3 held while trying to sell drugs among students; ganja worth Rs 10 lakah seized

Bengaluru, Jan 24: The JD(S) is looking to leverage anti-Citizen (Amendment) Act (CAA), National Register of Citizens (NRC) and National Population Register (NPR) sentiment sweeping the country to revive itself and will hold protests in Bengaluru and New Delhi.

The Bengaluru protest is scheduled for Friday. At a meeting of party workers in Bengaluru on Thursday, party patriarch HD Deve Gowda and former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy urged the rank and file to participate in the rally to send out a loud and clear message to the BJP.

"The BJP has set out to make Muslims second-grade citizens. India has 40 crore Muslims, can these communal forces eliminate them all?" Gowda said in his address. "We should have the guts to launch a massive protest at Jantar Mantar. We should be prepared to go to jail in the fight against [Prime Minister] Narendra Modi and [Union home minister] Amit Shah."

Gowda said he will lead the rally in Delhi and urged secular parties to unite to take on the BJP. "It is important that regional parties, which share a secular ideology, unite on a common agenda and fight the BJP. Bihar, Kerala and Odisha have said they will not implement CAA. The sentiment is likely to spread to other states," Gowda said.

Kumaraswamy said not only Muslims but many other communities will also bear the brunt of BJP’s "divisive politics". "This pair of Hakka-Bukka [Modi and Shah] is not targeting Muslims alone," he said. "For them, all communities other than upper caste Hindus are inferior Shudras. They will treat even Lingayats, Vokkaligas and Dalits with the same contempt."

The former CM made a special appeal to Lingayats, who generally back the BJP, to stop supporting the saffron party’s caste-oriented politics. "You had appreciated my farm loan waiver scheme and promised support in the elections. But, the results were contrary to that," he said.

The JD(S) passed three resolutions including one to condemn the Centre for enacting CAA. The others were to protest against the Centre’s indifference to the floods in the state and the failed economic policy of the Centre.

Bengaluru, Mar 21: Appealing for support to the Prime Minister's call for observing 'Janata Curfew' on Sunday to contain the outbreak of COVID-19, Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa has asked people not to come on roads immediately after the end of curfew time as it can nullify the measure.

Noting that people have extended both moral and societal support to this unique curfew, he said "Now, my appeal to people on behalf of Prime Minister Narendra Modiji is, don't come on roads and out of your dwellings immediately after nine in the night when curfew time ends. Remain settled in your houses and bungalows avoiding all public appearances on roads and other public places."

"Your coming out in open can nullify the 14-hour measure to contain the spread of virus. As a co-operation to authorities and the society, please remain indoors and stay with your near and dear ones," he said in a release.

Calling for "resolve and restraint" to fight the virus, the Prime Minister during his address to the nation on Thursday had asked the entire country to observe 'Janata curfew' on Sunday.

Calling for a 'Janata curfew' on March 22 from 7 am-9 pm, Modi had said no citizen, barring those in essential services, should get out of their house, and asserted that it will be a litmus test to show how much India is ready to take on the challenge of the coronavirus pandemic.

Stating the Karnataka government has so far been dealing successfully in containing the Covid-19 virus, Yediyurappa said this has happened because of people's co- operation.

He also asked people not to forget to involve in a bout of applause as a mark of appreciation to people involved in containing the spread of the virus and treating those affected by it.

Three new COVID-19 cases have been confirmed in Karnataka on Saturday, taking the total number of infections to 18 in the state.

Mangaluru, Feb 18: Within days after Kambala racer Srinivasa Gowda emerged a national hero, another Kambala racer Nishant Shetty has grabbed headlines. 

Nishant Shetty from Bajagoli Jogibettu reportedly broke Gowda’s record at the Venoor Kambala on Sunday. Shetty recorded 143m in 13.68 seconds. If calculated for 100m he clocks it in 9.51 seconds. His speed is faster than Gowda who clocked 9.55 seconds.

According to Kambala organisers, with Shetty’s feat, four participants have joined the elite club of racers who have completed the 100 metres in less than ten seconds.

They are Iruvathur Anand (9.57 secs), Akkeri Suresh Shetty (9.57 secs), Srinivas Gowda (9.55 secs) and Nishant Shetty (9.51 secs). Anand and Suresh Shetty had participated in the same Venoor Kambala where Nishant emerged first.

Kambala is an annual race held in Karnataka where people sprint 143m through paddy fields with the buffaloes. During the race, the racers try to bring the buffaloes under control by holding their reins tight and beating them, making it amply clear that the animal plays an equally important role in achieving the timing. Traditionally, it is sponsored by local Tuluva landlords and households in the coastal districts of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi.