Regional

Raichur (Karnataka), March 16 (IANS) Mantralaya seer Dr Subudendra Teertha Swamiji on Thursday warned Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai "not to test their patience" in connection with establishment of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Raichur.

Addressing the agitators who have been staging a protest for 308 days at the protest site, the seer stated that the message has been sent to the state as well as to the Central government towards establishing AIIMS in Raichur.

"Raichur is a golden land. It is known as the rice bowl where two rivers flow. The district has lost the IIT already. Do not test our patience. If patience is lost, things are going to be difficult," he warned.

"IIT should have been allotted to Raichur. We lost it. When a person who is hungry is fed, it is well received. When it is given to a person who is not hungry it is not valued. The AIIMS model is inappropriate. From this platform I am appealing to PM Modi and CM Bommai that they should listen to the demand of agitators to establish the AIIMS," he said.

The seer also told agitators not to get disheartened as their demand is justified.

--IANS
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Jaipur, March 16 (IANS) Rajasthan Director General of Police Umesh Mishra on Thursday announced a reward of Rs 1 lakh for information leading to the arrest of accused Anil Meena in the case of leaking the first question paper of second grade general knowledge paper conducted by the RPSC.

Meena alias Sher Singh Meena, a resident of Dola Ka Bas Chomu, Jaipur, was working as Principal in Rural Hall in Bhavri, Swaroopganj, Abu Road and is still absconding.

--IANS
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Patna, March 16 (IANS) As Bihar Police cracks down on people who are playing vulgar Bhojpuri songs on loudspeakers, RJD MLC Sunil Singh accused that BJP of being responsible for promoting those actors singing such Bhojpuri songs.

Speaking in the Legislative Council, Sunil Singh, who is very close to Lalu Prasad Yadav family, noted that Bhojpuri is a very sweet language.

"Over 6 crore people in the country speak Bhojpuri language and overall 25 crore across the world. Many countries like Mauritius, Fiji and West Indies have Bhojpuri as a dominant language but here in our country, people are making vulgar songs. Interestingly, actors like Ravi Kishan, Manoj Tiwari and Dinesh Lal Yadav alias Nirahua sang many vulgar Bhojpuri songs and the BJP gave them tickets for the Lok Sabha. They are representing Gorakhpur, North East Delhi and Azamgarh Lok Sabha constituency," Singh said.

Following his statement, BJP MLC Nawal Kishore Yadav objected, saying Singh is expressing his view in Question Hour. He should ask questions and not wasre the precious time of the house, he added.

Following the objection, the presiding officer interrupted the RJD leader and directed him to ask only a question.

Interacting with media persons outside the legislature later, Singh said: "The youths of Bhojpuri origin follow those actors and if the latter produce vulgarity, then how could we expect good behaviour from our youths."

Singh, in the house, had also demanded a censor board for Bhojpuri songs and movies to stop vulgarity from coming out in public domain.

--IANS
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Jaipur, March 16 (IANS) Taking a dig at Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot over six Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) legislators joining the Congress, state unit BJP president Satish Poonia on Thursday said the veteran Congress leader has "swallowed six elephants".

Six BSP MLAs had joined Congress soon after the formation of the government and extended full support to Gehlot. The elephant is the party symbol of the BSP.

On Thursday, a protest -- 'Halla Bol' programme, was organised by the Rajasthan BJP in Bharatpur against the "Congress' policies".

Bharatpur district unit BJP president Jagat Singh said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi should be put in a mental asylum.

"Rahul Gandhi should be put in a mental asylum. Next time, when the BJP comes to power, the 'entire Congress party' will be put in jail," Jagat Singh said.

Meanwhile, Poonia said: "No one can eat an elephant but Gehlot is a magician. This time, BSP - 'Bijli, Sadak aur Pani' - will become the reason of the Congress' downfall."

He further said that Rahul Gandhi and his mother -- the former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, will be sent to their maternal grandparents.

"There is a state of complete anarchy in Rajasthan... farmers, young women, Dalit, etc., are deprived of their rights. They are upset as well," he said.

Poonia said that Rahul Gandhi had promised that if the Congress comes to power in Rajasthan, it would waive the entire loan of the farmers.

"... but even after 1,500 days, 200 farmers of Rajasthan committed suicide," he said.

He claimed that Rajasthan has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country at 28 per cent.

