Regional

Gandhinagar, Jan 16 (IANS) The cold wave will continue in Gujarat for next two days, and in some parts of the state, temperatures is likely to be in single digits and even fall before less then 4 degrees Celsius, as per the Meteorological Department forecast.

"Cold wave conditions will continue to prevail in isolated pockets of Saurashtra- Kutch region, most probably in Rajkot, Kutch, and Porbandar. The weather will remain dry for the next 24 hours in Gujarat. There will be no large changes in minimum temperature for the next 48 hours," it said.

In the last 24 hours, Naliya (Kutch) was coldest at 3.8 degrees Celsius, while Ahmedabad recorded 8.6 degrees. Some villages in Kutch reported ice freezing on the open surface.

Considering the cold wave threat, the state government has issued guidelines, asking people not to venture out unnecessarily, and also to wear woollen clothes, and especially cover the head, and if possible, wear skin-tight cotton clothes. It has also asked them to keep stock of food, water, fuel and emergency lights.

The Animal Husbandry Department has issued an advisory for pastoralists to not keep their cattle in the open for long and cover them with thick cotton or woollen cloth.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Jan 16 (IANS) Pakistan skipper Babar Azam, who is going through a purple patch with the bat, has landed in a controversy as his alleged personal videos and photo went viral on social media.

A Twitter post by a parody account has Babar's alleged video of sexting with a girl and his photo making rounds on social media. However, the authenticity of the video has not been confirmed.

The alleged viral video of Babar caused a stir among the netizens. Some of his fans claimed that this is a conspiracy against Babar to spoil his image while other said the video is been morphed and urged not to spread lies against the star batter.

A user wrote: "There is no movement of his lips that clearly shows that video has been edited by someone but we know he is humble and will not do these kinds of shameful acts."

"What is the fuss about Babar Azam's leaked pic? Also, people should refrain from spreading it, if they have any decency left inside them," another user said.

"How you can say that? Do you have any proof?" a user commented on the post.

"This is bad. Don't interfere in anyone's personal life, who knows if that video is fake," another user added.

--IANS

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Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 16 (IANS) The Kerala High Court on Monday took serious note of a Sabarimala temple guard, caught on video pushing and shoving devotees praying before the deity on Saturday - the peak day of the two-month-long pilgrimage season.

The picture of guard Arun Kumar, attached to the Travancore Devasom Board, which runs the day today affairs of the hilltop shrine, had gone viral on the social media and it came before the high court's Devasom bench while a few lawyers also raised this issue.

The court expressed its displeasure and asked who is this person and what authority does he have to touch the body of pilgrims.

When the state government counsel contended that this was done as part of the crowd control, the court pointed out that there are scientific methods of crowd control and that is the duty of the police.

The court asked to include the TDB's top official and also Arun Kumar as a party in the case and posted the case for next Tuesday.

Incidentally, Arun Kumar has now been identified as a trade union leader of the CPI-M attached to the TDB and is a close associate of State Education Minister V. Sivankutty.

The TDB suspended Arun Kumar for his act.

--IANS
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Bengaluru, Jan 16 (IANS) Kannada hero Duniya Vijay's negative role against Telugu super star Balakrishna, better known by his initials NBK, in 'Veera Simha Reddy' has won the hearts of his fans in Karnataka.

The actor is overwhelmed with the response he is getting for his main villain role in the superhit movie.

Balakrishna has a large fan base in Karnataka and Duniya Vijay is a popular action hero in the state. Vijay's fans were sceptical of his presentation and of his decision to play the villain's role.

After the film's release, Duniya Vijay's fans are celebrating his role and appreciating his acting against the super star Balakrishna. Fans are holding special shows and inviting Duniya Vijay to watch the movie with them in the state.

Balakrishna also appreciated his acting. Overwhelmed by the response, Duniya Vijay stated that if there is depth in the character and scope for acting against the main role, he is ready to play the villain in Telugu movies.

--IANS
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Hyderabad, Jan 16 (IANS) Telangana with astounding progress achieved since inception of the state in 2014 stands as a role model, said state minister for industries and information technology K.T. Rama Rao.

Before heading to the World Economic Forum meeting at Davos, the Minister spoke at the 'Meet and Greet' programme organised by the Indian diaspora in Zurich.

