We will win trust vote; BJP is afraid of black sheep in their party: Siddaramaiah

Mangaluru, Jan 27: JD(S) leader and former Labour Minister K Amarnath Shetty passed away at a private hospital in Mangaluru on Monday morning. He was 80. Shetty was unwell for sometime, and was admitted to the hospital a few days ago, family sources said.

Amarnath Shetty, a trustee of Alva's Education Foundation (AEF), had joined politics in 1965.

He became the president of Paladka Gram Panchayat and soon was elected as MLA from Moodbdri constituency in 1983. He won the successive elections held in the same constituency in 1987 and 1994. He had served as Tourism and later as Labour Minister.

Bengaluru, Jan 6: Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa on Sunday launched the ruling BJP's outreach campaign in favour of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in Bengaluru.

"The CAA came into being after its amendment bill was passed in Parliament during its winter session with the support of major political parties. It is meant to give shelter and protection to Hindu minorities facing persecution in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. It does not take away any rights of Indians," Yediyurappa told residents on a door-to-door campaign in the city.

Accusing the opposition Congress of misleading the people on the CAA and inciting its protesters to indulge in violence, the chief minister said the Act does not cause any problem to all sections of Indians.

"There is no question of taking away anyone's citizenship, including that of Muslims, as the Act only facilitates the return of the Hindus persecuted in the neighbouring countries in the sub-continent," he asserted.

State deputy chief minister H.C. Ashwath Narayana and party's Bengaluru Central Lok Sabha member P.C. Mohan accompanied the chief minister on his outreach programme in some residential and commercial areas of the city.

As part of the nationwide campaign in favour the CAA, the party's state unit president Nalin Kumar Kateel and the state's dozen cabinet ministers led the campaign in other cities across the southern state.

"An awareness campaign will be peacefully held daily till January 15 across the state to counter the protests against it by students and other people at the behest of the Congress and Left parties," Kateel told reporters at Mangaluru, 350km southwest of Bengaluru.

Kateel is a BJP Lok Sabha member from the state's Dakshina Kannada seat.

Besides contacting the people directly at their doorstep through the party's leaders, cadres and supporters, the BJP is reaching all sections of society through social media and by holding pro-CAA rallies in all the 30-district headquarters across the state over the next 10 days.

"About 300 leaders and cadres of the party have fanned out in cities and towns across the state to explain the provisions of the CAA to the people and clarify their doubts, as the protesters were misleading them with wrong information about it," reiterated Kateel.

The CAA came into being after the President enacted the a law to give citizenship rights to Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis and Christians who have been allegedly persecuted as minorities in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan over the last seven decades.

"A deliberate misinformation campaign has been carried out against the CAA by vested interests, misguiding a section of college/university students, their faculty, activists and members of the minority community on its provisions so as to create unrest and trigger violence in the country," Ravikumar claimed.

The ruling party also held rallies and public meetings in major cities like Mysuru, Mangaluru, Hubballi, Belagavi, Bellary and Kalaburagi across the state and enlightened the people on the benefits of the CAA.

"As social media is all-pervasive with greater reach and better impact, we are also reaching about one crore people of all ages through Kannada, Hindi and English script, messages and audio/video clips in the state during the fortnight campaign," added Kateel.

Apr 23: An FIR has been registered in Nagpur against Republic TV channel's editor Arnab Goswami for promoting social disharmony and accusing Congress President Sonia Gandhi of orchestrating the Palghar lynching.

Three Mumbai residents, including two sadhus, who were on their way to Silvassa on April 16, were lynched by a mob in Gadakchinchale village of Palghar district on the suspicion that they were thieves. Nagpur Police Commissioner B K Upadhyaya said they received a complaint which was turned into an FIR at Sadar police station.

DCP Vinita Sahu said Goswami has been booked under sections 117 (abetting commission of offence by the public or by more than 10 persons), 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy), 153 (A) (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), 153 (B) (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national-integration), 295 (A) (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs), 290-A (public nuisance in cases not otherwise provided for), 500 (defamation), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the ipc. Another FIR was filed against him in Raipur, Chhattisgarh.

In a statement condemning Goswami, Maharashtra Congress said the killing has been wrongly given a communal angle despite ample proof of the contrary. "At a time when country is fighting against coronavirus pandemic, it is very unfortunate that a section of media as well as politicians are trying to create social unrest... [and] spread racial and religious hatred in society. Goswami has tried to create misogyny against women in the society. He made an outrageous remark against the Congress president on a live TV programme. This is completely unethical journalism and we publicly protest it. We believe in brotherhood and cannot accept such animosity. This will be dangerous for the unity and integrity of the country (sic)," it said.