Karnataka polls: 391 candidates facing criminal cases; 883 crorepatis; BJP No.1 in both

Mysuru, Jan 19: The 'City of Palaces', for the first time in history, got a Muslim woman as its first citizen, on Saturday.

Tasneem, a JD(S) Corporator, is elected as the 22nd Mayor of Mysuru. The 34-year-old Tasneem is a second-time corporator, representing Ward number, 26. She defeated BJP candidate Geetha Yogananda, representing Ward no 65 of Srirampura, by a margin of 24 votes. Out of 70 members, who were present during the election, 47 voted for Tasneem, 23 for Geetha Yogananda.

Tasneem thanking the party leaders said the JD(S) gave her an opportunity to serve the city and its people. JD(S) gives more priority for minorities. The party facilitated the first Muslim Mayor, Arif Hussian, in 1996. Later, Congress corporator Ayub Khan served as mayor in 2008.

Women from different communities had served as mayor of the city, but, Tasneem is the first Muslim woman to be elected as Mayor of Mysuru.

Tasneem, a BA Graduate from Maharani's College, was proud for being the first citizen and thanked party supremo H D Deve Gowda, leaders H D Kumaraswamy, MLAs Sa Ra Mahesh, G T Devegowda, K S Rangappa, and her colleagues in the Mysuru City Corporation. Tasneem extended her gratitude to her voters, who voted her for the second time.  

'Mysuru is known for cleanliness. Thus, my first priority is to maintain cleanliness and I will work towards retaining the 'Clean city' tag. The city is facing issues related to street lights among others for many days. I will make prompt attempts to resolve them,' she said.

JD(S) city president K T Cheluvegowda said the party nominated Tasneem for mayor's post as per the suggestion from the party supremo H D Deve Gowda and other leaders. There were other aspirants, but, they were convinced and nominated Tasneem, he said.

Mangaluru, June 13: Commending the Karnataka government move to ban the online classes for children up to Standard 5, Mangaluru MLA U T Khader has demanded to impose ban on all education apps that offer online coaching to school children.

"I welcome the government’s decision of banning online classes up to class 5. I would like to know why education apps of corporate companies are allowed to continue when schools are banned to conduct online classes. Why the government could not ban those education apps that offer online classes?” the former minister questioned.

He warned that private schools in the state may commence their online classes through such apps of corporate companies if the present situation continues.

Not all parents in the state can afford buying smart phones required for online classes, he said. "Only 30% of the school children in the state have access to smart phones. Most of the parents cannot afford to buy smart phones for their children. Government should take into consideration the mental stress of academically brilliant children among poor families. Those children may go under depression when they do not have access to online classes. The government can cancel some of the schemes like distribution of bicycles and reserve such funds to find solutions to the problems poor children face at present,” Khader said.

Belagavi, 13: In a shocking development, Karnataka has reported its first COVID-19 relapse with a 50-year-old Tablighi Jamaat convention attendee in Belagavi testing positive days after being discharged.

The State health officials confirmed that P-298 from Kudachi, who had recovered and was discharged, has suffered a relapse. He has been re-admitted to a designated hospital in Belagavi.

The patient was initially admitted on April 15 and recovered, testing negative twice on April 30 and May 1. The tests were done at the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Bengaluru, and the National Institute of Traditional Medicine (NITM), Belagavi.

Despite recovering, his treatment continued in the ICU for other comorbidities, especially cardiac issues. He was discharged on May 4 and quarantined at an institutional facility in Kudachi.

However, he developed symptoms again and was tested for COVID-19 again on May 5 at NITM, Belagavi. The result came back positive. He was re-admitted to a hospital, and on May 6 a second test was done at the Belagavi Institute of Medical Sciences. Again, he tested positive.