Judgement is ready, wait for it: SC on Cong's plea to consider BSY audio tape

Disqualified MLAs case

However, no notice has been issued officially yet by the Supreme Court whether it will take the audio tape on record in the Karnataka MLAs disqualification case.

TNM Staff

The Supreme Court on Tuesday told the Congress that the judgement is ready in the Karnataka disqualification case and asked the party to wait for the verdict. The court was hearing the application moved by Congress counsel Kapil Sibal asking the court to take on record the audio tape, allegedly of Karnataka Chief Minister Yediyurappa, as evidence in connection with the 17 disqualified MLAs' case.  The Supreme Court had initially questioned the relevance of the audio tape submitted by Congress's counsel Kapil Sibal. "We have extensively covered everything. What is its relevance?" the court questioned.  Sibal argued that the video, audio tape and newspaper clippings that were submitted to the court on Monday proved that the BJP was involved in coercing the rebels MLAs into resigning. A video surfaced on Friday evening allegedly showing Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa admitting to carrying out Operation Kamala in the state on the instructions of BJP's national leaders. While the audio was captured, one could not confirm if it was, in fact, Yediyurappa who was addressing the meeting. The Congress had submitted copies of the tape to the Supreme Court.  "We will see. This may have consequences and would delay the judgment. Issue of influence was raised in the arguments too," the court said. Congress counsel Sibal further told the court that the audio tape proved that Union Home Minister Amit Shah was involved in engineering the defections. The court said it will take note of the submission made.  The court has reserved judgement in the case and the verdict is expected to be out in the next few days.  The rebel leaders had moved the Supreme Court seeking that the disqualification orders passed by former Karnataka Assembly Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar. The rebels had contended that they had resigned of their own volition and were not coerced into withdrawing their support for the Congress-JD(S) coalition.  "There is hard evidence to show that BS Yediyurappa and Amit Shah were clearly involved in engineering the resignations. These MLAs were clearly coerced with the promise of money and power. The Supreme Court has decided to consider the evidence that was submitted. The truth will prevail," said Prakash Rathod, a member of the All India Congress Committee legal cell.  The Congress has accused Yediyurappa of confessing to poaching 17 rebel legislators from Congress and JD(S), which led to the collapse of the coalition. The Congress has requested the Supreme Court to uphold former Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar’s order, which had disqualified the rebel MLAs and made them ineligible to contest bye-elections for the rest of the present Karnataka Assembly’s term. Kapil Sibal told the court that if the Speaker’s order is not upheld, then the 10th Schedule of the Constitution (anti-defection law) would be compromised. Chief Minister Yediyurappa has, however, issued a clarification on Saturday regarding the viral video. “Yes, I had spoken to the party workers in Hubballi and I told them to say good things about the disqualified MLAs,” Yediyurappa had said.    

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FIR against OYO CEO for allegedly cheating Bengaluru hotel owner

Crime

In a statement, OYO has said it will file a counter complaint against the hotel owner.

TNM Staff

A cheating case was registered against Ritesh Agarwal, the founder of OYO Hotels and Homes, and six others in connection with a police complaint by a hotel owner in Bengaluru. In the complaint, Betz Fernandez, who owns Roxel Inn in Domlur, alleged that the firm did not pay rent for rooms for the past five months, police said on Monday. Betz stated that OYO had booked rooms at his hotel and agreed to pay a sum of Rs 7 lakh per month. He, however, adds that since May, the firm has not paid him any rent and therefore the firm owes him a sum of Rs 35 lakh for the last five months. Police have booked Rohit Srivastava, head of OYO South, heads of business development Madhvendra Kumar and Gourab De, finance officers Prateek Agarwal, Manjeet Singh and Mrimony Chakraborty.  According to Betz, OYO repeatedly charged Roxel Inn for 'bogus bookings' in these five months and that repeated emails exchanged between them did not resolve the issue, Inc42 reported.  All the six people are set to appear before the investigating officer on Thursday for questioning. The FIR was registered under of criminal breach of trust, cheating, criminal conspiracy, abetment, computer related offences under sections 34,120B, 406, 420 of the Indian Penal Code.  V Natarajan, a retired army official, had earlier filed a similar case against OYO and the firm has been accused of indulging in unfair practices by several budget hotels across the country. OYO in a statement refuted the allegations and said that the company's officials will file a counter-complaint against the Bengaluru hotel owner.    "This matter is currently sub-judice, and we are not at the liberty of commenting on specifics. Having said that, we strongly refute the claims made in the complaint that has been wrongfully filed against our founder and six other office bearers, based on false allegations and exaggeration on a regular commercial dispute. Our lawyers are looking into the matter and will be taking strong legal action as these claims are incorrect and defamatory in nature. OYO Hotels & Homes will initiate appropriate criminal proceedings against the Bengaluru owner who is sensationalising a civil dispute to attract attention," an OYO spokesperson said in a statement. 

