Daily wagers' semi-nude protest on July 20

Bengaluru, Feb 29: A Lingayat seer on Friday threatened to get 10 BJP MLAs to quit if Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa does not make MLA Dattatreya Patil Revoor a minister soon.

"If Yediyurappa does not make BJP's Gulbarga South MLA Dattatreya Patil Revoor a minister, I will get 10 ruling party legislators resign and reduce the government to a minority, forcing the Chief Minister to resign," said Srishaila Saranga mutt seer Deshikendra Swami at a meeting in Kalaburagi on Friday.

Addressing a gathering of the Lingayat community, to which Revoor belongs, the seer said although he wanted Yediyurappa to complete the remaining 3-year term in office and the BJP to return to power after the next elections, it would be difficult for Yediyurappa to continue if Revoor is not made a minister.

"Yediyurappa will be in office for the next three years if he makes Revoor minister. If not, I will ask him (latter) also to resign, as does not need to be in politics anymore because he has a house, many acres of agricultural land and is very rich," the seer told the gathering in Kannada.

In his nomination to contest in the May 2018 assembly elections, Revoor (37) declared in an affidavit Rs 17-crore assets, including immovable properties.

Wishing Yediyurappa to remain in office for the next three years and return as Chief Minister, the seer said if Yediyurappa is forced to quit, then the Lingayat community would not get an opportunity to have its leader as Chief Minister again for at least 30 years.

Yediyurappa, whose constituency is Shikaripura in Shivamogga district, is considered the tallest Lingayat leader of the politically powerful community, which accounts for 18% of the 6.5-crore state's population.

Though a dozen BJP legislators won from the erstwhile Hyderabad-Karnataka region in the May 2018 Assembly elections, only Prabhu Chauhan from the adjacent Bidar district was made minister for animal husbandry.

The Saranga mutt seer’s threat comes a month after Veerashaiva Lingayat Panchamasali seer Swami Vachananda, dared Yediyurappa to make 3 of the community legislators ministers ahead of the second cabinet expansion on February 6.

At a Lingayat gathering in the state's Davengere district on January 15, Vachananda told Yediyurappa to make party's Bilgi legislator Murgesh Nirani Minister, failing which the community would withdraw its support to the ruling party.

Hiryur is about 300km northwest of the southern state's capital Bengaluru.

Ticking off the young seer, a defiant Yediyurappa, however, threatened to walk out of the meeting if he was blackmailed for making Lingayat MLAs ministers.

"You cannot threaten me saying your sub-sect (Veera Shaiva) community would not support the BJP in the next assembly or Lok Saba elections, due in 2023 and 2024," retorted Yediyurappa, reasserting his status as the community's strongman in the state.

In the second cabinet expansion, only 10 newly elected legislators who defected from the Congress and the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) were made ministers, leaving 6 posts vacant in the 34-member ministry.

In the first cabinet expansion on August 20, 2019, 17 party legislators were made ministers. Nirani and others, who were present on the dais, pacified Yediyurappa to take his seat and requested the seer to avoid making political speech on such occasions.

"The chief minister threatened to resign than succumb to pressures from religious or community followers," a party official told media.

Udupi, Feb 16: A man, who was trapped in 15-feet-deep hole following a landslide during borwell digging work at a remote area in the coastal district, was finally rescued after a prolonged effort today.

The man, identified as Rohit, suffered minor injuries in the incident.

The incident took place at Maravanthe village near Baindur in Udupi district.

Rohit was trapped when the land around borewell was being dug collapsed suddenly. It took around six hours for the rescue workers to rescue him.

Mangaluru, May 24: A youth committed suicide by jumping into River Netravati from the old bridge at Panemangaluru on the outskirts of the city. 

The deceased has been identified as Nishant, son of Chandrahasa Moolya, a resident of Kolakeeru, near Kalladka in Bantwal taluk. 

When Nishant jumped to river, a few Muslim youths - identified as Shameer Goodinabali, Mohammad, Tauseef, Mukhtar, Zahid and Arif - also jumped to river in an apparent bid to rescue him. 

Though they managed to take an unconscious Nishant out of the water, he breathed his last without responding to any treatment. Jurisdictional Bantwal town police visited the spot later.

Meanwhile, a few locals captured the video of Muslim youths' attempt to rescue a Hindu youth on Eid al-Fitr amidst covid-19 lockdown. The video went viral within hours. 

Social media platforms including WhatsApp and Facebook flooded with messages appreciating the courage of Muslim men, who endangered their lives to save a Hindu youth on Eid day.