Convene legislature party meet to discuss ACB, Kharge tells Siddu

Bengaluru, June 23: Karnataka Congress chief D K Shivakumar has urged his party colleagues to be active on social media to counter the propaganda of Bharatiya Janata Party.

Speaking to media persons, the KPCC president said that no more than 20 out of the 68 Congress MLAs are active on social media.

“All those MLAs who are doing well need to be projected. We want leaders, not mere followers. They all should be the face of Congress in Karnataka. Party should not depend on just my face or Siddaramaiah’s,” he said.

Shivakumar’s diktat has resulted in the party’s social media unit scrambling to get leaders to create their accounts.

“We’re pressuring all the party MLAs and leaders. We’re asking their personal assistants or gunmen to operate their accounts if they are not savvy with social media,” KPCC social media chief A N Nataraj Gowda said.

He pointed out that the 20 MLAs who are active on social media include U T Khader, Dinesh Gundu Rao, Priyank Kharge, Krishna Byre Gowda among others.

“We’re also trying to get the accounts verified of those who are beginning to get active. For example, it was only recently that we got the accounts of S R Patil and Vijay Singh verified,” Gowda said.

Tapping the full potential of social media is crucial for the Congress because the BJP has found much success in reaching out to voters through various online platforms.

In fact, ahead of the 2018 Assembly elections, the Congress found that there were 10 ministers and some 40 MLAs who had turned a blind eye towards social media.

Shivakumar said he was also working on putting in place a system in the party under which all developments related to the state and country will be communicated to all party leaders at 10 am every day.

Bengaluru, May 22: Karnataka government on Thursday announced that weddings scheduled for May 24 and May 31 are exempted from complete lockdown on Sundays.

As per an earlier advisory issued by the State government with regard to weddings, not more than 50 guests shall be allowed and the consumption of liquor on the occasion will be prohibited.

According to the advisory, sanitisers should be provided at the entry and other appropriate places at the venue. Also, thermal screening of all persons shall be conducted at the entry of the venue. The scanner should be held 3-15 cms away from a person's forehead.

Apart from this, the venue shall be "clean and hygienic," and a "nodal person shall be identified for overseeing the arrangements and coordination at the venue."

Also, a list of attendees with contact details has to be maintained and all guests should have downloaded Aarogya Setu app.

Bengaluru, June 29: The Karnataka government on Monday issued guidelines to conduct online classes for all students of ICSE, CBSE and SSLC under the directions of the High Court.

According to the guidelines, for the kindergarten students, online classes can be held 30 minutes a week and students in classes 1-5 will have online classes for 30-45 minutes divided into two periods for three alternate days every week.

For students in classes 6-8, the online classes will be for 30-45 minutes divided into two periods for five days every week while students in classes 9 and 10 can have the virtual classes for 30-45 minutes divided into four periods for five days a week.

Earlier, the state government barred online classes for the kids from LKG to class 5.

Minister for primary and secondary education S Suresh Kumar had said that online classes cannot be held for the kids from LKG to class V.