‘FIR on Vishweshwar Bhat amounts to abuse of power, should be withdrawn’: SM Krishna

Agencies
May 29, 2019

Bengaluru, May 29: Condemning the intolerance of the Karnataka government towards the media, BJP leader S.M. Krishna on Wednesday urged Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy to withdraw the FIR filed against a Kannada editor over an article criticizing the Chief Minister's son Nikhil.

"The FIR against 'Vishwavani' editor Vishweshwar Bhat should be withdrawn as it amounts to abuse of power and interference in the freedom of press," Krishna said in a statement in Bengaluru.

The FIR was booked on Monday after Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) General Secretary Pradeep Kumar filed a complaint at a police station against Bhat for reporting on May 25 that Nikhil blamed former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda for his defeat in the Lok Sabha election.

"I don't understand the need for a Chief Minister to make his crony file a complaint and order the police to book a case against the editor of a leading Kannada daily instead of refuting the news story and clarifying what actually transpired between his son (Nikhil) and his father (Gowda) on the phone," said Krishna in the statement.

According to the article, which Bhat claimed was based on reliable sources, an inebriated Nikhil had shouted at Gowda senior at the latter's residence for not ensuring his victory from Mandya and failing to prevent Congress leaders from campaigning for the Independent (Sumalatha Ambareesh) and voting in favour of her.

Multilingual South Indian actress Sumalatha won the high-profile Mandya seat by a margin of 1,25,876 votes in the otherwise JD-S bastion, about 100 km southwest of Bengaluru in the old Mysuru region.

Noting that the authoritarian act of the police at the behest of the Chief Minster was a sign of frustration over the ignominious defeat, Krishna said the "undemocratic and dictatorial attitude" was dangerous to the independent functioning of the media.

Krishna, 87, who hails from Maddur in Mandya district, joined the BJP in March 2018 after quitting the Congress in January 2018. He campaigned for Sumalatha.

Nikhil was a joint candidate in Mandya where the politically powerful Vokkaliga community to which the Gowda clan belongs is a dominant force.

Of the 28 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka, a resurgent BJP won 25 while the JD-S and Congress won only one each to retain Bangalore Rural and Hassan, where Nikhil's cousin brother Prajwal Revanna defeated BJP's A Manju.

Comments

Hasan Zain
 - 
Thursday, 30 May 2019

Why is Mr SM Krishna so uncomfortable. He was a chief minister of the state. If the accused has committed any crime then Law of the land will take its course. If SM krishna think the accused has commited some crime and government wants to pordon him then SM Krishna is encouraging crime which is dengerous for our state. 

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
February 7,2020

Mangaluru, Feb 7: To stop the NRC and CAA from being implemented everyone has to fight unitedly highlighting the failures of the ruling party, said National President of Priyadarshini squad, All India National Women’s Congress Kavya Narasimha Murthy.

Addressing the workshop for the protection of Citizenship against CAA, NRC and NPR for the party workers at the Cordel Hall, Kulshekar here Thursday by district Congress party, she said, “Protests are being held everywhere against the CAA, NRC and NPR but if we only go on protesting, the ruling party will implementing divisive policies and new laws every day.

Many think that they may not be affected by the CAA, NRC or NPR and keep away from protesting against it. The congress should fight against the CAA concentrating on three approaches. We cannot fight against divisive politics by fighting only against the CAA and NRC. We need to expose the government’s failures, their divisive politics and continue our protests against the CAA, NCR and NPR.”

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
February 10,2020

Mangaluru, Feb 10: Life of a 40–year-old man, who suffered a massive cardiac arrest, was saved by an ambulance driver who covered 80-km distance between Dharmasthala and Mangaluru in just 40 minutes.

The patient, a Chikkaballapur native sustained a heart attack near Sakleshpur on Saturday while he was on his way to Dharmasthala. He was provided preliminary treatment at a private hospital in Ujire, where doctors advised his relatives to shift him to a hospital in Mangaluru immediately.

The patient’s condition was critical and the odds were completely against him. Moreover owing to the ongoing double lane project work, the road too had been dugout. Despite all this, ambulance driver Hameed drove at a fast pace and managed to take the patient to the hospital within 40 minutes.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
May 1,2020

Bengaluru, May 1: Karnataka government has assigned State Nodal Officers after the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) order regarding the inter-state movement of stranded migrant workers, tourists, pilgrims and students during the lockdown period.

The Nodal officers have also been appointed for coordination with 11 different states.

In an order issued on Thursday, Karnataka Government wrote, "To facilitate smooth and orderly movement of persons across State borders as per SOPs, the undersigned, in the exercise of powers conferred under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, and in the capacity as Chairman, State Executive Committee, hereby appoint the following officers as Nodal officers to coordinate with Nodal Officers of States/Union Territories (UTs) mentioned against their names."

Dr Rajkumar Khatri, IAS and Arun Jeji Chakravarthy, IPS will be overall in charge of the movement of stranded people from outside States/UTs to Karnataka.

N Manjunatha Prasad, IAS and P S Sandhu, IPS will be overall in charge of the movement of stranded people from Karnataka to other States/UTs.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.