Siddaramaiah slammed for misogyny after comparing JD(S) workers to ‘prostitutes’

Politics

Siddaramaiah later said that he was using a Kannada proverb, and that he was referring to the BJP.

TNM Staff

Former Karnataka Chief Minister and Congress leader Siddaramaiah was called out for making sexist and offensive comments against women on Saturday when he appeared to compare JD(S) workers to sex workers during a press briefing.  Siddaramaiah was answering a question about JD(S) blaming him for the collapse of the coalition government in the state when he said, "A prostitute who can't dance says the floor isn't right to dance." There are claps and cheers heard in the background after Siddaramaiah's comment.  The BJP was quick to react to the comment and MP Shobha Karandlaje took to Twitter to accuse Siddaramaiah and the Congress of disrespecting women. He's former CM, he rightly exhibited culture of CONgress, this is how they respect women. See the kind of language he used when he was asked about his role in coalition govt's failure. I strongly condemn former CM using foul language about women while addressing a press meet., pic.twitter.com/SvNHHPtnlW — Shobha Karandlaje (@ShobhaBJP) August 31, 2019 "It is extremely unfortunate that a former Chief Minister is making such statements. Siddaramaiah has been known for using foul language against the Prime Minister and after fighting for women’s empowerment recently, it is very unbecoming that Siddaramaiah uses such language. Objectifying women for the purpose of making a political statement is shameful." BJP spokesperson Malavika Avinash told TNM. When Siddaramaiah was asked to clarify the statement, he said that he was referring to the BJP and not the JD(S) and that it was a Kannada proverb.  He omitted the word ‘prostitute’ and replaced it with the word dancer while clarifying his statement. "It is a proverb from our side. Those who can't dance blame the floor. What is the controversy in it? I was referring to the BJP with this", he told reporters.   Earlier in the year, Siddaramaiah was caught on camera snatching away a mic from a woman’s hand, hitting her hand with it and pushing her down, even as he pulls down a part of her dupatta. This after she tried to raise her complaint at an event held in Mysuru in January. The woman was a Congress worker named Jamalar who was trying to raise a local issue with Siddaramaiah when he misbehaved with her. Read : Video: Siddaramaiah misbehaves with woman party worker at event in Mysuru    

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Congress fed up of defections, plans to field party loyalists for Karnataka bye-polls

Politics

The Congress is considering pitting Lakhan Jarkiholi against his brother and party rebel Ramesh Jarkiholi from Gokak.

Theja Ram

Lakhan and Ramesh Jarkiholi

With the resignation of rebel Congress and JD(S) legislators from the Karnataka Assembly, the Congress in the state is gearing up for bye-polls in these 17 constituencies. Earlier in August, ahead of the floods that hit Karnataka, the state Congress unit leaders had conducted a meeting and decided on strategies for the bye-elections. Congress sources say that the party’s high command has told state leaders that losing in Belagavi is not an option. This, after former Gokak MLA Ramesh Jarkiholi led the rebellion in the Congress and resigned. He had openly stated that he would join the BJP. Ramesh Jarkiholi also convinced Athani MLA Mahesh Kumathalli and Kagwad MLA Srimanth Patil to rebel. After the Belagavi leaders openly rebelled against the Congress, several former MLAs from Bengaluru and the old Mysuru region also resigned and flew to Renaissance Hotel in Mumbai. The rebellion brought down the Congress-JD(S) coalition. Insiders in the Congress say that the party is mulling over fielding Lakhan Jarkiholi from Gokak against his brother Ramesh. However, this proposal is facing opposition from a certain section of the Congress as the party does not want to give the ticket to a Jarkiholi brother. In 2008, one of the brothers Bhimshi Jarkiholi had contested against Ramesh in Gokak and lost. Hence, a section of Congress  leaders wants a candidate who is not from the Jarkiholi family. “There are two options – to field a strong party worker with local roots or to give the ticket to Lakhan. Ramesh Jarkiholi is very strong in Gokak. But the party leaders don’t want to give tickets to businessmen and rich people. Look what happened with Ramesh Jarkiholi and others who quit, they tuned on the party. It's about time the Congress nurtures party workers. Ultimately, the high command has to decide what to do,” the source said. Sources say that the party is planning to field former MP Prakash Hukkeri from Kagwad against Srimanth Patil, and HP Manjunath against former JD(S) state President AH Vishwanath from Hunsur. Vishwanath had quit along with the rebels and had said that he was unhappy with Kumaraswamy’s administration as CM. The party is planning to field former Karnataka Speaker KB Koliwad from Ranebennur against R Shankar. Shankar, originally from Karnataka Pragnyavanta Janata Paksha, had merged his party with the Congress in 2018. A senior Congress leader will be put in charge of each of these assembly constituencies, where the bye-polls are slated to take place, to oversee the election campaign. Party sources say that only Congress loyalists will be given tickets this time around and outsiders are not being considered as the party does not want any defections in the future. “The plan in Bengaluru is to give tickets to local party workers from KR Puram, Yeshwanthour, Shivajinagar, RR Nagar and Mahalakshmi Layout. We have many good candidates for this. Mostly, block Congress leaders and district level leaders who have worked in these segments extensively will get tickets,” the source added. 17 rebels including Pratap Gouda Patil, BC Patil, Shivaram Hebbar, ST Someshekhar, Byrati Basavraj, Anand Singh, R Roshan Baig, Muniratna, K Sudhakar, MTB Nagaraj, Shrimant Patil, Ramesh Jarkiholi, Mahesh Kumatahalli and R Shankar from the Congress and JD(S) legislators AH Vishwanath, Gopalaiah and Narayana Gowda had tendered their resignations earlier in July. The motion for confidence moved by the then Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy resulted in the fall of the Congress-JD(S) coalition government. These 17 rebels were disqualified by the former Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar. The vacancies were notified by the Speaker’s office in the end of July. This means that the bye-elections have to be held before January 2020.      