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Look-out circular issued against 2 bookies allegedly involved in KPL betting racket

Crime

The duo are suspected to have fled the country, soon after the Central Crime Branch arrested Ali Asfak Thara, the owner of KPL team Belagavi Panthers.

TNM Staff

The Central Crime Branch (CCB) has issued look-out circulars against two bookies who were allegedly involved in betting and fixing Karnataka Premier League (KPL) cricket matches and are currently on the run. The accused bookies are Sayyam and Jattin. The duo are suspected to have fled the country, soon after the CCB arrested Ali Asfak Thara, the owner of KPL team Belagavi Panthers in September, reported The Hindu.  Ali was arrested during the CCB's crackdown on the illegal betting racket operating in KPL. CCB officials said that they are trying to bring them back to the country and arrest them since they believe the duo are involved in match-fixing and have contacts with international players, reported Deccan Herald.  Police believe that the arrest of the duo could lead them to the international links to the betting racket and also reveal the scope of the racket. The CCB has registered two cases in the racket which includes a bowling coach and a batsman playing in the KPL. The inquest into the racket saw the police question several players and staff members who were in touch with Ali. This included personnel from other teams playing in the league.  Since taking up the case, CCB officials have arrested four accused persons including Ali. The other three are Bhuvanesh, associated with Ballari Tuskers, Vinu Prasad, coach of Bengaluru Blasters, and a batsman Vishwanath. The KPL was established by the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) in 2009. It pits franchises based in the state in an IPL-style Twenty20 cricket tournament. The crackdown on suspected betting and match-fixing in the KPL comes after the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) had come under the scanner of the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).  

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Why the spotlight is on the feuding Jarkiholi brothers ahead of the Karnataka bye-polls

Politics

Known as the sugar barons of Belagavi, the four Jarkiholi brothers always contest from different political parties – and at least one of them has always been at the helm of power.

