CBI raids leave Congress leaders red-faced

September 17, 2012

cbi_copy

Karwar, September 17: The raids carried out by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) sleuths on the offices of mining companies and stevedoring agents in Karwar, Yellapur, and Belekeri ports in Uttara Kannada district on Saturday have put the opposition Congress in the State in a spot.

All these days, the Congress had mounted a scathing attack on the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party leaders accusing them of “looting iron ore”.

On Saturday, the CBI sleuths raided the houses of two Congress leaders — Satish Sail, owner of Mallikarjuna Shipping Company in Karwar and Belekeri, and Shivaram Hebbar, former director of Dream Logistic Company, Yellapur. Mr. Shivaram Hebbar has clarified that he is no longer a director of the company and his son Vievek Hebbar is looking after the business.

Congress candidates

Mr. Shivaram Hebbar, who was the Congress candidate in the last Assembly election from Yellapur constituency, lost to V.S. Patil of the BJP. Mr. Sail contested as the Congress candidate from the Karwar Assembly constituency in the byelection in 2010 and lost to Anand Asnotikar of the BJP.

The CBI raided the houses and offices of the owners and directors of 13 companies who had exported half of the illegally mined iron ore (about 25 lakh tonne) from Belekeri between 2009 and 2010.

More FIRs

With the CBI filing five more first information reports (FIRs), the heat is now on a Janata Dal (Secular) leader, a Minister from the district, and a former MLC of the Congress, sources say.

The JD(S) leader, who is a ticket aspirant for the next Assembly election, is said to be the owner of a transport company and had transported lakhs of tonnes of illegally mined iron ore from Bellary. With the Supreme Court specifically asking the CBI to investigate the role of transporters, he is under intense scrutiny, it is said.

The CBI team is likely to raid a Minister belonging to the district as he had been a party to the memorandum of understanding signed with a company on whose office was raided on Saturday. This company had allegedly built a jetty illegally in the Belekeri port the work on which was later stopped by the Karnataka State Human Rights Commission.

Trail of transportation

Although the case relating to the illegal export of iron ore has not been shifted from Karwar court to the CBI by the Supreme Court, the trail of illegal transportation may lead the team to the coastal town, port officials said. Handling agents at the Karwar port had been given the subcontract of transporting iron ore by a company owned by Shubhalata Asnotikar, former MLC, and it was again given on subcontract to the Karwar Port and Dock Workers' Union, of which Ms. Asnotikar is the president, port officials said.

Comments

Add new comment

Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.

7 candidates set to be elected unopposed into Karnataka Legislative Council

News Network

June 20,2020

Bengaluru, Jun 20: Nine candidates filed their nominations for the June 29 elections to seven seats of the Karnataka legislative council on Thursday.

While the BJP has fielded four candidates, the Congress has given tickets to two and the JD(S) to one candidate respectively for the biennial elections to seven seats of the legislative council to be elected by the MLAs.

One independent and one person claiming to be affiliated to BJP have also filed their nomination papers at the office of Legislative Assembly Secretary MK Vishalakshi, who is also the returning officer for the polls.

"The nominations of two candidates without any proposers is likely to be rejected during scrutiny of the papers on Friday. So seven candidates will be in the fray for as many berths. Hence the election is likely to be unopposed if no one withdraws nominations," official sources said.

While scrutiny will take place, Friday, June 22 is the last date for withdrawal of candidature.

The election is necessitated as the term of seven MLCs — Naseer Ahmed, Jayamma, M C Venugopal, N S Bose Raju, H M Revanna (all Congress), T A Sharavana (JD(S)) and independent D U Mallikarjuna — will end June 30.

Based on their strength in the Assembly, while BJP is in a position to win four out of seven seats, Congress can win two and JD(S) one.

Twenty-eight valid votes of MLAs are required for each candidate to win.

Four BJP candidates MTB Nagaraj, R Shankar, Sunil Vallyapure and Pratap Simha Nayak filed their nominations today, after the party high command announced their names late on Wednesday.

Nagaraj and Shankar had played a key role in the formation of the BJP government after the coup that led to the collapse of Congress-JD(S) coalition.They had subsequently defected to the saffron party.

While Nagaraj lost the bye-elections held later, Shankar did not contest in exchange for a Council berth promise.

