Ilaiyaraaja to perform concert at Bengaluru airport arena on Saturday

Music

The performance will kickstart the musician’s world tour, which will continue till 2020.

TNM Staff

On the occasion of Ilaiyaraaja’s 75th birthday, the musician will be performing at the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA). This will be the first-ever concert to be held at the airport premises. The concert will be held at the Concert Arena, which is located adjacent to the newly constructed South Access Road. According to reports, the musician will be performing songs in a number of languages, including Tamil, Telugu and Kannada. An audience of over 16,000 people is expected to attend. The legendary composer made a visit to the city on Thursday to announce the concert date and launch ticket sales. He said that he would be performing songs in a number of languages, without giving his fans a glimpse into his song list. He will be embarking on a world tour, starting with the concert in Bengaluru. Following this, he will also be performing in London, Paris, Oslo, Dublin, a number of cities in the United States and the Middle East. In India, he will also perform in Hyderabad, Kochi, Mumbai and his hometown Theni, Tamil Nadu. The world tour will continue until 2020. Earlier in July, the Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) operators of KIA proposed the building of a Concert Arena on the airport premises. “BIAL plans to develop a world-class Concert Arena on a 6.3-acre land parcel at the Airport campus to cater to the growing demand for entertainment events in Bengaluru. Once complete, this arena would be the first of its kind to be built at an Airport in India. It is proposed to be a cost-effective, semi-permanent structure,” a BIAL spokesperson reportedly said. This is the first arena to be built on the same premises as an airport in India. Officials hope to host a wide array of events at the arena, ranging from concerts to exhibitions, conventions, award shows and more.

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No one wants Roshan Baig: Disqualified MLA in a fix as BJP distances itself

Politics

Roshan Baig's departure from the Congress opens up opportunities for Rizwan Arshad.

Prajwal Bhat

The stage was set for a grand induction of disqualified Congress and JD(S) MLAs to into the BJP at the party's office in Bengaluru's Malleswaram on Thursday morning. But instead of inducting all 17 disqualified MLAs, as hinted by Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa before, the BJP inducted only 16 disqualified MLAs into the party. Conspicuous by his absence was former Shivajinagar Congress MLA Roshan Baig who was not invited by the BJP to join the party. "How many times do we tell you all we don't Roshan Baig. BJP doesn't want Roshan Baig", said Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister KS Eshwarappa when asked about Roshan Baig. However, he refrained from giving a reason for the party's stance on not inviting Roshan to join. Sources in the BJP said that the senior leaders in the party were unwilling to allow Roshan Baig to join the party. Roshan was named by Mansoor Khan, the founder of IMA Jewels, in the scam which came to light in June this year. In a video, Mansoor claimed that he paid Rs 400 crore to Roshan which had not been returned to him. BJP functionaries also cited reservations over the murder of RSS worker Rudresh, who was hacked to death on Kamaraj Road in central Bengaluru in 2016. Several BJP leaders including Shobha Karandlaje had blamed Roshan Baig and claimed that he was involved in the killing. "His name came up in the videos released by Mansoor Khan and even though BJP leaders were seen with him around the time of his resignation from the Congress, the party has now decided it will not invite Roshan Baig to join the party," a BJP functionary told TNM. Unlike other disqualified MLAs, Roshan has found it difficult to transition into the BJP. "We will work for any candidate chosen by the party but a section of BJP workers in this area did not want Roshan to be named as the candidate, both because of his history and because he is a popular Muslim leader," a party functionary in the city said. This came as a surprise to Roshan, who till Wednesday maintained that he was joining the BJP.  A communication sent from a source close to Baig requested his supporters to join the induction ceremony at the BJP's office in Malleshwaram in the city on Thursday. Even though the party's official media release excluded Roshan from the list, the seven-time MLA maintained that it was a "typing error". The BJP's decision to exclude him leaves Roshan's political future uncertain. Roshan, a seven-time legislator from Bengaluru, has been the face of the Congress party in Bengaluru's central area for years. He was first elected as the MLA in 1985 and worked as a minister in the Janata Party government headed by JH Patel. In 1999, when the Janata Dal split to form the Janata Dal (Secular) headed by HD Deve Gowda, and the Janata Dal (United), Roshan decided to move to the Congress. He was elected six times as a Congress MLA and became a popular figure of the party in the city. However, trouble began for Roshan when he was overlooked in favour of Zameer Ahmed Khan, who became the Minister for the Haj and Wakf Board under former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. Earlier this year in May, just after the Lok Sabha elections, Roshan lashed out at Congress leaders KC Venugopal and Siddaramaiah showing the first signs of dissension with the party's hierarchy. He called Venugopal, party in-charge in Karnataka "a buffon" and described former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah as "arrogant". Soon after, Roshan was detained by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the IMA scam on July 15. At the time, he was pictured with BJP leader CP Yogeshwar and party functionary Santhosh, a close aide of Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa. In the last two years, Roshan had grown wary of the rise of Rizwan Arshad, who contested as the Congress candidate in the Bengaluru Central constituency losing to PC Mohan of the BJP. Roshan Baig's departure from the Congress opens up opportunities for Rizwan Arshad, who is one of the Congress aspirants from Shivajinagar. Rizwan's tiff with Roshan became public knowledge earlier this year when Rizwan alleged that a TV channel worked in collusion with Rumaan Baig, son of Roshan Baig, to air a programme linking him to the IMA scam. He filed a legal notice against the news which telecasted tweets posted by Rumaan in its programme. "Before he submitted his resignation, Roshan already knew that he wanted to leave the Congress. He was unhappy that he was sidelined and that Rizwan Arshad was taking his place in Shivajinagar, "a source close to Roshan said. According to sources, Roshan planned to field his son Rumaan Baig as the BJP candidate in Shivajinagar. But with the BJP officially naming M Saravana as the party's candidate in Shivajinagar, it appears the door is now closed for Roshan to make a swift return to politics.

