Sunil Chatra, director of Sri Durgamba Transit dies in road accident

Bengaluru, Jul 4: With the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in Bengaluru, the state government has decided to impose a total lockdown in Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) limits.

The lockdown will start from 8 pm today till 5 am on Monday. The sale of essential items will only be allowed during the total lockdown.

"Complete lockdown to be imposed from 8 pm today till 5 am on Monday in Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) limits, as per instructions by Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa in view of COVID-19," BBMP Commissioner Anil Kumar said on Saturday.

"Sale of essential items will be allowed during the lockdown, including meat shops. Police action will be taken against people found roaming outside unnecessarily," he said.

With the number of cases increasing by 994 in the last 24 hours, the total of cases in the city now stands at 7,713. Of these, 6,297 are active cases.

So far, Karnataka has 19,710 cases with 293 deaths. While 8,805 people have recovered from the deadly virus.

At the national level, the total number of cases have now surged to 6, 48,315 out of which 3, 94,227 patients have recorded, while 18,655 have lost their lives.

Bengaluru, Mar 18: Karnataka Congress President DK Shivakumar on Wednesday met the Director-General of Police in Bengaluru and demanded police protection for Madhya Pradesh Congress MLAs and the removal of BJP workers from the hotel in Bengaluru, where the legislators are currently lodged.

"The (Madhya Pradesh) legislators have come here and have requested police protection, that is all. Let the police give them protection, our candidate (Digvijaya Singh) has come, let him meet the legislators. Why are BJP workers protecting them? We know that they are under threat and hence we need to vacate them (BJP workers)," Shivakumar told reporters here after the meeting.

"We will give protection to our men and that is why we are telling them they cannot stop us. They should be in a free and fair position. I have communicated to DGP that BJP needs to vacate," he added.

Earlier today, Congress' Rajya Sabha candidate from Madhya Pradesh and former chief minister Digvijaya Singh was placed under preventive arrest after he sat on a dharna near Ramada Hotel here, allegedly for not being allowed by police to meet the 21 Congress rebel MLAs lodged in a hotel.

"I am a Rajya Sabha candidate from Madhya Pradesh, voting is scheduled for March 26. My MLAs have been kept here, they want to speak to me, their phones have been snatched, the police is not letting me speak to them saying there is a security threat to MLAs," Singh told reporters.

Singh who sat on the dharna with a face mask on said: "We were expecting them to come back, but when we saw they're being held back, messages came from their families...I personally spoke to five MLAs, they said they're captive, phones snatched away, there is Police in front of every room. They're being followed 24/7," Singh said.

The development comes amid the political crisis in Madhya Pradesh after the exit of Jyotiraditya Scindia from the Congress party.

Scindia's departure was followed by 22 Congress MLAs resigning from the party as well as from the state legislative Assembly.

The resignation of these MLAs has left the Kamal Nath government below the majority mark.

Mandya, Jul 24: Pressing for a total ban on stone mining and quarrying in and around the villages surrounding Krishna Raja Sagar Dam in the District, many organisations have called for Mandya bandh on July 29.

The bandh has been supported by Raitha Sangha, Karunada Sevakara Sanghatane, Auto Drivers Association, Jaya Karnataka, Bharatiya Samvidhana Hitharakshana Vedike, Sugarcane Growers Association, Vokkaligara Seva Trust and Dalita Sangarsh Samiti (Krishnappa faction).

The activists said that the State Government must immediately take steps and permanently ban mining in 20 km radius around KRS as continuous blasting for stones is causing grave danger to the structure.