Theja Ram

Bye-polls are slated to be held in Karnataka on December 5 in 15 constituencies, and both the Congress and BJP are gearing up for a tough battle. This time, the spotlight is on Belagavi, the district where the rebellion arose, which culminated in 17 legislators from across the state resigning to bring down the Congress-JD(S) coalition in July.  Rumblings of dissent arose in the Belagavi Congress in October 2018 when former legislator and strongman from Gokak, Ramesh Jarkiholi, openly expressed his displeasure with the coalition government. Ramesh Jarkiholi is believed to have convinced two other leaders from Belagavi district – Mahesh Kumatahalli from Athani and Srimanth Patil from Kagwad – to also resign. With bye-polls slated to be held in a month, Ramesh Jarkiholi is likely to join the BJP and contest from Gokak. The Congress is now mulling over pitting Lakhan Jarkiholi, Ramesh’s younger brother, as its candidate from Gokak. The recent floods that ravaged most of Gokak has resulted in immense anti-incumbency for Ramesh. Snatching up the opportunity to undermine Ramesh, his brother Satish Jarkiholi threw his weight behind Lakhan and began speaking against Ramesh during his visit to the flood-affected areas in Gokak constituency since August this year. Ever since, both Satish and Lakhan Jarkiholi have become everyday figures in the politics of Gokak, constantly reminding the electorate in their daily campaigns that Ramesh Jarkiholi was holed up in a star hotel in Mumbai while his constituents needed his support. When the coalition collapsed, the decades-old feud between Ramesh and his brother Satish surfaced once again. Satish had vowed to pit Lakhan from Gokak against Ramesh “to teach him a befitting lesson.” Known as the sugar barons of Belagavi, the Jarkiholi brothers – Ramesh, Satish, Balachandra and Lakhan – all have political ambitions. The brothers always contest from different political parties and no matter which party is in power, one of the Jarkiholis has always been at the helm of power either as the head of a state-run corporation or as a minister. While Satish and Lakhan are with the Congress, Balachandra is with the BJP. Ramesh, who was with the Congress and once a close associate of Siddaramaiah, is now set to join BJP after the Supreme Court decides on the issue of disqualification, sources say. Prior to the bye-polls, three of the Jarkiholi brothers – Ramesh, Satish and Balachandra – had picked three different segments in Belagavi, which they turned into their fiefdoms. The brothers had promised each other that they would not interfere in the goings-on in the others’ constituencies. Hence, Ramesh Jarkiholi made Gokak his stronghold. Balachandra would control Arabhavi and Satish Jarkiholi made Yemkanmardi his fortress. This agreement, however, did not stop the brothers from fighting amongst themselves. Between 2013 and 2018 Assembly elections in Karnataka, the brothers – especially Ramesh and Satish – fought over interference in matters related to each other’s constituency. In 2018, Satish accused Ramesh of trying to pit local Congress leaders against him in order to ensure his defeat from Yemkanmardi. This time around, the feud has taken a new turn with Satish taking up the initiative of launching Lakhan’s political debut – all with the intention of defeating Ramesh. “Ramesh Jarkiholi is in a lot of debt. The BJP had promised to help him clear off his loans in exchange for resigning and help bringing down the coalition government. Now, Ramesh Jarkihoki will need more money to spend for the election campaign. Satish and Lakhan have been campaigning in Gokak for two months already and Ramesh Jarkiholi has not even started because of financial difficulties. The anti-incumbency and the lack of funds is a problem for Ramesh but may give Lakhan the edge,” the Congress source added. BJP insiders say that the party leaders had promised Ramesh a ticket to contest the bye-polls if he resigns. This has not gone well with local BJP leaders, who are threatening to defect or contest as independents. The rebellion in the BJP’s Belagavi unit has also put the chances of two other disqualified MLAs from the district – Mahesh Kumatahalli and Srimanth Patil – at risk. The BJP is planning to offer the Athani ticket to Laxman Savadi, the current Deputy CM, who was caught watching porn in the Assembly in 2012. This has made the rebels wary of the BJP’s promise to offer them tickets. In Kagwad, Raju Kage, the BJP leader who had contested and lost to Srimanth Patil, has openly threatened to join another party or contest as an independent if the BJP does not offer him a ticket. “The rebellion in the Belagavi unit (BJP) has made the task of picking candidates difficult. There is apprehension among national leaders that offering tickets to disqualified MLAs would increase the chances of BJP losing. Now those who resigned and were promised tickets are also scared of being wiped out of the political scenario. The high command will decide the candidate list after Supreme Court issues an order in the matter,” the BJP source said.   

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The fight to protect Bengaluru's precious Cubbon park and it's heritage

Environment/Urban Infrastructure

It is not just about lung space, it is also about the missing ‘heritage law’ to preserve the city’s vanishing old structures.

