rs 10,000 to Rs 3,000, the officials have refused to yield as it would amount to violating the law.

“The rules are very clear. If they wish to re-enter the electoral fray, they have to submit the NOC issued by the Secretariat. Till the dues are cleared, the NOC will not be issued”, said an official from the Secretariat.

Launch of Bangalore international airport put off to May 11

The much-publicised launch of commercial flight operations from Bangalore International airport at Devanahalli near here has been postponed to May 11, from March 30 as earlier scheduled, in view of the delay in establishing Air Traffic Control (ATC) services.

Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) decided May 11 as the new date for launch of flight operations from the newly constructed airport after the Federal Ministry of Civil Aviation suggested that the opening be put off by six weeks due to the delay in setting up the ATC services.

“We have received communication from the Ministry of Civil Aviation seeking consideration of a suitable opening date after May 10, 2008, due to the delays on ATC services. BIAL has decided the new date of airport opening as May 11, 2008”, said an statement issued by BIAL.

BIAL has also indicated to the Federal Civil Aviation Ministry that the first commercial flight was likely to take off at 12.01 am on May 11.

The Civil Aviation Ministry, in its letter to BIAL Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Albert Brunner had cited lack of readiness of the ATC services as the main reason for the delay. Though all the agencies had confirmed their readiness, state-run Airport Authority of India (AAI), under whose purview falls the task of setting up ATC services, had reservation about the availability of ATC services by March 30.

BIAL has expressed its disappointment with the delay in opening of the airport. “We are clearly disappointed with this delay especially as our employees and all our partners have been working tirelessly to launch the airport on schedule on March 30. This delay is beyond the control of BIAL”, said Anjana Kher Murray, head of BIAL’s Corporation Communications division.

Nevertheless, to mark the successful readiness of the airport infrastructure, BIAL will hold an event to showcase the new airport on March 30.

Karnataka IPS officer caught taking bribe

A senior IPS officer posted as Superintendent of Police in Karnataka’s Chamarajanagar district was caught red-handed while he was accepting a bribe of Rs 50,000 from a sand miner.

Additional Director General of Police (Lokayukta) R K Datta told reporters in Bangalore that Superintendent of Chamarajanagar district police Srikantappa was arrested after he demanded and accepted a bribe of Rs 50,000 from sand miner S M Farooq for closing a case registered against him and allowing him to continue with sand mining.

The arrest of the senior IPS officer, the first such arrest in a corruption case in Karnataka, came about after Farooq approached the Lokayukta – the provincial ombudsman – with complaints of harassment and demands for bribe by the Superintendent of Chamarajanagar police.

As par the trap laid by the Lokayukta, Farooq sent the money through his manager Akbar, who went to Srikantappa’s house along with Subbanna, the IPS officer’s associate and middleman in the deal. Subbanna took the money to the first floor of the house, where Srikantappa was present and handed it over to him.

Soon after Akbar came out of the house, the sleuths attached to Lokayukta entered the house and frisked Srikantappa. “The officer, who was dressed in a vest and dhoti was trying to tuck the currency notes in his vest when the Lokayukta sleuths entered the house”, Lokayukta Santosh Hegde said.

The Superintendent of Police was immediately arrested and produced before the court. “The Rs 500 denomination notes had been treated with phenolphthalein powder and the chemical on the currency notes lefts its mark on the IPS officer’s clothes and hands. We have booked him under Prevention of Corruption Act”, Hegde said.

Soon after the arrest, the IPS officer complained of uneasiness and variation on blood pressure. He was admitted to a private hospital. But, the Lokayukta sleuths claim that the officer was feigning illness only to avoid arrest. “He will get himself discharged from the hospital after he gets bail”, he said.

Hegde said Farooq was embroiled in the affair as he had a dispute with a local forest officer over transportation of his sand-laden trucks. The sand miner had lodged a complaint of harassment and assault against the forest official, who had lodged a counter complaint accusing Farooq of obstructing him from discharging his duty.

The local Deputy Superintendent of Police, who investigated the case, found no substance in the forest official’s complaint and proceeded to close the case. But, the Superintendent of Police, who got wind of the matter, reportedly sent word to his sub ordinate asking him not to close the case till he gives the green signal.

Meanwhile, Srikantappa summoned Farooq and demanded a bribe of Rs 25,000 to close the case and another Rs 25,000 to let the sand miner continue his business undisturbed for one month.