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Money laundering case: What the ED asked DK Shivakumar during questioning

Money Laundering Case

Former Karnataka Minister and Congress leader DK Shivakumar appeared before the ED in New Delhi on Saturday, the second day he is being questioned.

TNM Staff

Former Karnataka Water Resources Minister and Congress leader DK Shivakumar on Saturday appeared before the Enforcement Directorate in New Delhi for questioning in connection with the alleged money laundering case. This is the second day DK Shivakumar is being questioned by the ED. The Enforcement Directorate is now looking into DK Shivakumar’s connections in Singapore, which is the primary topic of interrogation on Saturday, the source said. The ED is questioning Shivakumar regarding the business trip he took with his daughter Aisshwarya to Singapore in July 2017. This is in connection with the documents the Income Tax Department had found during the search and seizure operation carried out at the residence of Shivakumar’s financial assistant N Chandrashekar on August 2, 2017. “At Chandrashekar’s residence, we found that Shivakumar’s daughter Aisshwarya had dealings with Coffee Day and M/s Soul Space. Chandrashekar has told I-T that Rs 20 crore was transferred to DK Shivakumar by Coffee Day. This led the I-T to look into Rajneesh Gopinath, a Singapore citizen, and they found Rs 1.2 crore cash at Rajneesh’s house, which allegedly belonged to VG Siddhartha, meant for transfer to DK Shivakumar. The questioning is about the money laundering through cross-border networks and how DK Shivakumar laundered money though these channels,” the ED source alleged. On Friday evening at around 6.30 pm, the Congress leader had appeared before the ED for questioning, after the Karnataka High Court refused to grant him interim protection from the summons. Sources with the ED say that DK Shivakumar was grilled till 11.45 pm on Friday regarding his links to Sunil Kumar Sharma, the proprietor of Sharma Travels and also his connection to Karnataka Bhavan employee Anjaneya Hanumantha and Sunil Kumar Sharma’s driver N Rajendra. ED sources alleged that DK Shivakumar had invested in Sharma Travels, a transport company based out of Bengaluru. Further the ED suspects that DK Shivakumar had allegedly paid for the flats purchased by Sunil Kumar Sharma in Safdarjung Enclave in New Delhi. These were the same flats where the Income tax Department had conducted search and seizure operations on August 2, 2017 and allegedly found Rs 8.83 crore in cash. “When Sunil Kumar Sharma was questioned, he had said that DK Shivakumar had paid for one of the three flats he had purchased in Safdarjung Enclave. DK Shivakumar denied this. On the other hand, he told us that Anjaneya Hanumantha, the Karnataka Bhavan employee, ran business-related errands for Shivakumar in New Delhi. Shivakumar also said that he had allowed Anjaneya’s family to reside in one of his flats in Safdarjung Enclave,” the source alleged. Sunil Kumar Sharma’s driver, N Rajendra has turned approver in the ED’s case of money laundering against DK Shivakumar. N Rajendra allegedly told the ED that DK Shivakumar used to give him bags of cash, that he transported to various locations. “DK Shivakumar has denied transporting cash for purposes of giving kickbacks. He has, however, said that he had on a few occasions asked Rajendra to deliver money for his business dealings,” the ED source said. In September 2018, soon after the Income Tax Department filed a chargesheet against the former minister at the Economic Offences Court, the ED had booked DK Shivakumar, Suresh Kumar Sharma, Anjaneya Hanumantha and DK Shivakumar's buisness associate Sachin Narayana under the Prevenetion of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).    

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Court orders 'KGF: Chapter 2' to halt shooting at Cyanide Hills

Film

The order was passed after a case filed by a resident in the area claimed that the sets erected in the region had caused environmental damage.

