Will not allow Hindu temples in Pakistan to be destroyed: Hafiz Saeed

Bengaluru, Jun 9: JD(S) patriarch H D Deve Gowda on Tuesday filed his nomination as party's candidate for June 19 Rajya Sabha elections from Karnataka.

The former Prime Minister was accompanied by his sons former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy and former Minister H D Revanna, state JD(S) chief H K Kumaraswamy and others, as he filed his papers at the office of Legislative Assembly Secretary M K Vishalakshi, who is the returning officer for the polls. JD(S) on Monday had announced that Gowda will be contesting the Rajya Sabha polls.

Announcing the decision, Kumaraswamy had said Gowda decided to contest following the request of Congress President Sonia Gandhi, several national leaders and party legislators, and it was not an easy task to "persuade" him to enter the Rajya Sabha.

The JD(S), which has 34 seats in the assembly, is not in a position to win a seat in Rajya Sabha on its own and will need support from the Congress with its surplus votes. A minimum of 45 votes are required for a candidate to win. If he wins, this will be the second Rajya Sabha entry for 87-year-old Gowda, the first time being in 1996 as the Prime Minister.

Gowda was defeated in Tumkur constituency by BJP's G S Basavaraj by over 13,000 votes in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. As joint candidate of the then ruling Congress-JDS coalition, Gowda had chosen to contest from Tumkur at the last minute after vacating Hassan-his home turf, to grandson Prajwal Revanna (a current MP).

Election is scheduled on June 19 to fill four Rajya Sabha seats from Karnataka, represented by Rajeev Gowda and BK Hariprasad of Congress, Prabhakar Kore of the BJP and D Kupendra Reddy of JD(S) that will fall vacant on June 25, with their retirement. Today is the last date for filing nominations. With BJP not fielding any candidate against Gowda, his election is likely to be unanimous.

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.

Mangaluru, May 2:  Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee Spokesperson P V Mohan on Saturday urged the district administration to find the source of coronavirus in Dakshina Kannada (DK) district.

He asked the district administration to ascertain from where a woman from Bantwal's Kasba contracted virus on April 19.

''We do not want to convert Dakshina Kannada into Nanjangud,'' Mr Mohan said referring to the mysterious case of Patient 52 from Nanjangud who has been identified as the main source of virus to the rest of the positive individuals in Nanjangud.