Senior police officer hospitalized after attack by wife

A senior police officer in Bangalore was admitted to a private hospital here after his angry wife bit him.

Sushanth S Mahapatra, an officer of the rank of Additional Director General of Police, was admitted to a private hospital with wounds inflicted on his left arm and cheek after his wife attacked him and bit him.

The police official, who is among the contenders for the post of Bangalore City Police Commissioner after the term of present incumbent N Achuta Rao ends, promptly lodged a complaint with the jurisdictional police station seeking action against his wife.

Though the police obliged by registering a case, they have not yet arrested her and are hoping the husband and wife will patch up.

According to the complaint lodged by Mahapatra, who heads the Directorate of Civil Rights Enforcement in Bangalore, his wife Sadhana not only bit him, but also tried to stab him with a knife.

In his complaint, Mahapatra said his “foul tempered” wife had never allowed his father, mother or siblings to stay with him in his official quarters after marriage. When his 77-year-old father, a retired principal in Orissa, came down to his house recently, the police official’s wife did not permit the elderly person, who was physically weak and sick, to stay in the house, he said.

“I had to arrange separate accommodation for my father at the residence of my deceased mother’s foster daughter. Since my father was having severe health problems, I am bound to spend time with him. This caused a major heartburn to my wife”, the senior police officer said in the complaint, giving the background of the attack.

The attack took place on March 7, when Mahapatra went to his house in Jeevanbhima Nagar collect clothes and also to speak to his daughters, who were appearing for exams. “I was accompanied by my driver and constable attached to the office. Just after I entered the house, Sadhana became violent and attacked me. She bit me on the left arm and cheek. Further, she rushed towards me holding a knife with the intention of stabbing me”, the police official said.

Mahapatra came out of the house and took initial treatment at Bowring Hospital. Later, he was admitted to City Hospital on West of Chord Road as an in-patient or treatment of his wounds. “Since there was severe bleeding, I could not lodge a complaint earlier”, he said in the police complaint.

Supersede Nippani City Municipality – Kannada groups

The Nippani City Municipality in the border district of Belgaum has become the target of pro Kannada groups’ ire for passing a controversial resolution on the border dispute between Karnataka and Maharashtra.

Though the resolution does not expressly seek the merger of Marathi speaking areas of Belgaum with neighbouring Maharashtra, the Municipality’s appeal to the Federal Government to give its opinion to the Supreme Court on the border dispute was enough to raise the hackles of Kannada activists.

Activists of Karnataka Rakshana Vedike and other pro Kannada groups have been staging protests in different parts of the State urging Governor Rameshwar Thakur to supersede the civic body for transgressing its limits.

Seeking to remind the Governor that the State Government had superseded Belgaum City Corporation two years ago for adopting a resolution seeking the merger of Marathi-speaking areas of Belgaum district with Maharashtra, the Vedike leader Rajeev Topannavar said the Governor should terminate Nippani City Municipality so that no other body dare pass such an anti-Karnataka resolution in the future.

It may be mentioned here that pro-Kannada activists fought pitched battles with Maharashtra Ekikaran Samithi (MES) supporters in Nippani after the controversial resolution was adopted at the civic body’s first meeting recently.

While the Vedike activists stormed the Municipality building and damaged the furniture, the MES supporters retaliated by removing Kannada name boards in the City and also replaced the Kannada flag atop the statue of Rani Chennamma with a saffron-coloured flag. The MES supporters pelted stones of the house of a Vedike leader and burnt a two-wheeler standing outside his house.

Topannavar also warned that thousands of Vedike activists from different parts of the State will storm Nippani if the police does not arrest the MES activists, who were responsible for the recent riots.

North Indian prisoners find South Indian food unpalatable

– A group of prisoners from North India, who have been lodged at the Central jail in Bangalore, have approached the Karnataka High Court seeking North Indian food.

Contending that the South Indian food served to them in the jail had made them weak, six prisoners, two each from Delhi, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh have urged the High Court to direct the prison authorities to allow them to receive North Indian food or permit them to cook their own food.

The petitioners, who had been lodged in the Central prison at Parappana Agrahara in Bangalore as undertrials, took serious exception to the poor hygiene in the jail and urged the High Court to direct the authorities to provide the jail inmates with good food, clean water and other basic amenities.

