Mangaluru: MLA Mohiuddin Bava snubs road agitators, flies to Saudi Arabia

Bengaluru, Jan 17: Karnataka Health Minister and BJP leader B Sriramulu on Friday claimed that Congress supports Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) and Popular Front of India (PFI) to disturb peace in the state.

His statement came after the arrest of 6 SDPI supporters in connection with an attack on a BJP-RSS follower during a pro-CAA rally held in December last year.

"The Congress party 100 per cent supports SDPI and PFI. Whenever they do not get the power, they try to disturb the peace with the support of SDPI and PFI. I will propose in Karnataka Assembly session to ban these organisations in Karnataka. We will discuss this matter," Sriramulu told ANI.

"We had already demanded for the ban on these organisations in Karnataka when I was an MP. Shobha Karandlaje, Yediyurappa and I had met Rajnath Singh, the then Home Minister in Delhi and we had given a memorandum to ban SDPI and PFI," he added.

A case has been registered against arrested SDPI supporters under relevant Sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Bengaluru Police is constituting a new Special Investigation Team (SIT) to handle this case.

"There were 6 people belonging to SDPI, who were here to carry out attacks on leaders supporting CAA. These people were being paid Rs 10,000 from their handlers to create ruckus here. Now this will be handled by the Anti-Terror unit," said Bhaskar Rao, Bengaluru Commissioner of Police.

Earlier today, Karnataka Minister Jagadish Shettar called for a ban on SDPI.

"SDPI always denies their involvement but it has been proved now. I welcome the police's action. Their organisation should be banned as they have always been involved in anti-social activities and government of India should take very serious note of this," Shettar told ANI here.

Kottayam, Mar 31: A 91-year-old and 88-year-old senior citizen couple were discharged from the isolation ward of government medical college after getting treated from COVID-19 on Monday.

"It is a testimony to the dedication and expertise of the medical staff as well as the strength of the Kerala public health system. We shall overcome," Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Issac tweeted as he praised the healthcare services for treating the elderly couple considered as highly vulnerable to the contagious virus.

Apart from the two senior citizens, five others suffering from COVID-19 have also been treated and discharged from the hospital.
Thomas, 91, and his wife Mariyamma, 88, who were under treatment at the Kottayam Medical College were already suffering from various age-related problems. The 91-year-old had a heart attack and severe breathing trouble when he was under treatment.

"The aged couple based in Ranni in Pathanamthitta district had got infected with the virus after coming into contact with their son, wife and grandson who had arrived from Italy. COVID-19 was confirmed in them on March 8. They were admitted to Pathanamthitta hospital. However, they were shifted to the Medical College in Kottayam the very next day as their condition was critical," the Kerala government said.

The family will have to remain in home-quarantine for 14 more days.

The Union Health Ministry said the death toll due to COVID-19 has risen to 32 and the number of total coronavirus cases to 1,251 as on Monday. 

There are 1117 active cases in the country with the state of Kerala contributing the highest number of cases which stands at 202.

Bengaluru, Jan 29: The Karnataka unit of BJP has urged the Centre and the State governments to ban the Popular Front of India (PFI) and the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), accusing them of harbouring terrorist tendencies.

Addressing a press meet, N Ravi Kumar, state general secretary of the party, alleged that there was a nexus between the Congress, the PFI and the SDPI.

“Recent reports have exposed the links between the PFI and the Congress,” he said, accusing Congress leader Kapil Sibal of receiving huge funds from PFI to defend their cases in the Supreme Court.

He also accused the organisations as the ones responsible for the death of 23 Hindu activists in Karnataka. Such incidents have proven that both SDPI and PFI are dubious organisations, he said.