Cong made sacrifice by forming govt with JDS: Gundu Rao

Agencies

July 11, 2018

Bengaluru, Jul 11: The newly appointed KPCC president Dinesh Gundu Rao on Wednesday said that the Congress had made a "sacrifice" by forming a government with the JD(S) to preserve secularism and democracy.

He said though Congress secured 80 assembly seats as against 37 of JDS, it decided to help the latter form the government, "not because we are weak, but because our objectives are different." "We made a sacrifice by forming a coalition government to send across a message as to how we strive to preserve social justice,secularism and democracy,"he said in his first address to party workers after donning the mantle as the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee head.

The May 12 assembly polls had thrown up a hung verdict with BJP emerging as the single largest party with 104 seats in the 224-member assembly, but falling short of numbers.

Sewing up a post-poll alliance, Congress supported the JDS to form the government. Rao said Prime Minister Narendra Modi would not come to power again as the BJP had no base in the South, except for Karnataka.

In the North too things were changing very rapidly against the BJP. "There is a 100 per cent chance of a Congress-led government coming to power at the Centre and Rahul Gandhi will lead it as the prime minister. In Karnataka we will strive to win all the 28 Lok Sabha seats to strengthen Rahul Gandhi," said Rao. Calling on party cadres to "uproot" BJP from the country, he said democracy seemed to be in peril.

"Today whoever speaks against the BJP is threatened by the Income Tax Department, Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation. We are forced to think whether democracy will survive in this country," said Rao.

He also warned the cadres not to work against the party as he underlined the need to follow the 'Maitri Dharma' (ethics of coalition). "I assure you that I will work sincerely for the party.

As party president, I will not belong to any individual but will strive for the party. Whoever damages the party, whatever he/she may be, I will not spare them," said Rao. Former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah claimed that the Lok Sabha polls would take place in November and not in April next year. He said he was sure that Modi would not come back to power as he had 'failed' to fulfil his election promises. He also foresaw Rahul Gandhi becoming the next prime minister.

On the Congress-JD(S) coalition government, he said he has written to Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy to restore the seven kg rice given to an individual from BPL families each month under the 'Anna Bhagya scheme' and roll back the hike in petrol and diesel.

In the coalition government's maiden budget presented last week, the government had reduced the rice quota by two kg and decided to give only five kg per month to an individual from BPL families. It had also hiked the price on petrol and diesel by Rs 1.14 and Rs 1.12 per litre respectively, as part of resource mobilisation efforts following the farm loan waiver, which is expected to cost Rs 34,000 crore to the exchequer.

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Congress had no choice... JDs is the real regional party, all area real kannadigas in it. Unlike BJP/Congress, these shoudl be kicked out of Kannada lands! Then we will be inpeace.

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Karnataka CM BS Yediyurappa tests positive for covid-19, hospitalized

coastaldigest.com news network

August 3,2020

Bengaluru, Aug 3: Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa tweeted late Sunday night that he had tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

In a brief post on Twitter, Mr Yediyurappa said that he was fine but had been hospitalised on the advice of doctors. While his daughter Padmavathi has also tested positive for the virus, the Chief Minister's son, Vijayendra, has tested negative.

The Chief Minister's media team has said he has been admitted to Manipal Hospital. Mr Yediyurappa, 77, also requested those who had come in contact with him to be wary of Covid symptoms and self-isolate.

"I have tested positive for coronavirus. Whilst I am fine, I am being hospitalised as a precaution on recommendation of doctors. I request those who have come in contact with me recently to be observant and exercise self-quarantine," the Chief Minister's tweet read.

The testing of the Chief Minister was done as part of the routine weekly tests he undergoes along with his staff. The results of Mr Yediyurappa's gunmen and security staff, around 50 of them, are expected today.

Staff members at Mr Yediyurappa's home office, Krishna, had tested positive early last month.

At that time Mr Yediyurappa said: "I am going to discharge my duties from home from today for the next few days in view of some of the staff in the office-cum-residence Krishna testing positive".

Mr Yediyurappa had also met Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala in Bengaluru on Friday. State Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai was also present at the meeting.

The Chief Minister is the second high-profile political leader to confirm testing positive for COVID-19 today; hours earlier Union Home Minister Amit Shah tweeted similar news.

Mr Shah, 55, too said he was "fine" and that he had been hospitalised on the "advice of doctors".

The minister also asked all those who had been in contact with him over the last few days to "please isolate yourself and get your tests done".

The Home Minister was at a cabinet meet last week, at which top colleagues, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman were present.

All Covid norms, including social distancing, were followed at that meeting, sources said.

