Two women on morning walk beaten to death in front of Hanuman temple

Bengaluru, Feb 19: Playing down the simmering discontent among the disgruntled legislators who missed a cabinet berth again, Karnataka BJP on Tuesday denied any revolt brewing against Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa.

"An unsigned letter in Kannada circulating in the social media is bogus, as it was fabricated in the name of Santosh, a private secretary to Yediyurappa. No revolt is brewing against the Chief Minister," party spokesman G. Madhusudhana told news agency here.

In the second cabinet expansion on February 6, only 10 newly-elected legislators, who defected from the Congress and the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) in July, were inducted, leaving the party's many aspiring lawmakers miffed.

"The talk of about 20 loyal MLAs ganging up against Yediyurappa is a speculation as rumour mills are working overtime. No rebellion is brewing against the Chief Minister," asserted the official.

On the charge that Yediyurappa's younger son B.Y. Vijayandra was acting like a 'super or de facto CM' and medalling in the state administration, Madhusudhana said the latter was only assisting his father in party activities as he was also a party worker.

"As Yediyurappa is 76 years old and ageing, Vijayandra is helping his father in party affairs so that he (Chief Minister) could be free to attend to administration," Madhusudhana said.

Yediyurappa's elder son B.Y. Raghavendra is a three-time BJP Lok Sabha member from Shimoga in the state's Malnad area.

With six cabinet posts vacant in the 34-member ministry, many legislators, including eight-time MLA Umesh Katti, are upset that they have not been rewarded for their loyalty to the party even six months after the BJP returned to power again in the southern state.

On the purported meeting of about 20 BJP MLAs at the residence of state Industries Minister Jagadish Shettar here on Monday, Madhusudhana said it was a "get-together" as they were all in Bengaluru again to attend the budget session of the state legislature which began on Monday.

"There is no crisis in the party. Our government is stable and will complete the remaining three-year term in office till May 2023," he added.

Chikmagalur, April 5: BJP Lok Sabha MP from Udupi Chikmagalur Shobha Karandlaje on Saturday claimed that "efforts to spread coronavirus throughout the country" began at Tablighi Jamaat event in Delhi and termed it as "corona jihad".

"Efforts began at Tablighi Jamaat event in Delhi to spread coronavirus throughout the country.

Most of the attendees of that event are untraceable. There seems to be 'corona Jihadi plan' behind that meeting," she said while speaking to reporters here.

Meanwhile, according to officials, out of the seven new cases from Mysuru, two cases are connected to the Jubilant Generics cluster while the rest five cases have a travel history to Delhi.

Total positive cases of COVID-19 in India stand at 3072.

Mangaluru, June 16: A youth has been arrested by the sleuths of Ullal police station on charge of sexually assaulting a minor girl and impregnating her on the outskirts of the city. 

The arrested has been identified as Lavakumar alias Shravan, a resident of Valacchil, who was working in a fast-food outlet at Thokkottu. 

According to the police, the accused had sexually assaulted his owner’s minor daughter. The incident came to light when the girl’s mother came to know that former was pregnant.

It is said that the girl’s mother, who had employed the accused, allowed him to stay in their house. The accused befriended the minor girl and sexually used her.

Based on a complaint filed by the girl’s mother, a case was registered at Ullal police station under Pocso Act. The police arrested him yesterday and produced him before a local court.