Officials demanding bribe from beneficiaries will face stringent action: CM

Chamrajnagar, May 30: Karnataka Cabinet Minister Ramesh Jarakiholi said on Friday that over22 Congress MLAs were in touch with him and he can bring five of them.

"More than 22 Congress MLAs are in contact with me and if the high commands wants, I can bring five of them tomorrow," Jarakiholi told reporters.

Replying on speculation that some MLAs in BJP are not happy and want to join the Congress, he said, "Congress is a sinking boat and nobody wants to go to Congress now."

Meanwhile, sources in BJP have said that some party leaders are not happy including Basangouda Ramangouda Patil Yatnal.

Basvanagowda Patil said earlier this week that "BS Yediyurappa is not his CM, he is the CM of Karnataka. My leaders are Narendra Modi and JP Nadda."

The sources also said that other close aides of Yeddyurappa like Umesh Katti and Murugesh Nirani are no longer happy with him as they are yet to be included in the state cabinet.

The sources said Nirani has stood with Yeddyurappa but has not been included in the cabinet. There is speculation that several MLAs are in touch with Nirani.

Sources said Nirani, Umesh Katti, Basvanagowda Patil and several other leaders held a meeting in an undisclosed location.

Congress leader DK Suresh said the Congress has no role in the developments in BJP. "Yeddyurappa government will be brought down by their own MLAs. Congress has no role in it," he said.

Thiruvananthapuram, Mar 28: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi's intervention to remove the blocking of roads including state highway along the border of Karnataka in view of lock down to contain the spread of COVID-19.

In a letter sent to the Prime Minister on Friday evening, the Chief Minister said certain actions by the Karnataka Police have resulted in the blocking the Thalassery-Coorg State Highway-30. This road connects Kerala with Coorg in Karnataka via Veerajapettah. This route is a lifeline for flow of essential commodities to Kerala."

"If this is blocked, vehicles carrying essential commodities will have to travel a much longer route to reach our state. Given the situation of national lock down, this will add much more hardship to people," it said.

"You will naturally agree with me that no action impeding the movement of essential commodities should be initiated at this moment of crisis," he hoped.

Coimbatore, June 1: A communal conspiracy has been aborted by the police by arrested a miscreant who had placed meat in front of Venugopala Krishnaswamy Temple and Sri Ragavendra Temple in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu.

The miscreant has been identified as S Hari Ramprakash, 48, of Kavundampalayam in Coimbatore. He is a civil engineering graduate. It is suspected that He is a Sangh Parivar activist and the intention behind his act was to put the blame on Muslims.

Even though officials claimed that Hari appeared to be mentally disturbed, there were no medical records that stated he was mentally disturbed.

Two separate cases were registered against Hari. He was booked under sections 153 A (promoting enmity between different groups) 295 A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) and 298 (uttering words etc, with deliberate intent to wound religious feelings) of the Indian Penal Code.

City police commissioner Sumit Sharan said, “We collected CCTV footage and found a man, who had parked his motorcycle near the two temples and returned from the temples. Based on the registration number, we traced and arrested Hari.”

Commissioner added that the city has CCTV cameras in many places and it helped police officials crack the case faster. The police said he purchased one kg of pork meat from a shop at Kavundamapalaym last Friday morning and placed it in front of the temples on the same day.