Last month Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan tested positive for the virus as well. He has been in hospital since then and tweeted today to say that he was well and, minutes after Mr Yediyurappa tweeted his Covid positive status, he posted a get-well-soon message.

"I pray to God for your speedy recovery, Yediyurappaji," Mr Chouhan wrote.

Mr Chouhan had tweeted a message for Mr Shah too. "Home Minister Amit Shah, may God help you recover soon, so you can serve the nation with full energy. Our best wishes are with you," his tweet read.

Former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah also tweeted, saying: "I wish BS Yediyurappa a speedy recovery and to return with good health to continue his work for the people".

Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit also tested positive today, Chennai's Kauvery Hospital, where he has been admitted, said. He is asymptomatic and clinically stable.

On Sunday morning the virus claimed the life of a UP minister - Kamal Rani Varun, 62, died at Lucknow's Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences.

Over the last 24 hours, 54,735 cases were reported, taking the total number of cases to 17,50,723, data from the Health Ministry showed.

The continuing spike in cases over the past weeks comes as India gradually re-opens its economy after more than four months of the world's strictest lockdown. Unlock3, the third phase of easing of restrictions, came into effect on Saturday.

It took just 185 days for India to cross the 17-lakh mark after the first case was reported in Kerala in January; it took 110 days to record the first 1 lakh cases. More than 60 per cent of total cases in the country and over 50 per cent of total deaths have been recorded in July.

Also Read: Karnataka CM is in clinically stable condition: Manipal Hospital

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Teenager steals sports bike to impress girlfriend; she helps cops to catch him

News Network

February 19,2020

Hassan, Feb 19: A 19-year-old boy, in a bid to impress his girlfriend, stole a sports bike from an OLX seller but cops managed to reach him through her on Tuesday.

The accused, Pramod, who works at a bakery, had been involved in a bike-lifting case two years ago too.

On February 9, Pramod saw an advertisement on online marketing platform OLX from Puneeth, a farmer from Shravanabelagola town, who wanted to sell his sports bike for Rs 1.4 lakh. Pramod called him up and the two agreed to meet around 6pm that evening at Shravanabelagola town bus stand.

Once there, Pramod, a college dropout, assured Puneeth that he would buy the bike but wanted to take it for a test drive. The seller agreed. A few minutes passed and when there was no sign of the bike or Pramod, Puneeth tried calling him. The phone was switched off and could not be contacted since. Puneeth immediately filed a cheating case with the Shravanabelagola police.

SP R Srinivas Gowda and ASP BN Nandini put together a team and began tracing Pramod's call detail records. Maximum calls were made to a single number and it turned out to be his girlfriend's.

Cops called the girlfriend and on Tuesday, asked her to contact him and ascertain his location. They traced him near Hassan city's railway station and nabbed him along with the bike. On interrogation, Pramod confessed that he wanted to impress his girlfriend and take her on long drives on the sports bike.

Police said Pramod, who belongs to Bandithimmanahalli village of Alur taluk, dropped out of college two years ago and has been working at a bakery in Sahyadri Circle.

While working, he has been involved in several incidents of bike-lifting. Cops said he appeared to have strained relations with his family and had taken to crime to make a quick buck.

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London to Kolkata bus service? Yes, it’s real! Viral pics of 1957 make netizens curious

coastaldigest.com web desk

July 2,2020

When the black and white photos of the ‘London to Calcutta (Kolkata) bus service’ went viral on social media recently, the response of some of the netizens was “stop spreading fake news!” But, it isn’t a fake news. The late 1950s indeed offered people a lavish bus trip from London to Kolkata.

While one of the viral images shows passengers at the Victoria Coach Station, London, boarding 'Albert', the other image show the same bus travelling through a valley. In another image the bus is stationed at a tourist spot. All these photos were captured during the bus’ maiden international journey in 1957.

An image of the bus ticket is also making rounds on social media, that shows the route of the bus — London, Belgium, West Germany, Austria,Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, West Pakistan, India. The route in India followed Delhi, Agra, Allahabad, Banaras and finally Calcutta.

The ticket shows that a one side travel cost 145 pounds (13,644 Rupees at the present day) back then, and it was inclusive of all the luxury provided during the run.

The luxurious bus provided the facilities of reading, individual sleeping bunks, radio/taped music for parties and pleasure and fan heaters, among other things. The brochure reads, "Your complete home while you travel."

Some of the tour highlights included Banaras on the Ganges, The Taj Mahal, The Raj Path, The Rhine Valley and The Peacock Throne. Passengers reportedly got free shopping days in New Delhi, Tehran, Salzburg, Kabul, Istanbul and Vienna.