TNM Staff

The shooting of KGF: Chapter 2 has been stopped at Cyanide Hills in Kolar Gold Fields after an interim order was passed by the Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) court in Kolar to halt the shooting with immediate effect. The order was passed when the court heard a case filed by one of the residents in the area, claiming that the huge sets erected for the shooting of the film caused environmental damage. Reacting to this news, producer Karthik Gowda of Hombale Films told TNM that the schedule to be shot in Cyanide Hills was almost complete. "We will be complying with the court orders and will not be shooting in Cyanide Hills. We will return to complete a final schedule of shooting after the issue is resolved in court," said Karthik. He further added that KGF: Chapter 1 was shot for almost six months in the same area and that the team had returned to the location to shoot the sequel two months ago. "We have one day of shoot left in the area. It is an arid area with no plants around and we will challenge the court decision," Karthik added. KGF: Chapter 1 and 2 are directed by Prashanth Neel, who has also written the story, screenplay and dialogues. Vijay Kiragandur has produced the project under his banner Hombale Films. The film has Yash playing the lead role and Srinidhi Shetty is the heroine. The rest of the star cast includes Achyuth Kumar, Nassar, Anant Nag and Vasishta N. Simha. The technical team comprises music director Ravi Basrur, cinematographer Bhuvan Gowda, and art director Shivakumar. KGF: Chapter 1 released in December last year in five languages simultaneously - Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, and Malayalam. The film was considered a success in all the languages and movie buffs are eagerly waiting for the sequel. Similar to the first film, the sequel will be dubbed and released in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Hindi. Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt has been roped in to play the role of the villain opposite Yash in the sequel.  (With inputs from Digital Native)  

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Karnataka HC raps govt for not implementing noise pollution rules for 19 years

Civic Issues

The Karnataka government had failed to declare ‘silence zones’ as per the noise pollution regulations that were introduced in 2000, observed the High Court.

TNM Staff

Representation photo

The Karnataka High Court on Friday pulled up the state government for its failure to comply with the court’s previous order to curb noise pollution across Bengaluru. A divisional bench of Chief Justice Abhay S Oka and Mohammed Nawaz was were hearing a PIL filed by an amalgamation of various groups from Indiranagar. According to Deccan Herald, the bench insisted that the advocate general explain the reason for the delay in the next hearing, slated to be held on September 13.  “We had given several directions during the hearing on July 23, including categorising silence zones and installation of a device to measure noise pollution. Despite this, the government has shown its negligence and it will not be tolerated,” the DH report quoted the judges as saying.  The court said that the government was “dilly-dallying about” in implementing the regulations on noise pollution, which were introduced 19 years ago. The bench noted that the Karnataka government had failed to declare ‘silence zones’ as per the noise pollution regulations that were introduced in 2000, TNIE reported. The High Court also issued directions to the state government to implement the rules immediately and to also take measures to identify and notify silent areas or silent zones as per the noise pollution rules. According to the 2000 rules, the Karnataka government had to have identified residential, industrial and commercial or silent areas and apply noise pollution rules accordingly.  “Even after 19 years, the state has failed to implement the noise rules despite the court issued directions repeatedly. Therefore, it is appropriate to direct the Advocate General to assist the court,” TNIE quoted the judges as saying. In addition, the court also directed the Bengaluru police to continue surprise checks on bars and pbs in Indiranagar that are violating noise pollution rules. The court also directed the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board to also keep a check on pubs and bars violating norms. According to the Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000, the onus is on every state government to take measure to abate noise pollution by ensuring that noise levels do not exceed the ambient air quality standards specified under these rules. The rules state that peripheral noise level of a privately-owned sound system should not, at the boundary of the private place, exceed by more than 5 decibels. The petition filed by the groups from Indiranagar stated that these rules were being violated by the restaurants, pubs and bars.    

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'BJP is abusing central agencies to humiliate DK Shivakumar': Karnataka Cong on ED summons

Politics

Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee President Dinesh Gundu Rao said that the BJP is "hell bent" on harassing DK Shivakumar.

IANS

The Karnataka Congress on Friday accused the Central government of misusing its law enforcement agencies to harass former minister DK Shivakumar after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) summoned him for questioning in an alleged money laundering case. "The BJP-led NDA government is desperate to arrest Shivakumar by implicating him in false cases and accusing him of 'hawala' transactions and amassing disproportionate assets valued at hundreds of crores of rupees," the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee President Dinesh Gundu Rao told reporters. Shivakuma flew to New Delhi on Friday evening and appeared before the ED, which had summoned him on Thursday night after the Karnataka High Court declined to provide him interim protection from arrest by the probe agency. "The state and central BJP leaders have been abusing investigating agencies like the CBI and the ED to intimidate and humiliate our leaders and lawmakers, including former Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram," Dinesh Gundu Rao added. Justice Aravind Kumar on Thursday dismissed Shivakumar's writ petition for quashing the ED summons issued in December 2018 for appearing before it in connection with the alleged 'hawala' transactions under the Prevention of the Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. Even before Shivakumar could exhaust his legal options to protect himself from arrest by appealing in the Supreme Court against the high court order, the same judge (Justice Kumar) declined to prevent his arrest if the ED wanted to question him under judicial custody. "Prima facie, it is evident that the ruling dispensation is hell bent on harassing and humiliating Shivakumar and his family by leaking half-truths to the media," Dinesh Gundu Rao said. The alleged money laundering came to light after raids by the tax sleuths on the premises of Shivakumar in Bengaluru, Kanakapura and New Delhi on August 2, 2017 led to the seizure of unaccounted cash worth over Rs 8 crore without any evidence of its source.  

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CDC urges vapers to beware as toll of lung cases rises to 215

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