He also said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a BJP-led government will be formed in Rajasthan in 2023 and for the third time in 2024, Modi will become the Prime Minister with another historic victory.

After the meeting, an attempt was made to gherao the Bharatpur collectorate under the leadership of Poonia.

The workers broke the barricades and tried to enter the collectorate.

Later, the BJP workers, including Poonia, were arrested and they were dropped in the BJP office in 3 buses.

--IANS
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Bengaluru, March 16 (IANS) In another indication of the growing rifts in the BJP's Karnataka unit, a Vijay Sankalpa Yatra, supposed to be led by former Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa in Mudigere assembly constituency in Chikmagalur district on Thursday, was called off after a public showdown between local leaders.

The development took place after party workers, allegedly supporters of BJP national General Secretary C.T. Ravi, surrounded Yediyurappa on Thursday afternoon, demanding that incumbent MLA from Mudigere M.P. Kumaraswamy be denied the ticket for re-election.

Visibly disturbed by the turn of events, Yediyurappa turned back, leading to cancellation of the roadshow. Ravi, who was also present there, was seen walking away to the other side along with his supporters.

The incident is being seen as a fallout of the political one-upmanship in the BJP.

Yeddyurappa, who has announced his retirement from electoral politics, had recently declared that his son B.Y. Vijayendra will be the BJP candidate from the family fief of Shikaripura constituency in Shimoga district. However, Ravi had dismissed the former Chief Minister's statement.

--IANS
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Mumbai, March 16 (IANS) The Mumbai Police late on Thursday arrested a fashionista and detained her brother, both from Ulhasnagar town, in connection with an alleged attempt to 'bribe, threaten and blackmail' Amruta Fadnavis, the banker-singer wife of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

The sensational developments came a day after Amruta lodged a complaint with the Malabar Hill Police Station, accusing the father-daughter duo of Ulhasnagar of 'bribe-threats-blackmail'.

Moving swiftly, the Malabar Hill Police Station (Thursday) swooped to Thane town and detained the siblings -- a professional fashion designer Aniksha Jaisinghani and her brother Akshan -- while their bookie father, the other prime accused in the case, Anil Jaisinghani, is said to be absconding, officials said.

After they were brought to Mumbai on Thursday evening, Aniksha was arrested in the case.

The matter shot to limelight after the Nationalist Congress Party's Leader of Opposition Ajit Pawar raised the matter in the Assembly, while state Congress president Nana Patole termed the matter as "serious" and demanded an in-depth probe into the entire matter on Thursday afternoon.

Confirming the developments, Fadnavis assured a full investigation into the whole imbroglio and even hinted at a political conspiracy hatched during the former Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) regime to target and tarnish him.

Later, Fadnavis told media-persons that his wife Amruta came in touch with Aniksha some 16 months ago, how she (Aniksha) had visited Fadnavis' home several times and won their confidence.

Anishka -- who first met them in 2015, and then renewed contact with the Fadnavis family since November 2021 -- had given Amruta some designer clothes, jewellery and other accessories requesting her to promote these at her social and public shows to enable her to support her family.

Subsequently, after gaining their trust, Aniksha had tried to give a bribe of Rs 1 crore to Amruta to help get her father (Anil Jaisinghani) off the hook in a criminal case, but when the latter did not fall for it and blocked her on the mobile, she (Aniksha) resorted to threats and blackmail.

Fadnavis said that Aniksha allegedly tried to lure and trap Amruta by revealing that her father was passing on information about bookies to the police, and said the Fadnavis couple could make money by directing the police to either ignore or act against those bookies, and they would show them more routes to rake in money.

A couple of days later, Aniksha sent some video clips, voice and text messages to Amruta from an unknown manner, he added.

Fadnavis has also pointed fingers at the erstwhile MVA government, saying a lot of sensational things including some big names, politicians and an ex-Commissioner of Police, are likely to tumble out in this matter and he would speak after the investigations.

The fashionista had dropped hints of her political links and how she could get the Fadnavis couple into trouble if they did not help to withdraw the cases against her father.

"She sent two videos... in one she is shown packing money into a bag which is seen in my house and in another handing over that bag to a maid working here. We had filed a FIR but did not make it public and a forensic analysis showed that the two bags were different," Fadnavis pointed out.

The accused girl also boasted of their connections by giving names of politicians and police officials including a former city police chief, and Fadnavis suspects that the plot was hatched during the MVA rule.