Pointing out that State was bound under law to provide adequate facilities to the prisoners, the petitioners said the North Indian inmates, who were unable to digest the South Indian food, could not even order for meals from the canteen as it had been closed since July 2007.

The petitioners – Shameem Ahmed and Syed Asim from Delhi, Rajesh Salecha and Rameshwar Palhidar of Rajasthan, Devendra Soni and Deepak Porwal from Madhya Pradesh claimed that there were around 50 prisoners from North India lodged at the Bangalore Central jail.

They urged the High Court to segregate them from local prisoners with whom they were unable to converse. The absence of communication between prisoners and North India and South India was causing leading to misunderstanding and friction, said the petitioners.

Also, the North Indian prisoners have complained to the High Court that as many as 100 prisoners are packed in cells and the toilet facilities in the prison are grossly inadequate. Apart from unpalatable food and inadequate facilities, the prisoners have also taken serious exception to their alleged humiliation by the jail officials, who handcuff them at the time of producing them before the court.

High Court Judge K L Manjunath, who heard the petition, said the prayer of the petitioners is in the nature of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) and referred the matter to Chief Justice Cyriac Joseph.

Gram Panchayat member turned thief arrested

A people’s representative from Alangur in Karnataka’s Kolar district has been arrested on charges of theft.

35-year-old Srirama is a gram panchayat member by day and thief by night, said the police.

Srirama, who claims to come from a family of thieves, had burgled six houses and stolen two motorcycles in Bangalore. Police inspector Guruswamy, who arrested Srirama and brought him to the Bangalore City Police Commissioner’s office, said the gram panchayat-member-turned thief’s father and brother are also thieves.

A native of Alangur in Kolar, Srirama was not only elected gram panchayat member a few years ago, but had also served as a President of the gram panchayat for three months. But, that did not deter him from going on a burgling spree.

Along with his accomplice Srinivasa, Srirama went about breaking homes and carrying away valuables after nightfall even as he would solemnly go about his tasks as a gram panchayat member.

According to the police, Srirama’s modus operandi was to hop onto a train or a bus along with his accomplice and carry out a recce of residential areas in and around Bangalore and fix the target. But, the police stopped him in his tracks on Sunday and recovered from him gold, silver and motorcycles valued around Rs 450,000.

With at least eight cases of theft against him, Srirama had a criminal past even before he was elected as a gram panchayat member. With his ill-gotten wealth as a petty thief he went on to become a minor politician. “He had dreams of becoming an MLA”, a police official said.

Police inspector Guruswamy said a letter will be written to the authorities concerned to find out whether Srirama had misused the funds allotted for the development of the village.

Srirama confessed to have taken to crime to fund his drinking and gambling habit, police said.

Majority of IIM-B students opt to work in India

A majority of the outgoing batch of Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIM-B) students have opted to work in firms in India.

A good 75 per cent of the 256 students, who appeared for placement before leading global consulting companies, investment banks and marketing companies, opted for a career in India this time. Only 25 per cent opted for overseas locations that included London, New York, Boston, Shanghai, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Florida, Dubai, Amsterdam, Sydney and Melbourne.

Four students opted out of the recruitment process, which had brought head-hunters from a total of 120 global and Indian companies to the IIM-B campus. The four students will pursue an entrepreneurial career by starting their own ventures.

The number of IIM-B graduates opting for an overseas posting came down from 30 per cent to 25 per cent this year.

However, as a policy, the management of IIM-B did not reveal the pay packet offered for the students. “Since last year, we have decided not to reveal the package offered. If the compensation figures are mentioned by other IIMs, it is their choice. We are not aware which company has offered what pay packet and to whom”, IIM-B faculty member (placement) Sourav Mukherjee told reporters.

The good turnout for the placement for IIM-B graduates comes in the midst of global recession. But, undeterred by the global recession and the fall out of sub-prime crisis in the US, a large number of investment banks flocked to the premier B school in Bangalore to snap up the brightest among the candidates.

McKinsey and Co made 15 offers followed by Lehman Brothers and Boston Consulting Company with 11 offers each. Deutsche Bank came up with seven offers, Merryl Lynch, Bain and Co and AT Kerney made six offers each. Goldman Sachs and Morgan and Stanley came with five offers each.