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Prince Charles joins wife, Duchess Camilla, at Bengaluru wellness centret

News

Prince Charles will reportedly be in Bengaluru till Saturday, spending time with close family at the wellness centre.

TNM Staff

Courtesy: Clarence House on Instagram

Prince Charles of Wales, eldest son to the Her Majesty the Queen of England, is in Bengaluru for a trip to Soukya, a wellness centre, on the outskirts of the city. He will reportedly be here till Saturday, spending time with his wife, Duchess Camilla, and some close family who arrived in Bengaluru earlier and are already at Soukya. The wellness centre and organic farm is situated near Whitefield. The 30-acre property promotes organic farming and integrative wellness. This is an extension of the 71-year-old prince’s official two-day royal trip to India. He spent his birthday, which falls on November 14, in Mumbai, where he attended an event at The British Asian Trust, a foundation that works to tackle poverty in South Asia. It is an NGO funded by Princes Charles of Wales. In the evening the same day, he arrived at Bengaluru.           View this post on Instagram                   Today The Prince of Wales turns 71! During a @thebritishasiantrust event in Mumbai this morning, HRH was given a birthday card and cake from school children. #RoyalVisitIndia A post shared by Clarence House (@clarencehouse) on Nov 14, 2019 at 1:53am PST   The Hindu reported that he will be joining his wife, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, who is here to have rejuvenation therapy, as she has done several times before. He spent his first day in India on November 13 meeting the President of India, Ram Nath Kovind. He also visited the Bangla Sahib Gurdwara in New Delhi for the birth anniversary Guru Nanak. He spent his time with community leaders.           View this post on Instagram                   The Prince of Wales kicked off this year’s Autumn Tour today with engagements in New Delhi, India. #RoyalVisitIndia In celebration of the 550th anniversary of the birth of Guru Nanak, The Prince of Wales visited Bangla Sahib Gurdwara, where HRH met members of the Sikh community and tried his hand at making a chapati! The visit follows a week of festivities celebrating the founder of Sikhism. Earlier today, The Prince met @presidentofindia at Rashtrapati Bhavan and planted a tree in the Presidential Garden. HRH also visited the India Meteorological Department where, in the National Weather Forecasting Centre, HRH heard about the new cyclone forecasting system allowing faster preparation and response time for India and other countries. The Prince was also able to test out one of the city’s e-rickshaws, a sustainable alternative to traditional transport, which have been developed by clean energy company SUN Mobility. Press Association / @ukinindia A post shared by Clarence House (@clarencehouse) on Nov 13, 2019 at 8:07am PST   Just before he set off on the trip, the official leg of which was scheduled from November 13 to 14, he gave an address to the people from the Sikh community from Clarence House: his royal Instagram page. “As I depart for India, on my tenth official visit, I did just want to convey my warmest best wishes to all of you in the Sikh Community in the United Kingdom, and across the Commonwealth, on the 550th Birth Anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev Ji.” He said as part of his statement. He added that the Sikh community is valued and admired by them all.

