Raheja Universal Ltd announces its entry into Mangalore

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.

Mangaluru, Jul 12: No decision has been taken regarding re-imposition of complete lockdown in Dakshina Kannada, according to district in charge minister Kota Srinivas Poojary. 

The minister's clarification comes following social media rumours about complete lockdown in the district from July 14 to contain the spread of coronavirus.

Speaking to media persons, Mr Poojary said that chief minister will hold video conference with Deputy Commissioners, MPs and District ministers of the state on July 13 at 11 am. following which a decision will be taken. 

He also clarified that the government will not cause inconveniences to people by taking any such decision all of a sudden. "People should not pay heed to rumours," he said.

Bengaluru, Jan 18: The Karnataka state government has reportedly initiated the process to ban organizations like Popular Front of India (PFI).

State Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Friday evening said that instructions have been given to the police and officers concerned to gather information about the activities of such organisations so that necessary inputs can be sent to the Center.

He made it clear that the action would not be limited against PFI and SDFI (Social Democratic Front of India), rather any organisation which is involved in such activities, would meet the same fate.