Setback for Karnataka Congress as senior leader CH Vijayashankar hops back to BJP

News Network
November 6, 2019

Bengaluru, Nov 6: In a setback to the opposition Congress in Karnataka ahead of 15 bye-polls in Karnataka, its senior leader and former lawmaker C.H. Vijayashankar from Mysuru returned to the ruling BJP in Bengaluru, a party official said on Tuesday.

"It was a home-coming for Vijayashankar who returned to the BJP two years after he quit in 2017 and joined the Congress in 2018 before the assembly elections," a party official told news agency.

Vijayashankar contested from the Mysuru Lok Sabha constituency in the 2019 general elections on a Congress ticket and lost to BJP's Pratap Simha.

Party's state unit president Naleen Kumar Kateel and state chief minister B.S. Yediyurappa were among the leaders and cadres who welcomed Vijayashankar back into the party fold.

"I have submitted my resignation from the Congress last week to its party high command and decided to rejoin the BJP for strengthening the party and its government in the state," Vijayashankar said on the occasion.

Vijayashankar's return to the saffron party comes ahead of the bye-elections in the southern state on December 5, including two in the old Mysuru region from where two former JD(S) rebel legislators A.H. Vishwanath and K.C. Narayana Gowda resigned from Hunsuru and K.R. Pet assembly segments, resulting in their disqualification and expulsion from the regional party in July.

"I was involved in party activities and held important positions when I was in the BJP until two years ago. In the Congress, however, no position or responsibilities were given to make best use of my services and political experiences. Hence, I have quit the party and came back to the BJP," Vijayashankar told reporters in Bengaluru.

Vijayashankar was BJP's district president and state unit's vice-president and represented twice the Hunsur assembly seat and the Lok Sabha twice from Mysuru in the past.

As the opposition leader in the assembly and former state chief minister Siddaramaiah, Vijayashankar is a popular Kurba leader in the state's southern region from the shepherd community.

Comments

kumar
 - 
Thursday, 7 Nov 2019

Dear Vijayshanker, please let us know how much you received from bjp to jump back.   This is really a good business to make money.   YOu have awarded the voters for selecting you.   Keep it up.   We need politicians like you.   

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Agencies
February 23,2020

Bengaluru, Feb 23: Bolstered by the Supreme Court's interim nod for the gazette notification of the Mahadayi Water Dispute Tribunal award by the Central government, Karnataka decided to allot funds for the drinking water project in the state's northwest region, an official said on Saturday.

"Funds will be allotted in the state budget for fiscal 2020-21 to complete the Kalasa-Banduri project across the Mahadayi river for supplying drinking water to the four drought-prone northern districts in the state," the official of the water resources department told media on anonymity.

As Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa also holds the finance portfolio, he has agreed to allocate funds for the project, held up for years in the legal battle with the neighbouring Goa and Maharashtra over the sharing of the river water among the three coastal states.

Yediyurappa is slated to present the state budget for the ensuing fiscal in the legislative assembly on March 2.

"We will resume the project work once the Centre notifies the award though it will be binding on the final outcome of the apex court's hearing the review petitions of Goa and Maharashtra against the Tribunal award," the official noted.

A division bench of Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Justice Hemant Gupta on Thursday passed an interim order on the Tribunal award, allowing the central water resources ministry to notify it for implementation and posted the case for final hearing in July.

The Tribunal on August 14, 2018 allocated 13.42 thousand million cubic feet (tmcft) of the river water to the southern state for irrigation and drinking water supply to towns and villages across Bagalkot, Belagavi, Dharwad and Gadag districts, which are in the arid region of the Deccan plateau.

The four districts are about 400-550 km northwest of Bengaluru in the southern state.

Of the 13.42 tmcft water, 5.5 tmcft will be used in the river basin and for diversion into the depleted Malaprabha reservoir while the balance 7.92 tmcft will be utilized for hydel power generation instead of allowing the water to go into the Arabian Sea on the state's west coast through Goa.

Goa, which opposed Karnataka's demand for 36.66 tmcft, was allocated 24 tmcft, while Maharashtra got 1.3 tmcft.

The Tribunal assessed that 188.06 tmc feet water is available at 75 per cent dependability.

The three-member Tribunal is headed by Chairman Justice J.M. Panchal, Justice Viney Mittal and Justice P.S. Naayana.

The Union government had set up the inter-state Tribunal on November 16, 2010 for the djudication of the Mahadayi basin water allocation among the three riparian and contiguous states.

Goa and Maharashtra claimed 122.6 tmc feet and 6.35 tmc feet of the river water respectively.

The Tribunal, which commenced sittings on September 6, 2012, held 1,209 sittings for over 6 years.

Supreme Court senior counsel F.S. Nariman represented the state before the Tribunal to present its case.

The Tribunal's chairman and two members inspected the river basin area across the three coastal states from December 12-24, 2013.

The 77km-long Mahadayi or Mandovi river originates at Bhimgad in the Western Ghats in Belagavi district and flows into the neighbouring Goa through Maharashtra and joins the Arabian Sea off the west coast.

Though the river flows 29 km in Karnataka and 52 km in Goa, its catchment area is spread over 2,032 km in the southern state as against 1,580 km in the western state (Goa).

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News Network
May 15,2020

Bengaluru, May 15 Reformed underworld don N Muthappa Rai died battling cancer at a private hospital here on Friday, hospital sources said.

Rai, 68, was suffering from brain cancer for the past one year and was admitted at Manipal Hospital on Old Airport Road, where he died at 2.30 am, the sources said. Rai is survived by two sons.

Born into a Tulu-speaking Bunt family in Dakshina Kannada''s Puttur town, Rai entered the crime world at a very young age.

Karnataka police issued arrest warrants against Rai in eight cases, including murder and conspiracy.

In 2002, Rai was deported to India from the United Arab Emirates. On arrival, he was questioned by various investigation agencies such as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and Intelligence Bureau (IB), and by the Karnataka police. He was later acquitted due to the lack of evidences.

In his reformed years, Rai founded charitable organisation ''Jaya Karnataka''.

Rai has appeared in Tulu film ''Kanchilda Baale'' in 2011 and Kannada film ''Katari Veera Surasundarangi'' in 2012.

Bollywood director Ram Gopal Varma wanted to make a movie based on Rai''s life. The film roped in actor Vivek Oberoi for the lead role and was shot in Bengaluru, Mangaluru, Mumbai, Dubai and London. However, it has not been released due to production delays.

Rai was enthusiastic about the film and even celebrated his birthday with Varma and Oberoi.

After his cancer diagnosis, Rai withdrew from public life and resigned from Jaya Karnataka.

His last rites are likely to be performed at Bidadi on Friday, family sources said.

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News Network
January 16,2020

Mangaluru, Jan 16: The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad is holding rallies and meetings and distributing booklets across the country in support of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, said ABVP National Secretary Harsha Narayan here on Thursday.

Speaking to media persons, he said that the CAA, which provides citizenship to Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Parsis, Jains and Christians persecuted in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, was among the things that the ABVP was fighting for.

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