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Karnataka bye-polls: JD(S) releases list of 10 candidates, to support BJP rebel

Politics

JD(S) has not announced candidates for Mahalakshmi Layout, Kagwad, Athani and Gokak.

Soumya Chatterjee

The Janata Dal (Secular) on Thursday announced its candidates in 10 out of 15 Assembly seats that are headed for bye-polls on December 5.  The seats in which the party has not announced candidates yet include Kagwad, Athani, Mahalakshmi Layout, Hosakote and Gokak. The party has announced it will support independent candidate Sharat Bachegowda in Hosakote.  The JD(S)' announcement comes a day after the Supreme Court decided that the rebel MLAs who resigned from the Congress-JD(S) ruling coalition can contest the bye-polls. Incidentally, all the rebel MLAs except Roshan Baig joined the BJP in presence of Chief Minister and former state president BS Yediyurappa on Wednesday. The BJP has allotted 13 seats to 13 of these rebels and is yet to announce its candidates in 2 seats. The Congress released its first set of eight candidates on October 31. Here is a list of the JD(S) candidates 1) KR Pete: BL Devaraju Devaraj a current member of the Zilla Panchayat. He was also among the probables during the run-up to the 2018 Assembly polls. But he was pipped by incumbent MLA KC Narayana Gowda for the ticket. After failing to secure a party ticket, he had contested the elections as an independent. He had also served as the Chairman of the now-defunct Mysore Lamp Works.   2) Yeshwanthpur: Javarayi Gowda He had unsuccessfully contested the 2018 polls on a JD(S) ticket but was defeated by then Congress candidate and ruling MLA ST Somasehekhar. Javarayi is one o fthe richest JD(S) candidates. He has declared assets of above Rs 270 crore. 3) Ranebennur: Mallikarjun Khuba He won the elections from 2013 from Bidar district. He was also one of those named in the illegal mining report in Ballari district by Justice Santosh Hegde, the then Lokayukta. He had incidentally contested from the same seat on a BJP ticket. 4) Hirekerur: Anjappa Jatappa Considerably a newbie in politics, Anjanappa joined the party only recently. A software engineer from Bengaluru, he joined politics with the aim of doing social work.  5) Vijayanagar: NM Nabi NM Nabi is a former minister and currently the state vice-president of the JD(S). He was formerly with the Congress after leaving the JD(S) and had ensured that his son was the Youth Congress president of Ballari rural unit 6) Chikkaballapura: KP Bache Gowda A former MLA, KP Bache Gowda had contested the 2018 elections on a JD(S) ticket unsuccessfully and lost by a margin of 30,000 votes. He was among those who were recommended to be suspended by the Appachu Ranjan legislative committee report.  7) KR Puram: Krishna Murthy A former vice-president of the party and a two-time MLA, Krishna Murthy had also incidentally lost an election by the margin of a single vote. He was with the JDU before joining the JD(S). In the 2018 elections, he had unsuccessfully contested from Rajajinagar seat 8) Hunsur: C Somashekar Somasekhar is also a new face in the list of candidates. Somasekhar is a contractor who has bagged many road projects in the state. Until now he was not associated with party politics and seems to be the second person to have made the cut without any prior experience in the party.   9) Shivajinagar: Tanveer Ahmed Tanveer Ahmed is a national spokesperson for the JD(S). He routinely appears in television debates to present the JD(S)' point of view and also runs the Tanveer Ahmed Foundation in the city. 10)Yellapur: Chaitra Gowda Chaitra Gowda is the JD(S) state president of the Yuva Mahila Raitha Dala. She has campaigned for involving scientific measures to improve the welfare of farmers in the state.

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Denied ticket in bye-poll, BJP’s Sharath Bachegowda to stand as independent

Politics

Sharath was aspiring for a BJP ticket to contest the Hoskote bye-election, after the seat fell vacant with MTB Nagaraju’s resignation along with 16 other rebels.

