Mangaluru: Colourful kites paint the sky at Panambur beach

Hubballi, Jan 6: Elected representatives of the BJP, Congress and JD(S) on Sunday decided to sink their differences and fight unitedly for Karnataka’s rightful share in the Mahadayi and Kalasa-Banduri water dispute with Goa.

The meeting convened by JD(S) MLC Basavaraj Horatti here saw participation of BJP ministers Prahlad Joshi and Jagadish Shettar, Congress and JD(S) lawmakers, among others.

After a 70-minute closed door meeting, MLC Horatti told reporters that they discussed the water dispute in detail and decided to take steps based on inputs from legal and technical experts on the rightful apportioning of water. “Today, we took the first big step towards the overall development of the region, unencumbered by political divisions,” he said.

Though the air was filled with a sense of jubilation as the issue had united seemingly hostile political parties on one side, a few activists expressed disappointment that the meeting failed to set a timeline to resolve the dispute.

Bengaluru, Jan 28: Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa on Tuesday warned the officials that strict action will be taken against the officials, who demand bribe from beneficiaries in various schemes.

Speaking after distributing the regularising letters to around 1000 people belonging to the Backward class in government lands, Mr Yediyurappa said the government was itself coming to the doorsteps of people.

“Officials will visit door to door to distribute the regularization letters and if any officials demand bribe bring to the notice of the government which will take action against such persons,” he said.

Vijayapura, June 16: Even as a video of a man wearing a burqa who is being thrashed by locals is going viral on social media, netizens targeted Bharatiya Janata Party for their activist resorting to heinous acts. 

The man who was caught in burqa has been identified as Siddu Paragond, an activist of Snagh Parivar hailing from Sindgi town in Karnataka’s Vijayapura district. 

The bizarre incident took place in Sindgi on June 11 outside a bank.

“While people including women were standing in a queue outside the bank, the person in burqa was acting in a suspicious manner. The person was trying to get too close to women which was making them feel awkward,” local residents said.

“Getting suspicious, some locals tried to interact and their suspicion rose with the strange behaviour of the person. Suddenly some men took the person away from the bank and checked only to find that it was a man in burqa. The men thrashed him and handed him over to police,” the sources said.

Confirming this, Superintendent of Police Anupam Agrawal said that the Siddu Paragond has been arrested and remanded to judicial custody. He, however, made it clear that no suspicious objects were found on Siddu. “We are trying to find out the motive for his act,” the SP said.