“The increasing number of global recruiters bears a strong testimony to the maturing global reputation of IIM-B. Inspite of recessionary fears in the US and the resultant slowdown in global economy, we have not seen such concerns impacting hiring our students”, IIM-B Director Pankaj Chandra told reporters.

Doubts over Bangalore International airport’s take-off date

Serious doubts have arisen over Bangalore International Airport’s scheduled launch of commercial flight operations on March 30 in view of the safety concerns raised over an incomplete Air Traffic Control (ATC) facility.

The uncertainty over operationalizing the country’s first Greenfield airport established at Devanahalli about 35 kms from Bangalore was raised after an onsite inspection by senior officials of the Federal Ministry of Civil Aviation, Airports Authority of India (AAI) and Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) when flight trials were held at the airport recently.

“Right now, March 30 is still not the absolute date for launch of flight services”, Secretary of Federal Ministry of Civil Aviation Ashok Chawla told reporters after a two-day stay in Bangalore. “We still have not taken a final decision as we need to have a clear picture. We may take a decision either on Monday or Tuesday after holding further discussions in New Delhi”, he said.

According to officials monitoring the progress of work at the new airport, the imported ATC equipment and radar landed only in February almost three months behind schedule. The delayed arrival has given AAI staff very little time for onsite familiarization.

The AAI staff requires at least four weeks time to test, calibrate and synchronize the equipment before keeping the instruments in hot stand-by mode for 42 days or 1,000 hours before the airport can be operationalized, the officials said.

Senior air traffic controllers at the airport are understood to have told the senior officials that it would be “unsafe” to launch flight services at the airport by March 30 as scheduled.

Chawla admitted that the ATC issue was the main reason behind the Federal Ministry of Civil Aviation’s decision to review the launch date. “If there is a need to postpone the airport’s launch, the Government will try to sort out the matter as early as possible, so that the plans of the airport developers are not affected while also ensuring that all regulations for opening of a new airport are met”, Chawla said.

The new airport being developed by Siemens-Unique Zurich Airport- L and T Consortium is yet to receive the operators’ license. For that, the DGCA has given the developer a list of 59 items for compliance. Almost 10 of the conditions are yet to met, officials said.

Meanwhile, Chief Executive Officer of Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) Albert Brunner told reporters that ATC does not fall under its ambit. “AAI is responsible for air traffic management. I don’t install it”, he said when his attention was drawn to the incomplete ATC facility at the new airport.

JD (S) rebels led by M P Prakash joins Congress

Rebel JD (S) leader and former Deputy Chief Minister M P Prakash has joined the Congress party along with a total 14 former MLAs and 3 MLCs, dealing a major blow to former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda’s party ahead of the assembly elections.

Prakash, who had broken ties with the JD (S) almost six months ago, joined the Congress party in the presence of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) President M Mallikarjun Kharge at the Congress Bhavan in Bangalore.

Prakash and his supporters formally became Congress members by paying a membership fee of Rs 100 each. Prakash’s supporters include former Ministers H S Mahadev Prasad, Sharanabasappa Darshanapur, Amaregowda Bayyapur and Ekanthaiah, besides former MLAs B C Patil, Santosh Lad, Anjaneya, K N Rajanna, Raju Gowda, Vasanth Bangera, Muniswamappa, Balaraj, Suryanarayana Reddy.

The MLCs, who joined the Congress on the occasion, include Chidananda, son in law of veteran politician M Rajashekarmurthy, besides Gurudev and Channabasappa.

“We have severed all ties with the JD (S). We have chosen a party which is closer to our ideology”, Prakash told reporters after joining Congress.

The former Deputy Chief Minister also said that he had not imposed any conditions to join the Congress party. “We are joining the Congress party expressing our faith and commitment to the party’s ideology. I have requested Congress President Sonia Gandhi to provide party tickets to all those, who joined the party along with me”, Prakash said.

Earlier, Prakash had arrived in Bangalore along with All India Congress Committee (AICC) leader in-charge of Karnataka Prithviraj Chauhan from New Delhi.

Welcoming Prakash and his supporters into the party, Kharge said their entry will help strengthen the Congress party ahead of the assembly elections.

The entry of Prakash, who belongs to the predominant Lingayat community of Karnataka, into the party is expected to not only give the Congress a much-needed representative from the influential community, but also cause damage to JD (S).

