BJP demands U T Khader's resignation over Ullal murder

New Delhi, Mar 25: The exercise to update the National Population Register (NPR) and the first phase of the Census 2021 will not be held as scheduled due to the 21-day lockdown announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, officials said on Tuesday.

Both the exercises were supposed to be carried out from April 1 to September 30.
Due to the prevailing situation, the NPR and Census exercises have been deferred till further orders, a senior home ministry official said.
The Prime Minister has announced a 21-day lockdown across the country from Tuesday night due to the outbreak of the coronavirus.

Bengaluru, Feb 10: After many twists and turns, veteran Congress leader Mallikarjuna Kharge is emerging as the frontrunner for the KPCC president’s post, party sources revealed.

Though the names of DK Shivakumar and MB Patil did the rounds sometime ago, the party high command could not decide on an apt candidate, and had to widen its horizon looking for a leader who can take all factions along, and they seem to have zeroed in on Kharge.

But the senior Dalit leader is also in the reckoning for the more important All-India Congress Committee president’s post after he successfully stitched up an alliance, despite all odds, between the Congress and Shiv Sena in Maharashtra. He is understandably reluctant to take up the KPCC post. “The central leadership has given him some time to consider the KPCC offer,” the sources said.

The high command would rather go with Kharge as he is politically a far bigger force than Shivakumar and M B Patil and the party central leadership wants a safe pair of hands to handle the affairs of the state, the sources said. Also, senior leaders Siddaramaiah, Shivakumar and M B Patil cannot raise a voice against Kharge if he is elected to the post, they said.

Kharge was the Pradesh Congress chief in 2008 when the BJP was in power under B S Yediyurappa. An old warhorse, Kharge is seen as an able administrator and taskmaster. He had won a record 11 elections on the trot before he was defeated in the Kalaburgi Parliamentary Constituency by his former protege Dr Umesh Jadhav in the last election.

Sources said that the high command will not consider Shivakumar for the top slot till he comes out clean in all the legal cases against him.

It is exactly two months since Dinesh Gundurao resigned as KPCC president after the party managed to win just two out of the 15 Assembly constituencies that went for by-elections. Siddarmaiah too resigned on the same day owning moral responsibility for the loss, but the party has decided to continue with him as the assembly opposition leader, while looking for a replacement for Gundurao. 

The high command sent senior central leaders  Madhusudhan Mistry and Bhakta Charan Das on December 20 to sort out the issue of KPCC president. Though they met the state leaders and held high-level meetings in Delhi, they could not decide on a candidate. Meanwhile, the central leadership has asked Gundurao to continue in the post, till a replacement is found.

‘Congress will protest against scrapping reservation’

Bengaluru: “RSS-BJP is against reservation and have been trying to scrap it for sometime now,’’ said senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday. He stated that the Congress would take up the issue for a determined agitation both inside and outside the parliament. He said they must file a petition against this. His reaction comes after the SC recently took a decision where the top court had maintained that reservation in promotions was not a fundamental right.

Mangaluru, May 24: A youth committed suicide by jumping into River Netravati from the old bridge at Panemangaluru on the outskirts of the city. 

The deceased has been identified as Nishant, son of Chandrahasa Moolya, a resident of Kolakeeru, near Kalladka in Bantwal taluk. 

When Nishant jumped to river, a few Muslim youths - identified as Shameer Goodinabali, Mohammad, Tauseef, Mukhtar, Zahid and Arif - also jumped to river in an apparent bid to rescue him. 

Though they managed to take an unconscious Nishant out of the water, he breathed his last without responding to any treatment. Jurisdictional Bantwal town police visited the spot later.

Meanwhile, a few locals captured the video of Muslim youths' attempt to rescue a Hindu youth on Eid al-Fitr amidst covid-19 lockdown. The video went viral within hours. 

Social media platforms including WhatsApp and Facebook flooded with messages appreciating the courage of Muslim men, who endangered their lives to save a Hindu youth on Eid day.