Mangaluru: Bombay Residency opened

Bengaluru, Jun 17: The Congress on Wednesday decided to field senior party leader B K Hariprasad and incumbent Naseer Ahmed as candidates for the coming legislative council polls in Karnataka.

"The Congress President Sonia Gandhi has approved the proposal for the candidature of B K Hariprasad and Naseer Ahmed as Congress candidates to contest the biennial elections to the Legislative Council of Karnataka to be elected by the MLAs," the AICC said in a release.

The election is necessitated as the term of seven MLCs- Naseer Ahmed, Jayamma, M C Venugopal, N S Bose Raju, H M Revanna (all Congress), T A Sharavana (JDS) and independent D U Mallikarjuna- will end June 30.

Polling will be held on June 29 to fill seven MLC berths, and June 18 is the last date for filing of nominations.

While the BJP is in a position to win four out of seven seats, the Congress can win two and the JD(S) one.

Twenty-eight valid votes of MLAs are required for each candidate to win.

Hariprasad’s candidature has been announced as his tenure in the Rajya Sabha is coming to end on June 25.

He has also served as general secretary of the party.

Naseer Ahmed, who is retiring as MLC on June 30, will be seeking another term.

According to state Congress president D K Shivakumar, more than 200 aspirants have sought tickets for the two seats that the party can win in the legislative council polls.

New Delhi, April 5: Former Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy on Sunday challenged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to offer a "credible scientific and rational" explanation for his candle-lighting call and said he is giving "meaningless tasks" to an already exhausted population.

The JD(S) leader questioned if the Prime Minister asked the nation to observe a candle-light vigil on the eve of foundation day of BJP.

"Has the PM slyly asked the nation to observe a candle light vigil on the eve of foundation day of BJP? April 6 being its foundation day, what else can explain the choice of date & time for this event? I challenge the PM to offer a credible scientific and rational explanation," Kumaraswamy tweeted.

"The government is yet to provide PPEs for doctors and make test kits affordable for the common man. Without telling the nation what concrete steps are being taken to combat COVID-19 menace, the prime minister is giving meaningless tasks to an already exhausted population," he tweeted.

"It is shameful to convert the national crisis into an event of self aggrandizement & it is beyond shameful to push the hidden agenda of his party in the face of global calamity. May sense prevail upon the PM," the JDS leader said in another tweet.

Amid a nationwide COVID-19 lockdown, Prime Minister Modi on Friday appealed to countrymen to light diyas and candles on April 5 at 9 pm to fight the darkness spread by the pandemic. He asked the people to turn off all the lights in their homes and stand at doors or balconies and light candles or diyas, torches or mobile flashlights for 9 minutes on April 5.

Last month, PM Modi had asked the people to come out in their balconies and clap and beat utensils to show appreciation for doctors, nurses and others helping fight coronavirus on 'Janata Curfew'.

Bengaluru, May 15: With lockdown-3 coming to an end in a couple of days, Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Friday expressed confidence about the Centre announcing relaxation to "many things" after May 17.

"After May 17, the government of India is going to relax so many things, let us wait for it," he said in response to a question from reporters here. "According to me they (centre) will relax everything.... maybe for things like five-star hotels and others they may not give permission for the time being, but for other things they are going to give permission. Let's wait and see."

The nationwide lockdown was initially imposed from March 25 to April 14, then extended to May 3 and again to May 17 to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus. Karnataka Tourism Minister C T Ravi on Wednesday had hinted at the state government permitting the opening of gyms, fitness centres and golf courses, also certain hotels for local tourism purpose after May 17, when the third phase of the COVID-19 induced lockdown comes to an end.

The Muzrai department (in charge of the administration of temples) was also planning to have a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) in place, that needs to be followed at temples once they are opened for the public, officials have said. They said the opening of temples for the public is however subject to the MHA (Ministry of Home Affairs) guidelines.

During the recent video conferencing Prime Minister Narendra Modi had with Chief Ministers of various states, Yediyurappa had proposed doing away with district wise colour-coding and instead advocated strict cordoning of containment zones to control the spread of the pandemic.

He had pitched for resuming all economic activities in stand-alone establishments while continuing the restrictions on malls, cinema halls, dining facilities and establishments with centrally controlled air-conditioning. The CM had suggested that 50 to 100 meters around known clusters be declared as containment zones and commercial activities, including public transport, to be allowed in non- containment zones.