Mulayam, CM Akhilesh attend Iftar party in Bangalore

Bhopal, Mar 18: Rebel Congress MLAs from Madhya Pradesh who are staying at a resort in Bengaluru, on Wednesday said they went there voluntarily.

Issuing video messages, the rebels said they didn't want to meet senior party leader Digvijay Singh who was briefly detained near the resort this morning.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath and other leaders of the Congress have been claiming that the rebel MLAs were being held in captivity by BJP.

High drama unfolded this morning near the resort, as Singh, a two-time Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, staged a protest accusing the police of not allowing him to meet the legislators, following which he was detained briefly and released later.

Singh, along with Karnataka Congress chief D K Shivakumar, is meeting police top brass seeking opportunity to meet the MLAs.

Singh hit out at Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, accusing them of trying to block their efforts to get in touch with the legislators.

"We have come here voluntarily on our own wish; we have got to know from some people that a few leaders from Madhya Pradesh including Digvijay Singh and some MLAs have come here. We don't want to talk to anybody," Congress rebel MLA from Sumawali Aidal Singh Kansana said in a video message.

"We have tried enough to speak with every one for the last one year, when they did not hear us for one year, what they will hear us in one day? We want to say only this that we have come here as per our wish and go back as per our wish," he added.

Another rebel MLA Govind Singh Rajput too said they have come voluntarily and don't want to meet anybody.

"We got to know that Digvijay Singh has come with a few Ministers and leaders. Unnecessarily at the gate they are saying they want to meet us. When no MLA wants to meet him, they should not be doing this. All MLAs have sent in their resignation," he said in a video message.

Currently, 22 rebel MLAs are said to be camping in the city.

These videos were shared by former Congress leader Pankaj Chaturvedi, a close confidante of BJP leader JyotiradiyaScindia.

In a video message, Bisahulal Singh (Anuppur) said Digvijay Singh had fooled them for 40 years.

"My seniority was neglected. We recognised Digvijaya Singh as our leader for 40 years but he only fooled us. We have come here voluntarily," he said.

"Rahul Gandhi had told us that my name, along with Aidal Singh Kansana (Congress MLA from Sumawali), had figured in the list of state Cabinet but they were struck off due to nepotism," he added.

Pohri MLA Suresh Dhakad said they received information on Digvijay Singh's visit on Wednesday through television channels.

"The present crisis was caused due to Digvijay only. We don't want to meet him," he said.

Karera MLA Jasmant Singh Jatav also blamed Digvijay Singh for the plight of Congress in Madhya Pradesh.

Dimni MLA Girraj Singh said they all have already resigned.

The MLAs who have issued video messages also included Manoj Choudhary (Hatpipalya), Kamlesh Jatav (Ambah), Raghuraj Kansana (Ambah), Brijendra Singh (Mungaoli), Raksha Santram Sironiya (Bhander), Munnalal Goyal (Gwalior East), Rajyavardhan Singh (Badnawar), OPS Bhadoriya (Mehgaon), Ranvir Singh Jatav (Gohad) and Hardeep Singh Dang (Suwasara).

Former ministers Tulsi Silawat (Sanver), Mahendra Singh Sisodia (Bamori), Imarati Devi (Dabra), Pradyumn Singh Tomar (Gwalior), Govind Singh (Surkhi) and Prabhuram Choudhary (Sanchi) also issued videos.

The resignations of these six former ministers were accepted by Assembly Speaker NP Prajapati while those of 16 others are on hold.

The rebel Congress MLAs held a press conference on Tuesday and claimed that 20 more party MLAs want to join them. The rebels also said that they were thinking of crossing over to the BJP in the days to come.

The Congress-ruled Madhya Pradesh has been in a political turmoil since the MLAs resigned on March 10 following the suit of Scindia, who joined the BJP on March 11.

Mangaluru, Jan 19: Karnataka’s coastal city of Mangaluru has been ranked India’s safest city with the lowest crime index (24.14) in the country, according to a survey conducted by Numbeo.

Numbeo is a crowd-sourced global database of reported consumer prices, perceived crime rates, and quality of healthcare, among other statistics.

Mangaluru was named the city with the highest safety index of 75.86 among all major Indian cities.

According to the survey, Abu Dhabi is the world's safest city which has the lowest crime index of 11.33. It has the highest safety index of 88.67 in the list of 374 global cities.

Abu Dhabi sits on number one spot - as an increase in a city's ranking means a drop in its crime rate.

Sharjah ranked fifth safest and Dubai was ranked as the seventh safest city in the world with its safety index at 82.95.

Joining Abu Dhabi in the top ten are Taipei, Quebec, Zurich, Dubai, Munich, Eskisehir, and Bern. Islamabad (74) was ranked the safest in Pakistan.

Meanwhile, Caracas in Venezuela was rated the as the most unsafe city with the highest crime index 84.90.

Mangaluru, Feb 16: An elderly woman from Tamil Nadu was on Saturday reunited with her daughter and son after 14 years at the Mangaluru's White Doves destitute home.

"Mary only knew her name when she came here 10 years ago. Recently, she told us about her home town," Corrine Rusquinha, founder of White Doves told media.
Mary had gone missing 14 years ago from her hometown Kortampet in Tamil Nadu.

"Ten years ago, she was spotted by Mangaluru police who brought her to White Doves home late one evening. Initially, she could only speak Tamil, so it was presumed she was from Tamil Nadu. She was on psychiatric treatment," Rusquinha said.

A few days back, a visiting priest at the White Doves home spoke to Mary in Tamil and asked about her hometown.

"Surprisingly, she could recall the name of her hometown, following which the visiting priest contacted the pastor at Kortampet. Mary's family, including her daughter Gnana Anthony, who is a paramedic student in Coimbatore, was informed about Mary," she said.

Soon after, Gnana and her elder brother came to Mangaluru to take their mother back to their home.

Mary's husband Jhonson, who worked as a cook, had died within a year of losing his wife.