While Aniksha, a law graduate, currently has no cases lodged against her, the police are checking the antecedents of her brother Akshan as also the cases filed against their fugitive father.

In a statement on Thursday evening, Patole slammed the government, saying that if the family of the Deputy Chief Minister -- who is also the home minister controlling the police department -- is not safe, how can the people of the state feel secure?

--IANS
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Hyderabad, March 16 (IANS) All three candidates of Telangana's ruling party Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) were Thursday elected unopposed to the Legislative Council under MLA quota.

Deshapati Srinivas, K. Naveen Kumar, and Challa Venkatrami Reddy were declared elected as no other candidate was in fray. Thursday was the last day for withdrawal of nominations.

An independent candidate had filed the nomination but the same was rejected by the Election Commission. Returning officer declared that all three candidates of BRS have been elected without contest.

While Naveen Kumar has been elected to the upper house of the state legislature for the second term, two others are first-time MLCs.

Poet and singer Srinivas was earlier serving as Officer on Special Duty in the Chief Minister's Office. Venkatrami Reddy is a former MLA from Alampur constituency.

Soon after their election, the three MLCs called on BRS president and Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao. He greeted and blessed them.

Meanwhile, counting of votes was on for Mahabubnagar-Rangareddy-Hyderabad teachers' MLC seat. As none of the candidates polled more than 50 per cent of first preference votes, the poll officials took up counting of second preference votes. A.V.N. Reddy had polled 7,505 first preference votes while Chenna Keshav Reddy secured 6,584 votes. The result is likely to be announced on Friday morning.

--IANS
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Kolkata, March 16 (IANS) Former West Bengal Education Minister and ex-Trinamool Congress secretary general Partha Chatterjee on Thursday told a special CBI court that he had "absolutely no role in the recruitment process" of teachers and non-teaching staff in the state-run schools in his capacity as the education minister.

He also said the onus for the irregularities lies with West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC), West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE) and West Bengal Board of Primary Education (WBBPE).

"I was not the appointing authority. I was just the minister. I do not support such irregularities... and won't support them in future as well. The commission and boards have their own set of rules that they follow," he said.

Even as the WBSSC is the selection authority for teaching and non-teaching staff in state-run schools, it is not the appointing authority.

After completion of the selection process, the commission sends recommendation letters to the board, who then appoint candidates as per the recommendations and as per the number of vacancies.

On Thursday, Chatterjee sought "five minutes of time to speak about something". However, he was not granted the time to do so.

He will be presented at the same court again on March 23, when he will be allowed to speak.

--IANS
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Chennai, March 16 (IANS) Pro-Dravidian outfit, Thanthai Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam (TPDK) has sent packets of ash to Tamil Nadu Governor R.N. Ravi as a symbolic protest against him not giving assent to the bill passed by the state assembly to ban online gambling.

A party member on Thursday said that this was a symbolic protest to bring to the notice of society that 42 people had lost their lives due to losses from online gambling, adding "ash packets were sent to the Governor to make him realise the gravity of the issue".

Governor R.N. Ravi had returned the bill passed by the state legislative assembly four months after it was lying dormant on his table.

The Governor had rejected the bill, citing the legal competence of the legislative assembly to pass such a bill.

The TPDK cadres said that they had mixed the ashes of a few of the 42 who committed suicide due to losses in online gambling while sending them to the Governor.

The state government led by the Chief Minister M.K. Stalin and Tamil Nadu Governor R.N. Ravi has been at loggerheads, and the Governor had even walked out of the Tamil Nadu legislative assembly during the last session.

--IANS
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Bagalkot, March 16 (IANS) An incident of a Karnataka Congress MLA Anand Nyamagouda abusing and threatening a police sub inspector (PSI) came to light on Thursday in Jamkhandi town of Bagalkot district.

According to sources, PSI Basavaraj Konnur was targeted by the Congress MLA in connection with the building of a circle in Jamkhandi town.

The video about the incident has gone viral invoking sharp reactions against the MLA who is heard using foul language against the on duty PSI in a public place in the presence of his supporters.

The PSI tries to convince the MLA that if the circle is built it will become an issue. This enrages the Congress MLA.

"You be quiet. What do you know? Let me tell you. The present government might be supporting you. I won't leave you," he says.

--IANS
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