Kashmiri woman Iram Habib gives wings to her aspirations

New Delhi, Feb 17: The Congress high command is likely to announce the party’s key troubleshooter in Karnataka, DK Shivakumar as the next state unit president with MB Patil as the working president, according to party leaders who spoke on condition of anonymity, in what could be a delicate balancing act between competing caste claims in the state..

Former CM S Siddaramaiah is likely to continue as the Congress Legislature Party leader, the leaders added.

The KPCC presidentship has been vacant ever since the incumbent Dinesh Gundu Rao resigned following the defeat in the bypolls, in which the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) won 12 of the 15 seats, ensuring a majority for itself in the state assembly.

The state leadership issue became contentious following that, with Shivakumar, a Vokkaliga, lobbying to ensure that his role as party’s main go-to man during difficult times be rewarded, the leaders cited above said. Patil, a former home minister and a Lingayat leader, was the favoured choice of Siddaramaiah, they added.

A former minister in the Siddaramiah cabinet told HT on condition of anonymity the appointment was now “just a formality”.

“How long could the current uncertainty continue? Shivakumar is a go-getter who can also help generate funds for the party. For instance, on the Bidar school sedition issue, we were late and started an agitation only after the accused got bail. With Shivakumar at the helm, we will be more aggressive and able to put the BJP government on a mat by highlighting all their omissions and commissions,” the former minister added.

The decision to appoint Shivakumar -- a seven-term MLA who served in the cabinets of former CMs S Bangarappa, SM Krishna, Siddaramiah and HD Kumaraswamy -- is likely to be a controversial one. He faces ongoing income tax and Enforcement Directorate (ED) probes, is currently on bail after being jailed by the ED in a money laundering case. He

In his 2018 poll affidavit, Shivakumar declared assets worth Rs 840 crore, making him one of the richest politicians in the state. His brother DK Suresh is a two term parliamentarian and is the sitting MP from the Bangalore Rural constituency.

Shivakumar’s latest move to build the world’s largest Christ statue in his constituency in Kanakapura has also come in for severe attack from Sangh Parivar outfits, who claim the land he donated was government-owned and illegally usurped by him.

Political analyst Manjunath said that Shivakumar, if appointed, is likely to inject a great degree of dynamism into the functioning of the party.

“He sees himself as a future Chief Minister and is very ambitious. If the appointments are confirmed, it will only vindicate the fact that the party high command has tried to balance caste interests by having a Vokkilga, a Lingayat and a Kuruba – the three leading castes in the state - heading different parts of the party. Also since the BJP is making a concerted effort to break into the Vokkaliga votebank, nominating Shivakumar would be a smart move to consolidate the community behind the party,” he said.

New Delhi, Jun 19: India on Friday added 13,586 new COVID-19 cases for the first time in a single day, pushing the tally to 3,80,532, while the death toll rose to 12,573 with 336 new fatalities, according to the Union Health Ministry data.

In some positive news, the number of recoveries crossed the two lakh-mark and stands at 2,04,710, while there are 1,63,248 total COVID-19 active cases, according to the updated official figure at 8 am.

One patient had migrated.

"Thus, around 53.79 percent patients have recovered so far," an official said.

The total number of confirmed cases include foreigners. 

India registered over 10,000 cases for the eighth day in a row.

Of the 336 new deaths reported till Friday morning, 100 were in Maharashtra, 65 in Delhi, 49 in Tamil Nadu, 31 in Gujarat, 30 in Uttar Pradesh, 12 each in Karnataka and West Bengal, 10 in Rajasthan, six in Jammu and Kashmir, five in Punjab, four each in Haryana and Madhya Pradesh, three in Telangana, two in Andhra Pradesh and one each in Assam, Jharkhand and Kerala.

Bengaluru, June 11: Amulya Leona, a college student, who was charged with sedition for raising "Pakistan zindabad" slogans in Bengaluru, has finally been granted bail. 

The court had denied her bail yesterday, saying she might abscond. But her lawyers had been pursuing another way of getting her out of jail where she has spent nearly four months.

Ms Leona's advocate, Prasanna R, said that the delay of the state in submitting a chargesheet in the case beyond the stipulated time meant she was eligible for "default bail".

"The default bail application was moved before the magistrate under whose jurisdiction the alleged crime was committed. The chargesheet has not been submitted by the state within 90 days. So default bail has been granted. We had moved the default bail plea on May 26 and again on May 29 when the court told us the earlier mail IDs had been disabled. A physical application was filed on June 2. The state filed the chargesheet on June 3," the lawyer said.

While the state tried to argue that they were entitled to an extension in the time allotted, the court hearing this aspect of the case gave an order favourable to Ms Leona. The process is on to release her.

The arrest of Ms Leona during a rally against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act or CAA in Bengaluru had led to a debate on the use of sedition charges.

The woman on a Facebook post had also said "zindabad" to many countries including India and Pakistan. She did also try to chant "Hindustan zindabad", but was soon silenced and whisked away. She was accused of sedition, causing enmity between communities and causing deliberate mischief.