Two test flights land at Bangalore international airport

Two test flights of commercial aircraft landed successfully at the Bangalore international airport on Friday in the run-up to the formal launch of the airport by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on March 28.

A Kingfisher aircraft and an Air Deccan aircraft landed at the country’s first Greenfield airport located at Devanahalli, about 30 kms from Bangalore, with an interval of ten minutes on Friday.

A Kingfisher flight carrying media personnel and airlines executives from Mumbai touched down at the Bangalore International airport at 10.58 am on Friday. Exactly ten minutes later, an Air Deccan test flight, which took off from the HAL airport in Bangalore, landed at the international airport at 11.08 am.

Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) authorities said the take-off trials of commercial aircraft from the newly built international airport had been scheduled in the early hours of Saturday.

While the Kingfisher aircraft will take off to Mumbai at 12 midnight, the Air Deccan aircraft will depart at 12.30 am on Saturday. The take off trials will be preceded by flight tests on the new runway as well as the taxiway and the parking bays.

The test flights at the Bangalore International airport were conducted even as four Public Interest Litigations (PIL) were pending before the Karnataka High Court challenging the closure of the existing airport at HAL in Bangalore.

The petitioners had sought the retention of HAL airport for short haul domestic flights in view of connectivity problems to the newly built international airport, which is situated at a distance of 30 kms away.

A division bench of the High Court, which took up one of the petitions, adjourned the hearing to March 10 after BIAL contended that one of the terms of the agreement between the project promoters and the Federal Government was the closure of the HAL airport. If the old HAL airport is retained, the international airport’s financial viability will be jeopardized, BIAL counsel said.

Cracks surface in Karnataka Congress over Krishna’s return

Former Chief Minister S M Krishna’s impending return to Karnataka politics in the wake of his recent resignation as Governor of Maharashtra, has created fissures in the State Congress circles with a section of senior party leaders meting out a cold treatment to grand road show planned by his supporters.

Soon after Krishna submitted his resignation as Governor of Maharashtra on Wednesday and announced his return to active politics in election-bound Karnataka, his close aides led by former Minister D K Shivakumar began chalking out plans to accord him a grand reception at Belgaum on the state’s border with Maharashtra.

The reception at Belgaum was scheduled to be followed up with a road show that passes through various parts of the state before concluding in Bangalore.

But, a host of senior party leaders including Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee President M Mallikarjun Kharge have decided to keep off the show on the grounds that it is not a party function.

Though most senior party leaders in Karnataka welcomed Krishna’s return to his native state and party workers across the state burst crackers to celebrate the development, Kharge had sought to downplay the matter. “There is no need to attach much significance to Krishna’s return. He is only returning to Karnataka, which is his native, as per the party High Command’s directive”, Kharge had told reporters.

The Congress High Command’s move to appoint Krishna as the Chairman of Congress party Co-ordination Committee to work out an election strategy for the impending assembly polls in Karnataka, appears to have not gone down well with the old guard in the party.

For, the position is of the rank of an All India Congress Committee (AICC) General Secretary and gives Krishna a pivotal position in the poll-bound state.

Despite the cold shoulder given to Krishna by a section of the Congress leaders, his supporters are jubilant over his return to Karnataka.

According to a tentative programme finalized by Krishna’s supporters in the Congress, a grand reception will be given to him at Belgaum where he is scheduled to arrive on March 14. After the reception and a public meeting, the road show will commence and proceed to Hubli. After an overnight halt, the cavalcade will roll into Haveri followed by Davangere, Chitradurga and Tumkur before arriving in Bangalore after a 600 km long journey.

Election Commission hints at Karnataka polls in May

The Election Commission has dropped enough hints that a popular Government could be installed in Karnataka before the term of Federal rule in the State ends in May last week.

Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswami expressed confidence that the electoral rolls in the delimited assembly constituencies will be ready by April first week, but stopped short of announcing whether the impending elections will be held in May.

Speaking to reporters after a marathon meeting with deputy commissioners of various districts in the state and representatives of various political parties on Tuesday, Gopalaswami said the revision of electoral rolls as per the delimitation of constituencies was proceeding smoothly. “By March 15, the preliminary work will be completed in all the districts. The entire exercise will be completed between March 25 and first week of April’, said Gopalaswami.

A final decision on the timing of assembly polls in Karnataka will, however, be taken by the Election Commission in New Delhi after assessing the entire situation and considering the petitions filed various political parties.

A full bench of Election Commission comprising Election Commissioners Navin Chawla and S Y Quraishi met leaders of various political parties earlier and heard their views on the timing of polls.

While BJP and JD (S) favoured polls before expiry of Federal rule on May 28, the Congress had sought postponement of the exercise till all the anomalies in the electoral list are removed.

However, the Election Commission appeared determined to hold the polls before the Federal rule ends. “Except for acts of God, human acts should not come in the way of holding elections on time”, Gopalaswami said in an oblique reference to the Congress party’s demand for putting off the polls.

The Chief Election Commissioner even quoted the Supreme Court ruling delivered in 2002 stating that elections should be held within six months of the dissolution of the House except in rare cases like “acts of God” (natural disasters).

According to Election Commission officials, who were present in the meeting, the Chief Election Commissioner told the Deputy Commissioners to be prepared for elections any time. “Be prepared to meeting any eventuality. It is the duty of the election commission to hold elections on time”.

Major fire destroys more than 500 huts in Mandya

More than 500 huts in Tamil colony slum in Karnataka’s Mandya district were destroyed in an accidental fire on Monday evening rendering an estimated 5,000 people homeless.

The accidental fire that broke out from a hut with a thatched roof soon assumed the proportions of an inferno engulfing the entire settlement, causing panic and commotion among the inhabitants.

When the initial efforts by the dwellers to contain the spread of fire with buckets of water went in vain, they were forced to abandon their homes and rush out with whatever belongings they could carry.

Commissioner of Mandya City Municipal Council Ramaswamy told reporters that the fire was finally extinguished by pressing into service fire tenders from Mandya and neighbouring Mysore. The firemen had to battle with the leaping flames for more than three hours to put out the fire.

Eventually, all the 536 huts, predominantly occupied by migrant Tamil population, were reduced to ashes in the fire that destroyed household articles, including food grains, cash and jewellery.

The fire personnel and the police had to face the wrath of the angry slum dwellers, who accused the authorities of delaying the dispatch of fire tenders. Irate slum dwellers stoned a fire tender and a police jeep. The driver of a police jeep was injured when the glass pieces of vehicle’s windscreen hit his head.

The slum dwellers, who had watched their homes go up in flames, heckled senior police officials and tore the shirt of a police inspector when they reached the spot to calm the agitated crowd.

The protestors later marched to the Mysore-Bangalore highway and disrupted vehicular traffic. They threw stones at passing vehicles forcing authorities to divert the traffic away from the trouble spot in Mandya.

The Mandya district administration later opened temporary shelters for the homeless slum dwellers in Government schools and a nursing college.

Crucial meet of Election Commission held in Bangalore

Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswami presided over a crucial meeting of the Election Commission at the State Secretariat Vidhana Soudha in Bangalore yesterday to review the preparations for next assembly elections in Karnataka, which is under Federal rule.

Gopalaswami and two election commissioners S Y Quraishi and Navin Chawla met senior officials of Karnataka Government including the Deputy Commissioners of all the districts in the State for a feedback on the revision of electoral rolls on the basis of redrawn boundaries of assembly constituencies under the recently completed delimitation exercise.

The meeting is considered to be crucial, as it would clear the confusion over the timing of the assembly polls in the State, which has been under federal rule since November 2007.

Apparently determined to hold assembly polls before May 28, Gopalaswami is believed to have told the officials to complete the revision of electoral lists and other election related work entrusted to them before March 15.

The Election Commission, which is likely to take a final decision on the timing of the assembly polls in Karnataka, is expected to make an announcement on the issue after holding talks with representatives of leading political parties as well later in the day.

Meanwhile, the political parties are divided over the timing of elections. While the BJP and JD (S) are in favour of holding elections before the six month deadline for withdrawal of Federal rule in the state lapses on May 28, the Congress is citing the “incomplete” electoral list as a reason to put off polls.

Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee President M Mallikarjun Kharge told reporters before meeting the Election Commission officials that the Congress party was not convinced by the “cut and paste” method to complete the revision of electoral rolls after altering the boundaries of assembly constituencies.

“Revision of electoral rolls following fresh delimitation of constituencies is a long-drawn exercise. We want a door-to-door enumeration carried out and not a random deletion of some voters and the inclusion of some others”, he said and referred to the presence of 6 million bogus voters in the electoral list, as claimed by the Election Commission officials themselves during their previous visit.

