CM hints at declaring holiday for Abbakka birthday

Mangaluru, Mar 7: Deputy Chief Minister Dr. Ashwatha Narayana said journalists are facing a challenging task of functioning with credibility while also upholding their professional ethics in this age of globalization where monetary aspects have gained great significance.

Inaugurating the 35th state-level Journalists’ Conference at the Kudmul Rangarao Town Hall on Saturday which was hosted by the DK District Working Journalists’ Union the Deputy CM also said that journalists should refrain from giving priority to political news as that does not serve any purpose for the common man.

Dharmadhikari of the Dharmasthala Temple Dr. D Veerendra Heggade was the chief guest at the event. The souvenir brought out to commemorate the occasion was released by Taranga Editor Sandhya Pai. The Deputy CM also inaugurated a cartoon exhibition organized on the occasion.

Bengaluru, Jul 7: Former Health minister and Congress MLA UT Khader has alleged that the state government has purchased coronavirus equipment for more than twice the actual price.

"Rs 500 sanitizers have been purchased for Rs 900 and Rs 9,000 has been paid to Rs 1200 for the thermal metre by the government. Instead of asking to allow him to work, Mr B Sriramulu, being health minister he must work for the people," he said.

He said that three months have passed since the pandemic started but the state government is still struggling to send ambulances to needy patients.

"Instead of ambulance it is sending final rights vehicle to needy people," Khader said.

According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, there are 23,474 coronavirus cases in Karnataka including 13,255 and 372 deaths.

Tumakuru, Jan 3: Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa, who has drawn flak for the Centre releasing “inadequate” flood relief to the State, on Thursday asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for additional relief during his speech at a farmers’ convention in Tumakuru.

The Chief Minister even said, “I have brought this to the notice of the Prime Minister three or four times, but till now no additional relief has been sanctioned. I request him with folded hands to release it soon,” in Kannada. The Prime Minister, who spoke later at the event, however, did not respond to the Chief Minister’s request in his speech.

Mr. Yediyurappa said the State had witnessed losses to the tune of over ₹30,000 crore because of floods.

‘Stress on irrigation’

Addressing farmers at one of his main support bases of Tumakuru, the Lingayat strongman advised the Prime Minister that his dream of doubling farmers’ income by 2023 could become a reality only if he focused on “providing scientific price to farm produce, bringing water to farms through irrigation, and by interlinking rivers”.

Mr. Yediyurappa’s remarks made at a programme to release the fourth instalment of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Yojana, a farm subsidy cash transfer scheme of the Union government, have raised eyebrows.

Stressing on the key role of irrigation schemes in farmers’ welfare, he sought a special package of ₹50,000 crore for completion of long-pending projects in Karnataka.

The five-minute-long speech is being seen as an attempt by the Chief Minister to assert himself within the party by publicly putting even the Prime Minister on the mat. This comes in the wake of the BJP suffering defeats in multiple States and the party’s victory in the recent bypolls in the State under Mr. Yediyurappa’s leadership, both of which have only strengthened the Chief Minister, sources in the party said. “We are curious as to how the party high command will now deal with this public assertion in front of the Prime Minister,” a senior party leader said.

The Chief Minister has been reportedly “deeply unhappy” over the delay in the flood relief by the Union government and also the “inadequate” amount released. The Opposition has attacked him over lack of adequate Central relief, which was interpreted as the BJP central leadership’s reported unhappiness with him. The Chief Minister had then said he was doing a “tightrope walk”.

After a delay of over two months, the Centre released ₹1,200 crore as flood relief in October 2019.