Yakshagana veteran Chittani Ramachandra Hegde is no more

Bengaluru, May 12: About 101 labourers bound for Rajasthan from Bengaluru in a goods truck were detained near a border Checkpost at Hirebagewadi village in Belagavi taluk on the Pune-Bengaluru national highway and have been sent into institutional quarantine on Tuesday.

Police said that the Labourers comprising of men, women and children had been travelling towards Rajasthan in a goods truck without permission from Karnataka and even from their home State Rajasthan.

In the morning hours, police and other department personnel manning the check post near...check post near Hirebagewadi detained them.

Bengaluru, Mar 11: Did Congress party’s Man Friday, DK Shivakumar, not rise up to the occasion and save the situation for the party, whose rebel MLAs were flown into Bengaluru to unsettle the Kamal Nath-led government in Madhya Pradesh? Shivakumar told The New Indian Express on Tuesday, “So far, I have not got any clear direction on what has to be done. But I am in touch with the central leaders. The party does not want to antagonise them... They are our own MLAs.”

He said that the Tenth Schedule, which makes defections illegal, is very strong. “It is not so easy for them once they are expelled. There are courts and then they have to get re-elected. It is not easy to get minister’s post after getting re-elected,” he added.

When pointed out that rebels from the Congress and JD(S) who joined the BJP have got re-elected and become ministers, he said, “There are other issues here.”

Asked about Digvijay Singh, who is at the centre of the controversy in MP and who was AICC general secretary in-charge of Karnataka, not being able to prevent the rebellion in his home state, Shivakumar said, “I do not want to comment on any of our national leaders.”But he was confident that the Congress government would be saved in MP. “I am aware of the developments and keeping track of them,” he said.

Congress leaders seemed wiser after the event.

One of them, who wished not to be identified, said the party clearly did not see the writing on the wall. “Jyotiraditya Scindia supported the BJP at the Centre when it scrapped Article 370. Later too he was not in line with the Congress position on several issues. But during the recent Delhi violence, he criticised the BJP, sending confusing signals,” he added.

Bengaluru, Jan 16: Senior Congress leader K J George on Thursday appeared before the Enforcement Directorate officials here in connection with a FEMA case.

The former minister is being investigated by the ED for probable violation of provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act.

The ED had recently issued summons to George.

Speaking to reporters after appearing before the ED, George said he has answered to the officials' queries and will cooperate further also.

"ED had issued me summons, as a law abiding citizen, I have answered and gave documents to whatever they asked.

Further also if they call me...I will cooperate and provide necessary documents," he said, without divulging any details.

George clarified that no summons has been issued by the ED to members of his family.

"If required they (ED officials) will call me again, and I'm ready to cooperate," the congress leader added.

Last year, the president of the Karnataka Rashtra Samithi Ravi Krishna Reddy had complained to the ED seeking a probe into the alleged money laundering and properties held by George and his family members in the United States.

Responding to a question about a defamation case filed by him against those who have levelled the allegations, George said "Just because ED has called me for questioning, I'm not proved guilty."

"Anyone can complain to agencies like the Income Tax or ED or Lokayukta, but my only objection is with going to the press to project someone as guilty," he said.

"...going to the press with an intention to do a propaganda against me..someone who is in public life-- to project me as guilty is wrong, so I have filed defamation case stating the allegations are false," he added.

George is the third senior Congress leader from Karnataka to face an ED probe after D K Shivakumar and B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan.

Shivakumar was arrested by the agency in a money laundering case and was kept in Tihar Jail, until he got bail in October, while Khan was summoned in connection with the multi-crore IMA group Ponzi scam case.