Theja Ram

Rebellion in the Karnataka BJP unit took a new turn on Thursday with the party’s Yuva Morcha secretary and former candidate from the Hoskote segment filing his nomination papers as an independent. With hundreds of BJP party workers in tow, Sharath Bachegowda submitted his affidavit in Hoskote. Sharath Bachegowda was aspiring for a BJP ticket to contest the bye-election from Hoskote, after the seat fell vacant with MTB Nagaraju’s resignation along with 16 other rebels. Sharath is the son of veteran politician and Chikkaballapura MP BN Bachegowda, who defeated former Congress Chief Minister Veerappa Moily in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Sharath began openly dissenting against the BJP in August this year, when Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa and his loyalists began lobbying for the disqualified MLAs. BN Bachegowda contested elections for the first time on a Janata New Party ticket and won the Hoskote seat in 1978. He won the elections from a Janata Party ticket in 1985, 1994 and 1999. A strong voice against the Congress party in Karnataka, Bachegowda solidified his political career in the Janata Party. However, he quit the JD(S) and joined the BJP in 2008 after a fallout with former Prime Minister and JD(S) supremo HD Deve Gowda. His embittered relationship with the JD(S) stemmed from Deve Gowda’s refusal to allow Bachegowda to rise up the party’s ranks. Bachegowda lost to Nagaraju, who had stepped in as the Congress’ face in Hoskote in 2004. Bachegowda lost to Nagaraju in 2013 as well. By defecting to the BJP, Bachegowda ensured that his son Sharath too would climb up the ranks in the BJP. Sharath went on to become the BJP Yuva Morcha secretary and began campaigning and working for his father in Hoskote soon after. In 2018, Sharath contested on a BJP ticket against Nagaraju and lost from the Hoskote segment. The Bachegowda family has for long been arch-rivals of Nagaraju, who was once considered a loyalist of Congress leader Siddaramaiah. Bachegowda senior and Siddaramaiah were once in the JD(S) and were competitors for the top posts in the party. The two leaders have never seen eye to eye. MTB Nagaraju’s closeness to Siddaramaiah had led the Bachegowda family to consider him their rival too. With the BJP now welcoming Nagaraju with open arms, it was a massive blow to Sharath, who decided to contest the bye-polls as an independent. Ironically, former Chief Minister and JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy on Wednesday announced that the JD(S) would support Sharath in his election campaign if he would accept the party’s help. Although Sharath is rebelling against his own party, his father – the incumbent MP from Chikkaballapura – has refused to campaign for his son. On November 2, Bachegowda told the media that his son had left home and was on his own. “My son is not coming home. We are living separately. My son is educated and intelligent. It is his decision to contest the poll and I will not intervene. I will not solicit votes for my son,” he had said. This set off massive speculations that the father-son duo was trying to wrest power in the region from MTB Nagaraju by playing the “divide and rule game”. “This situation is exactly like Mandya during the Lok Sabha polls. Sumalatha wanted a Congress ticket but she contested as an independent. But Congress workers supported her. In Hoskote, Sharath wanted a BJP ticket but the party did not give it to him. He is contesting as an independent and the BJP cadre is supporting him. Although Bachegowda is saying that he won’t support his son, no one is ready to believe it,” a BJP leader said. Congress sources say that Sharath’s rebellion would only give the party an edge in winning the Hoskote seat. The Congress has fielded Padmavati Suresh, wife of Hebbal MLA Byrathi Suresh, from Hoskote. The party has Siddaramaiah actively campaigning for Padmavati. “The infighting will benefit us. We are happy that Sharath Bachegowda is contesting as an independent as it will split the BJP’s votes,” the Congress leader said.    

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After denying hand in defections, BJP gives tickets to 13 disqualified MLAs for bye-polls

Politics

The first list of candidates released by the BJP included the names of 13 out of the 17 disqualified MLAs