Soumya Chatterjee

“The issue of Cubbon Park is emotive and non-negotiable. Allowing the seven-storey structure will set a bad precedent,” says Priya Chetty-Rajagopal, one of the founders of Heritage Beku, a citizens’ initiative to preserve Bengaluru’s heritage. Priya is one of the many citizens in the city who are gravely disappointed by the recent Karnataka High Court order allowing the demolition of a pre-19th-century heritage building inside Cubbon Park, to make way for a seven-storey annexe building for the High Court. An online petition by Heritage Beku seeking the reversal of the order has got more than 13,000 signatures; around 500 citizens turned up to protest against the demolition order on Sunday. The collective anger is based on two prime reasons: although the government has said no trees should be cut for the construction of the new building, activists question its practicality. Secondly, residents are miffed by the scant regard to preserve the vanishing heritage of Bengaluru. A threat to Bengaluru’s green space “Cubbon Park is an essential part of the city’s identity,” says Priya, who started the online petition and is organising a series of activities (including Sunday’s protest) on the issue. “The park has already reduced in size due to several sports and recreational clubs inside the park. If this continues, our posterity will identify Cubbon Park as a single tree looking over the statue of Cubbon.” Incidentally, the HC had also denied permission to construct a swimming pool inside the park in May. Citizen-activists are likely to contest the judgement based on multiple legal technicalities, including a blanket ban on further construction in the park. Umesh Kumar, an advocate and president of the Cubbon Park Walkers Association, says, “Even if no tree is cut, there will be at least an additional 200 cars coming into the park if the building is constructed. Where will all these cars be parked?” To put a number on the loss of green cover, a 2015 study by the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) found that the green cover in the city is likely to reduce to as low as 2.96% in 2020 compared to 38.7% green cover in 2002. In 1973, the tree cover was 68.2% in Bengaluru, which was also known as the ‘Garden City’ due to the extensive green space. Even while the issue was in court, citizens had pinned their hopes on the Revised Master Plan 2031, which proposed provisions for the conservation of heritage buildings. Noting how successive governments continued to neglect the issue, Priya says, “As part of the citizen feedback, we had sent the Bengaluru Development Authority a 50-page supplementary set of inputs on structure and functioning of a heritage body, along with a list of heritage structures in the city. There was no response. Now, the Revised Master Plan is further delayed as it is under legal scrutiny due to some other issue.” Read: Bengaluru’s heritage Russell Market may face the axe for Smart City plan Lack of concern from authorities Incidentally, the Bangalore Urban Arts Commission, which was functioning under the Urban Development Department, was unceremoniously disbanded in 2002, leaving no public authority to protect the city’s heritage structures. Over the years, many private heritage structures have vanished and those owned by the government kept crumbling. Arun Prasad, an activist, says that there is clear neglect by officials in maintaining old buildings. “There is little chance of kickbacks when maintenance work is issued to a contractor. They, however, wait for the building to develop cracks, then declare it ‘unsafe for use’ and clear it for demolition,” he says, citing Janatha Bazaar, the 100-year-old Krumbigal Hall in Lalbagh, Attara Kacheri (Karnataka High Court) and the University Union Building as some examples. Read: ‘We are gutted’: Bengaluru’s heritage enthusiasts upset as colonial-era house razed A ‘heritage law’ is long overdue Experts and activists agree that heritage conservation can be empowered with a state-wide law, which is missing in Karnataka. Other than the sites under the Archaeological Survey of India, there are no legal provisions to protect heritage structures. “Ideally, there should be a heritage law to preserve at least those buildings that are owned and maintained by the government,” says Yashawani Sharma, urban historian and architect. “Bengaluru has a lot of heritage in terms of buildings but also there is a lot of tangible heritage in the form of inscription stones, statues, other heritage structures and natural heritage structures like parks and tanks. With the disappearance of these buildings, we have lost the vision of our old leaders. For example, we used to have a tradition of rainwater harvesting system but those have been all lost as these structures also vanished,” she says, while pointing to the system followed in Mysuru. “Mysuru has a Heritage Committee, which was formed by a Gazette notification in 2004. This dedicated committee has been able to do a fine job in restoring the city’s old charm,” she says. The committee has seven non-official members in addition to the official members from the Mysuru City Corporation and the Mysuru Urban Development Authority, among others. Elucidating further, professor NS Rangaraju, an acclaimed historian who is part of the Heritage Committee, says, “We attend bi-monthly meetings chaired by the District Collector and consider issues that we notice or come to us through the public. Once notified, the authorities are assigned to restore and maintain the structures. Other than buildings, we have also been able to preserve 80 to 100-year-old trees, water tanks and even private structures.” A city with no identity? Suresh Moona, another noted historian, says Bengaluru’s changing cityscape in the next decade or two will mean that it will no longer be different from any other city. He describes how Bengaluru had a lot of trees and buildings with large windows, but with the real estate boom, we are no longer concerned about the identity or beauty of the city. “The very culture of the city has been eroding since the 2000s. This was not the case when erstwhile leaders were ruling the nation. They were very particular about buildings that were coherent with the city’s culture. That’s why regions like Basavangudi, Cantonment and Chamrajpet still have their quaint charm intact,” he says. Read: Heritage Beku: Activists upset as HC paves way for demolishing building in Cubbon Park

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5 ways opponents are going after Warren’s 'Medicare for All' plan

Warren's plan generated questions about taxation, fairness and practicality that she is certain to face in the next Democratic debate.

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Abortion could decide Kentucky’s close governor’s race

Some Democratic strategists worry that Beshear’s support for abortion rights could alienate swing voters even if they're not fond of Bevin.

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