Among the other BJP candidates, Vallyapure is a former MLA from Chincholi and had given up his seat abiding by the party decision to field Avinash Jadhav, while Nayak is a senior party worker and had served as Dakshina Kannada district president.

A BJP insider said Shankar and Vallyapure have been given MLC tickets as they had given up their Assembly seats, while Nagraj was considered as he had faced a defeat during the bypolls because party MP B N Bachhe Gowda's son Sharath contested as a rebel.

Nayak's candidature is being seen as BJP high command's choice by party insiders, ignoring the state units recommendation of AH Vishwanath, a former JD(S) MLA who had defected to BJP.

Two Congress candidates, senior party leader BK Hariprasad and incumbent Naseer Ahmed also filed their nominations today.

Hariprasad's name was announced by the party on Wednesday, even as his tenure in Rajya Sabha is to end on June 25.

Naseer Ahmed, who is retiring as MLC on June 30 is seeking another term.

The choice of candidates by the Congress high command is being seen as a mixed bag for CLP leader Siddaramaiah as Naseer Ahmed is said to be close to him, while Hariprasad is considered among his adversaries.

In a surprise move, JD(S) has fielded Govinda Raju from Kolar as the party candidate for the MLC polls.

Incumbent MLC T A Sharavana and outgoing Rajya Sabha member Kupendra Reddy were seen as the prime aspirants for the ticket.

JD(S) leader and former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy said Govinda Raju was chosen as it would help organise and strengthen the party in Kolar and Chikkaballapura region.

The independent candidate who has filed his papers today is P C Krishnegowda, and the one who filed his nomination claiming to be associated with BJP is Mandikkal Nagaraja.

Comments

BJP has selected the candidates based on their wealth only and not on their education. Wealth is the primary preference for bjp and these people come to politics only to skip from tax and accumulate unaccountable money and save black money. they never come to politics with an intention to serve public. We cant find 1 percent of politicians who is sincere and cares for public. All of them are selfish and look their pocket only. This is general in all the political parties.

Add new comment

Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.

BBMP urges people to avoid visiting places of worship during the coming festival season

News Network

July 28,2020

Bengaluru, Jul 28: In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) on Monday advised people not to visit temples, mosques and other places of worship during the coming festival season.

"COVID-19 is now spreading rapidly in Karnataka, especially in Bengaluru. The festival season is starting with Varamahalakshmi festival on July 31, followed by Bakrid, Raksha Bandhan, Janmashtami, Gowri Ganesha, Moharram and then Onam. This festival season is the riskiest time for the spread of the coronavirus. Therefore, please STRICTLY follow the rules in order to stay safe. Do not visit religious places even if they are officially declared open," a notification from BBMP said.

In the context of Bakrid, unauthorised animal sacrifice (slaughtering) was prohibited in BBMP limits on roads and sidewalks, religious places, school and college premises, playgrounds and other public areas, as per the Karnataka Municipal Corporation Act of 1976.

"Unauthorised animal sacrifice (slaughtering) is a punishable offence under Section 3 of the Karnataka Prevention of Animal Sacrifices Act 1959 and Rules and the Amendment Act 1975, which provides for a maximum penalty of six months or Rs 1000, or both. According to the Karnataka Prevention of Animal Sacrifices Act 1959, slaughter-worthy animals can only be slaughtered in official slaughterhouses," the notification said.

Comments

Add new comment

Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.

Tricolour unfurled at 10,000 mosques across Kerala on R-Day

News Network

January 26,2020

Kozhikode, Jan 26: The Indian national flag was unfurled at around 10,000 mosques and religious institutions across Kerala on the auspicious occasion of 71st Republic Day on Sunday.

"The national flag was unfurled at around 10,000 mosques across the state on this auspicious occasion as per the instruction of the Waqf Board," Secretary of the Kuttiady Juma Masjid Committee, K Basheer, told media here.

He said that the national flag was also unfurled at the Kuttiady Juma Masjid here as per the instructions.

"Constitution is under threat by the Citizenship Amendment Act, we also read the preamble of the Constitution in solidarity," Basheer said.

Meanwhile, a majestic event was held in the national capital on the occasion of Republic Day.

Comments

Welcome news. But i dont think any of sanghi shakhas have hoisted our national flag on this occasion. I didnt see a single picture in any media or newspaper.