Prajwal Bhat

After months of denying any hand in the defection of 17 Congress and JD(S) MLAs in Karnataka, the BJP on Thursday gave tickets to 13 disqualified Congress and JD(S) MLAs as in the upcoming bye-elections in the state.  The BJP announced that Mahesh Kumathalli (Athani), Shrimant Patil (Kagwad), Ramesh Jarkiholi (Gokak), Shivaram Hebbar (Yellapur), BC Patil (Hirekerur), Anand Singh (Vijayanagara), Sudhakar (Chikkaballapura), Byrathi Basavaraj (KR Pura), ST Somashekar (Yeshwanthpur), Gopalaiah (Mahalakshmi Layout), MTB Nagaraj (Hosakote), Narayanagowda (KR Pet), and AH Vishwanath (Hunsur), would be the party's candidates in the bye-elections.  The first list of candidates released by the BJP included the names of 13 out of the 17 disqualified MLAs. The disqualification of the MLAs paved the way for the BJP to form the government in the state in July this year. In its second list released on Thursday afternoon, the BJP confirmed that former corporator Sharavana will contest from the Shivajinagar Assembly constituency. The party did not invite former Shivajinagar MLA Roshan Baig into its fold.  The BJP meanwhile is yet to announce candidates in Shivajinagar and Ranebennur constituencies.  On Thursday, 16 out of the 17 disqualified MLAs joined the BJP in the presence of Chief Minister Yeddyurappa. However, former Shivajinagar MLA Roshan Baig was not invited to join the party.  Former independent MLA from Ranebennur R Shankar was inducted into the BJP but his name does not figure in the first list of candidates announced by the party. The BJP needs to win six out of the 15 bye-elections to keep its majority in the Assembly. Following the elections, the strength of the Assembly will be 222 and the BJP needs to improve its current tally of 106 to 112.  The bye-elections in the Maski and RR Nagar constituencies are yet to be announced. Former MLAs Pratapgouda Patil and Muniratna are also disqualified from the Assembly but are yet to find out when bye-elections will be held in their constituencies.  The BJP's announcement comes on the day the JD(S) announced candidates for 10 constituencies and also confirmed that the party will support Sharath Bachegowda candidature in the Hosakote constituency. 

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BJP sweeps to victory in Mangaluru City Corporation polls

Politics

The Congress had managed to win six consecutive terms since 1983.

Harsha Raj Gatty

BJP MLAs Vedavyas Kamath and Bharath Shetty | Photograph via Apul Alva

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) secured a clear majority winning 44 seats of the 60 wards in the Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) polls. The Indian National Congress (INC) secured 14 seats and two other seats were won by Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) candidates. The result is a turn-around from the 2013 polls, in which the Congress had secured 35 seats and the BJP had won only 20 seats. The coastal district in recent years has turned into a key bastion for BJP with wins in the state Assembly and Parliamentary elections. However since 1983, for six consecutive terms, Congress had secured a majority in the MCC, INC had formed an alliance with JD(S) post the 1997 MCC elections. The local polls had remained elusive to BJP except for a term between 2007 and 2013. Securing victory at MCC polls was seen as a significant milestone for BJP this year, given this is the home turf of BJP MP and party state President Nalin Kumar Kateel. Also, except Mangaluru constituency won by Congress legislator UT Khader, the BJP had won six of the seven legislative constituencies. The BJP selected 40 new faces for the MCC polls, among the notable BJP candidates were former Deputy Mayor Sumithra Kariya (Baikampady ward), Lokesh Bollaje Lokesh Bollaje (Katipalla East), Diwakar (Cantonment) Sudeer Shetty (Kodialbail), Premananda Shetty (Mangaladevi) have won polls, whereas its minority candidates Arshad (Kudroli), Asha D Silva (Falnir), Jessel D Souza (Bendoor) faced defeat in their respective wards. Meanwhile, among the Congress leaders; former Mayor of MCC, M Shashidhar Hegde and Bhaskar K retained their position at Derebail South and Padav east respectively. However the party's another former Mayor Harinath was defeated by BJP's Lohith Amin, incumbent Congress corporator from Kulai Prathibha Kulai also suffered a loss in Idya West. SDPI candidates Muneeb Bengare from Bengare and Shamshad Abubakkar from Katipalla were the only two who have secured the victory for their party. Former mayor Gulzar Banu, who contested independently after not receiving a ticket from the Congress party, lost the polls. Unlike in 2013, when the Janata Dal (Secular) had won two seats, and CPI (M) and Independent candidates had secured one seat each, none of their candidates managed to win this time. Speaking to the media following the result announcement, Mangaluru (South) MLA Vedavyas Kamath thanked voters for helping the BJP to win the polls and said that the party will work on immediate priorities such as online payment of bills and formation of ward committees. On the other hand, former MLA Mohiuddin Bava said that there was no anti-incumbency against the Congress, but the BJP secured its win due to the ongoing Ram Mandir issue. "Also, note that Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) still does not command the voters confidence," he said. In the polls, the Mangaluru city corporation witnessed 59.67% turnout which was significantly lower than the turnout of 63.33% in 2013. over 180 contestants were in the fray, it was for the first time that nearly 50% of the seats were reserved for women as per the Karnataka government notification in August 2018. Story by Story Infinity (Subs and Scribes Media Ventures LLP.)

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