Khan murder: Kejriwal seeks BJP MP's arrest, slams Modi for shielding him

Bengaluru, Jun 9: JD(S) patriarch H D Deve Gowda on Tuesday filed his nomination as party's candidate for June 19 Rajya Sabha elections from Karnataka.

The former Prime Minister was accompanied by his sons former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy and former Minister H D Revanna, state JD(S) chief H K Kumaraswamy and others, as he filed his papers at the office of Legislative Assembly Secretary M K Vishalakshi, who is the returning officer for the polls. JD(S) on Monday had announced that Gowda will be contesting the Rajya Sabha polls.

Announcing the decision, Kumaraswamy had said Gowda decided to contest following the request of Congress President Sonia Gandhi, several national leaders and party legislators, and it was not an easy task to "persuade" him to enter the Rajya Sabha.

The JD(S), which has 34 seats in the assembly, is not in a position to win a seat in Rajya Sabha on its own and will need support from the Congress with its surplus votes. A minimum of 45 votes are required for a candidate to win. If he wins, this will be the second Rajya Sabha entry for 87-year-old Gowda, the first time being in 1996 as the Prime Minister.

Gowda was defeated in Tumkur constituency by BJP's G S Basavaraj by over 13,000 votes in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. As joint candidate of the then ruling Congress-JDS coalition, Gowda had chosen to contest from Tumkur at the last minute after vacating Hassan-his home turf, to grandson Prajwal Revanna (a current MP).

Election is scheduled on June 19 to fill four Rajya Sabha seats from Karnataka, represented by Rajeev Gowda and BK Hariprasad of Congress, Prabhakar Kore of the BJP and D Kupendra Reddy of JD(S) that will fall vacant on June 25, with their retirement. Today is the last date for filing nominations. With BJP not fielding any candidate against Gowda, his election is likely to be unanimous.

Bengaluru, Mar 22: The Karnataka government on Sunday afternoon announced that 9 districts in the State will be under lock down till March 31, barring essential services. It also announced imposition of Section 144 across the state for 3 hours - between 9 p.m. (when the "Janata curfew" will end) to 12 midnight.

The nine COVID-19-affected districts are Bengaluru, Bengaluru Rural, Mysuru, Kodagu, Dakshina Kannada (Mangaluru), Dharwad, Belagavi, Kalaburgi and Chikkablapur.

Announcing these measures after attending a meeting chaired by Chief Minister B. S Yeddyurappa, Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai said that there will be no commercial activity in these districts till March 31.

Inter-district movement, including public transport will be restricted. "Public transport will not work across the state tomorrow too. Air conditioned buses will be stopped till March 31," he added. He also clarified that while public transport, including KSRTC, BMTC and Namma Metro, will be withdrawn, private transport services such as cabs and autos will continue to ply.

According to Mr. Bommai, the State government will put in place further measures next week depending on how the situation will unfold in the State and the neighbouring States.

"Government offices will be operational in the State, including in the nine COVID 19-affected districts. As per the current schedule, the legislature sessions will also continue. Pourakarmikas will be working at 50% strength," he added.

Davanagere, Jan 9: Residents of SVR colony of Channagiri Taluq here on Thursday built a temple in the memory of a male monkey, who died here 'unexpectedly'.

A group of monkeys entered the SVR colony around three months back. The monkeys have never disturbed anybody in the area and they used to play with children living in the colony.

Locals said that the monkeys are very obedient to them.

Unfortunately, one of the monkeys died suddenly on Wednesday, causing distress among people who were very fond of him.

Showing their love for the deceased monkey, locals performed his final rite according to Hindu tradition.

Later, the residents approached the president of the village Panchayat to allot funds to build a temple in the monkey's memory.

The construction of the temple has already begun in the area at the same place where the monkey's funeral was conducted.