Ullal Dargah Urs from April 2 to 26, preparation begins

Bengaluru, May 13: 26 new covid-19 cases have been reported in Karnataka taking the total cases to 951. This includes 32 COVID deaths, one non-COVID death and 442 discharges.

The new cases include eleven cases from Bidar - all of whom are from the containment zone - , four from Hassan, two each from Davangere, Kalaburgi, Vijayapura and Uttara Kannada and one each from Bengaluru Urban, Ballari and Dakshina Kannada.

All the cases reported in Hassan and Vijayapura are with a travel history to Mumbai. In Bengaluru Urban, a nurse from a designated COVID hospital who was under quarantine has tested positive.

32nd death

The latest death reported was that of a 60-year-old man in Kalaburgi district. The deceased man from a containment zone was brought dead on May 11 to a designated hospital in Kalaburagi, and he has tested positive for COVID-19, it said.

Bengaluru, Jan 17: Karnataka Health Minister and BJP leader B Sriramulu on Friday claimed that Congress supports Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) and Popular Front of India (PFI) to disturb peace in the state.

His statement came after the arrest of 6 SDPI supporters in connection with an attack on a BJP-RSS follower during a pro-CAA rally held in December last year.

"The Congress party 100 per cent supports SDPI and PFI. Whenever they do not get the power, they try to disturb the peace with the support of SDPI and PFI. I will propose in Karnataka Assembly session to ban these organisations in Karnataka. We will discuss this matter," Sriramulu told ANI.

"We had already demanded for the ban on these organisations in Karnataka when I was an MP. Shobha Karandlaje, Yediyurappa and I had met Rajnath Singh, the then Home Minister in Delhi and we had given a memorandum to ban SDPI and PFI," he added.

A case has been registered against arrested SDPI supporters under relevant Sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Bengaluru Police is constituting a new Special Investigation Team (SIT) to handle this case.

"There were 6 people belonging to SDPI, who were here to carry out attacks on leaders supporting CAA. These people were being paid Rs 10,000 from their handlers to create ruckus here. Now this will be handled by the Anti-Terror unit," said Bhaskar Rao, Bengaluru Commissioner of Police.

Earlier today, Karnataka Minister Jagadish Shettar called for a ban on SDPI.

"SDPI always denies their involvement but it has been proved now. I welcome the police's action. Their organisation should be banned as they have always been involved in anti-social activities and government of India should take very serious note of this," Shettar told ANI here.

Bengaluru, Feb 4: Congress leader and former minister U T Khader today demanded an “objective” probe by an IAS officer into the sedition case the police have booked against a school in Bidar for a play students staged on the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

On January 26, the Shaheen Primary and High School was charged by the Bidar New Town police with sedition on January 26. This was based on a complaint by an Akhila Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishat (ABVP) worker who claimed that the play staged by the students on January 21 “insulted” Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

On January 30, the police arrested Nazbunnisa, the mother of an 11-year-old student and Fareeda Begum, a head-teacher in the school.

“This shows how today in India and in Karnataka, the BJP is looking to suppress the voices of people. Sedition cases have no value anymore,” UT Khader told a news conference.

“When a complaint on sedition is filed, action must be taken after obtaining legal opinion. But today, a written complaint by any BJP worker is enough to brand someone as anti-national. Even schoolchildren aren’t spared,” Khader said.

“An IAS officer should be appointed to objectively probe this. If something is found, then the police can continue the investigation,” Khader said. “But the government should pressurize the police. We’ve seen what happened in Mangaluru,” he said, referring to the police shootout that killed two people during an anti-CAA protest. “I know it’s difficult for officials to resist political pressure, but a line must be drawn. All officials must come together and send the government a message, that they will not be bogged down to pressure that’s against societal interests,” he added.

Khader said he lacked faith in the BJP government. “That’s because the BJP tends to give election tickets to those who plant bombs,” Khader said, citing the example of terror-accused Bhopal MP Pragya Thakur. “Even the Aditya Rao case (Mangaluru airport bomb planter)...we don’t know what’s happening. They just want to hush it up,” Khader charged.