Shia Muslims across Karnataka mourn martyrdom of Imam Hussain

Bengaluru, Jan 13: Though he submitted his resignation as leader of the opposition over a month ago, former chief minister Siddaramaiah continues as the face of the Congress in Karnataka.

However, this may change as All India Congress Committee (AICC) interim president Sonia Gandhi has summoned Siddaramaiah to Delhi for a final consultation over change of guard. Over the past month, there has been speculation over the possibility of Congress persisting with Siddaramaiah as opposition leader and either party troubleshooter DK Shivakumar or former ministers MB Patil, HK Patil or Eshwar Khandre replacing incumbent president Dinesh Gundu Rao. Both tendered resignations owing moral responsibility for the party's dismal performance in the 15 bypolls held last month.

In the past 24 hours, there has been talk of Siddaramaiah being asked to be the state unit president and vacating the other post for a young turk or experience legislator including the likes of Shivakumar who could be the face of KPCC by 2023 if he gets a clean chit from the ED in cases of money-laundering, etc. Seniors, including former KPCC president and DyCM G Parameswara and former minister HK Patil, are strong contenders to be leader of the opposition if Siddaramaiah is asked to vacate the post.

However, sources in the Siddaramaiah camp dismissed the possibility of him becoming KPCC president. "He has never aspired for the post and the high command is not inclined to do it," said a member in his camp.

Siddaramaiah may meet Sonia on Tuesday morning. It's still unclear if any other KPCC functionaries have been summoned. Sources said Sonia is scheduled to leave India for medical treatment on January 15 and wanted to complete the consultations about Karnataka. The high command has reportedly gone through reports submitted by party observers Madhusudan Mistry and Parameswara.

Bhopal, Mar 10: Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh on Tuesday parried questions on the exact number of MLAs supporting the party in Madhya Pradesh amid a political crisis triggered by the resignation of Jyotiraditya Scindia and 14 MLAs loyal to him.

Repeating his allegation that the BJP was trying to destabilise the Congress-led government, Singh told reporters that the BJP had arranged three chartered planes for Bengaluru on Monday to fly out some MLAs loyal to Scindia.

"We want to know why Bengaluru is used every time to destabilise governments?" he questioned.

When asked about the number of MLAs supporting the Congress in the current political scenario, Singh only said, "Just wait".

He said an atmosphere of uneasiness has been prevailing in the BJP since the Kamal Nath government started cracking a whip on various mafias.

"We (the state government) are exposing Vyapam scam, e-tendering scam, Madhyam scam. In the honey-trap case, BJP men were found to be involved. This will be exposed," he said.

The political crisis in Madhya Pradesh precipitated with the resignation of Jyotiraditya Scindia over his apparent marginalisation in the state politics. Following Scindia's suit, 14 legislators loyal to him have sent their resignation letters via e-mail to Madhya Pradesh Raj Bhavan.

Scindia was subsequently expelled from the Congress by party president Sonia Gandhi.

Speculation that the Guna royal might join the BJP gained ground after he met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi this morning.

Hubli, May 2: Around 1400 migrant workers from neighbouring districts, working at brick manufacturing factories in Hubli were sent to their respective districts on buses, amid coronavirus lockdown on Friday.

Dr Purushottam, Nodal Officer, COVID-19 task force said, "Total 1473 labourers from eight neighbouring districts, working in the brick manufacturing units of our district were sent by 74 buses. 876 labourers are from Kalburgi where we are sending 44 buses, 350 labourers are from Vijaypura where we are sending 27 buses."

He continued saying that 20 persons will be accommodated in a bus while maintaining social distancing.

"Before the labourers boarded, the buses were disinfected. NWKRTC officials took a special interest in doing so. The District Collector has written letters to the concerned DCs regarding shifting of labourers in every bus, one Nodal Officer will handover them to the local officials," Dr Purushottam added.

On Friday, the buses were sent to seven districts and one bus will be sent today.