Gill wins Rally of Arunachal; Mangalureans Dean Mascarenhas, Ashwin Naik finish second, third

Mandya, Jul 24: Pressing for a total ban on stone mining and quarrying in and around the villages surrounding Krishna Raja Sagar Dam in the District, many organisations have called for Mandya bandh on July 29.

The bandh has been supported by Raitha Sangha, Karunada Sevakara Sanghatane, Auto Drivers Association, Jaya Karnataka, Bharatiya Samvidhana Hitharakshana Vedike, Sugarcane Growers Association, Vokkaligara Seva Trust and Dalita Sangarsh Samiti (Krishnappa faction).

The activists said that the State Government must immediately take steps and permanently ban mining in 20 km radius around KRS as continuous blasting for stones is causing grave danger to the structure.

Bengaluru, June 5: Under the leadership of trouble-shooter D K Shivakumar, the Karnataka Congress is planning a political ‘ghar wapsi’ to bring back leaders who quit the party and also rope in those from other parties.

Shivakumar, the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president, has constituted a 12-member committee headed by former minister Allum Veerabhadrappa to liaise to anchor this effort to bring back people into the party fold. 

The committee comprises of former legislators B A Hasanabba, Ajaykumar Sarnaik, Abhaychandra Jain, Satish Sail, Prafulla Madhukar, former MPs R Dhruvanarayan and BN Chandrappa, MLA V Muniyappa, former mayor Sampath Raj, Mahila Congress leader Kripa Alva and former KPCC general secretary V Y Ghorpade. 

This move comes more than a year after over a dozen Congress MLAs defected and joined the BJP, leading to the collapse of the Congress-JD(S) coalition government. Also, several influential leaders quit the party ahead of the Lok Sabha elections last year.

The constitution of this committee also coincides with disgruntlement brewing within the ruling BJP. 

“Many people who left the party and others have applied (to join Congress). Many have met me also. I felt it wouldn't be right for me to make a decision. So, this committee has been constituted,” Shivakumar said. “They will process all applications and send it to the KPCC.” 

According to Shivakumar, any person wanting to join the Congress should accept the party’s leadership and its ideology. “Importantly, they should be first accepted by the cadre. If there's no acceptance from the cadre, then what's the point?” he said.

New Delhi, Jan 30: A terrorist opened fire at people peacefully protesting against the contentious citizenship amendment act (CAA) near the Jamia Millia Islamia University in Delhi this afternoon, causing chaos and panic in the area.

One person has been injured. In a video, the terrorist, wearing a black jacket and a pair of white trousers, can be seen walking on a road, waving a gun as he shouts "who wants Azadi, come I'll shoot you. Then he says, "Yeh lo aazadi (here's your freedom)" and opens fire injuring a student in front of police.

A video of the attack that is being shared widely on social media also showed the assailant also shouting the 'Jai Shri Ram' slogan and warning protesters to chant 'Vande Mataram' if they want to stay in India. The injured student, Shadab, was hit by the bullet in his arm and has been admitted to the Holy Family hospital in Jamia Nagar.

His condition is stated to be stable. The incident took place near the hospital when a protest march was being taken out by students. Students said that the attacker tried to hijack the peaceful protest and threatened the anti-CAA agitators.

The shooting comes in the aftermath of communally charged, hateful and violence provoking rhetoric by several BJP leaders in the run-up to the assembly elections in Delhi.

Junior finance minister Anurag Thakur had on Monday led chants of ‘shoot the traitors’ at a poll rally in north Delhi’s Rithala. The minister prompted "desh ke gaddaron ko..." to which the crowd responded "...goli maaro sa***n ko". The chant translates to "shoot down the traitors who betray the country". Protesters against the CAA and the NRC have often been dubbed anti-national by members of the ruling BJP.

After Thakur’s hate speech, a man carrying a gun was also caught at Delhi's Shaheen Bagh, the venue of mega protests. The man had walked into the protest ground and allegedly brandished the weapon till he was overpowered by the surrounding protesters, eyewitnesses said.