However, Kharge sought to make it clear that the Congress part was not seeking a postponement of polls, but was only emphasizing on deletion of bogus voters from the list and inclusion of genuine voters.

The BJP, however, is seeking early polls before the May 28 deadline for Federal rule lapses.

Former Chief Minister B S Yedyurappa has threatened to move the Supreme Court if the Congress party conspires to put off the polls and seek an extension of the Federal rule by securing Parliamentary approval.

He said the anomalies in the voters’ list can be corrected even till the last date for withdrawal of nominations and the Election Commission should go ahead with the polls before May 28.

The JD (S) is also favouring early polls that would facilitate the withdrawal of Federal rule and install a popular Government in the State. “We want polls to be held before May 28 so that the Federal rule comes to an end and a popular Government takes over the reins of power”, JD (S) spokesperson Y S V Datta told reporters.

Fish famine plagues coastal Karnataka

Fishermen in coastal parts of Karnataka have been left high and dry on account of a severe fish famine.

Assistant Director of Fisheries in Mangalore Suresh Kumar has admitted that the phenomenon of fish famine, which grips the maritime districts of Dakshina Kannada, Uttara Kannada and Udupi in Karnataka during November and December, has been particularly severe this time with the lean season extending into March.

The poor yield of fish, which is estimated to have declined by 50 per cent this season, has already sent the prices of several varieties of fish skyrocketing and affecting the export of fish from Mangalore. The price of a few popular variety of fish had doubled or tripled this season in view of the drastic decline in the volume of fish catch.

Meanwhile, an elite panel of fishermen and researchers constituted by the Government a couple of months ago to study the reasons behind the significant decline in volume of fish catch, has attributed the recurring phenomenon of fish famine to over-exploitation of the seas and lack of induced breeding techniques.

The report had also pointed out that the coastal districts of Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Uttara Kannada had landed 218,000 tonnes of marine fish varieties during 1995-96. But, since the turn of the century, the fish yield had declined drastically and had even reached 128,000 tonnes during 2001-02.

The fish yield during the ensuing season has also been described as extremely bad. “This situation is such that almost 70 to 75 boats out of around 100 that venture into the sea for fishing return to the shores with empty baskets”, according a representative of fishermen’s association.

The Karnataka Fishermen’s Action Committee has also taken serious note of absence of uniform period for imposing a fishing ban along the western coast of India. The different periods of ban on fishing imposed to facilitate breeding of fish was not serving the purpose.

Hogenakkal dispute: Karnataka to move Supreme Court against Tamil Nadu

Karnataka and neighbouring Tamil Nadu’s dispute over the tourist destination of Hogenakkal waterfalls situated along the borders of the two states has been re-ignited after Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi inaugurated a Rs 13.3 billion drinking water project from the water falls.

Karnataka Chief Secretary Sudhakar Rao told reporters that the State Government had already conveyed its reservations about the project at the disputed site to the Federal Government. “We are ready to move the Supreme Court also in the regard”, Rao said.

Rao opined that Tamil Nadu’s decision to commence work on the Hogenakkal project amounts to injustice to Karnataka. The State Government has already consulted legal experts in New Delhi and is awaiting their views before proceeding to move the Supreme Court.

Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have been locked in a dispute over the picturesque Hogenakkal island, which also features waterfalls from a tributary of river Cauvery, draw hordes of tourists every day.

Though a Commission has been set up to survey the land situated exactly on the borders of the two states, its final report has not been submitted yet.

Though Karunanidhi laid foundation stone for the project at function organized at Dharmapuri, a large number of activists representing various farmers and pro Kannada organizations went to Hogenakkal water falls to protest the project and courted arrested.

Meanwhile, the State Government has issued directions to the district administrations of Bangalore urban and Chamarajanagar to maintain beef up security in view of the likely threat to law and order on account of the development.

Tamil Nadu’s decision to go ahead with the project despite opposition from Karnataka has drawn flak from various politicians in Karnataka. Former Minister K S Eshwarappa, who held the portfolio of Water Resources during H D Kumaraswamy’s regime as Chief Minister, warned the Federal Government as well as Karnataka Governor Rameshwar Thakur of a possible law order problem over the issue.

He also accused the Tamil Nadu Government of launching an irrigation project in the garb of a drinking water project at Hogenakkal.