Indians living in Switzerland, the UK, Denmark, Germany, Norway, and other countries attended the gathering, according to the Minister's office in Hyderabad.

He urged the NRIs to be Telangana's goodwill ambassador, participate in government's programmes like Mana Ooru -- Mana Badi and promote Telangana and India.

Urging them to be part of the state's growth story, KTR assured of complete support even if anyone wants to make small investments in the state and create jobs.

Giving a peek into development, the minister said that paddy production was at 68 lakh tonnes and procurement by the government was 24 lakh tonnes in 2014 and in 2022, the production and procurement grew to 3.5 crore tonnes and over two crore tonnes, respectively.

The IT exports out of Telangana grew from Rs. 57,000 crore to Rs 1.83 lakh crore, per capita of Telangana grew from Rs 1.24 lakh in 2014 to Rs 2.78 lakh, while national average is Rs 1.49 lakh, he said

Speaking about the progress achieved in the villages, KTR said that now every village has a nursery, vaikunta dhamam, and 10 per cent of gram panchayat budget is earmarked as green budget, and the government has provided a tractor and a tanker for every gram panchayat in the state.

KTR said that the needs of farmers were taken care of by providing free power round-the-clock, Rythu Bandhu and Rythu Bhima, high quality seeds, fertilizers and pesticides, and Rythu Vedikas were built.

He said that Palle Pragathi was a role model, and that the needs of people in villages were thoroughly thought through by Chief Minister KCR, which no other Chief Minister or Prime Minister did.

The Industries Minister said that five revolutions are unfolding in Telangana, which are: Pink revolution (meat), yellow revolution (oil palm), blue revolution (inland fisheries), white revolution (milk) and green revolution (crops).

--IANS
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Bengaluru, Jan 16 (IANS) Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra arrived in Karnataka's state capital to take part in the Women's convention on Monday.

She was received by State Congress President D.K. Shivakumar, Opposition leader Siddaramaiah at the airport. The Congress workers who gathered on the airport premises accorded her a rousing welcome.

The party workers also honoured their leader with a huge apple and flower garland and cheered for her. Priyanka Gandhi will address a mega women's convention organised at the Palace Grounds.

Karnataka Congress wants to counter the BJP's blitzkrieg by roping in Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah for the government as well as party programmes.

The Congress wants to galvanise the party workers through Priyanka's event. It wants to create a momentum like how it got during the Bharat Jodo Yatra. Congress insiders explain that there will be a major announcement regarding the manifesto of the party for Karnataka by Priyanka Gandhi.

The party had erected huge and tall cutouts and banners across Bengaluru to welcome her. The leaders are hoping to get momentum with this convention for women titled "Na Nayaki (I am the leader)".

--IANS
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Mumbai, Jan 16 (IANS) For the first time, Maharashtra Home Guards are entitled to an insurance cover in case of accident or death in the line of duty, a top official said here on Monday.

Director General of Home Guards, Dr B. K. Upadhyay handed over a cheque of Rs 25 lakh to a home guard, Laxman Vithal Akhade who lost one leg in a serious accident while on duty on September 5, 2022.

"Similar to Maharashtra Police, the Home Guards have tied up with the private sector's HDFC Bank for the salary accounts of its staff and also entitlements to all insurance benefits," Dr Upadhyay said.

Present were the beneficiary Akhade, Additional DGP Brijesh Singh, Additional SP of Raigad Atul Zende, HDFC officers, and other top officials.

With 45,000 personnel including women and technicians, Maharashtra Home Guards is among the biggest in the country and serves as an auxiliary to the police force for maintaining internal security.

It also serves as an emergency force for specialised tasks and has set up specialist arms like the border wings, marine units, etc. that work for the defence of the country.

--IANS
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Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 16 (IANS) In the wake of the entire Congress top brass in Kerala joining hands to take on Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor, the party leadership on Monday directed all leaders, including Tharoor, to maintain decorum.

Sensing that if it does not intervene now, it might be a bit too late, the All India Congress Committee(AICC) asked the leaders to ensure that there is no more "free for all" in public domain.

The AICC leadership has asked general secretary in charge of Kerala- Tariq Anwar to see that all the "guns" stop firing in the open.

For all "political" reasons, Tharoor has now emerged as the persona-non grata for all the top party bosses in the state heading their own factions and it includes State party president K.Sudhakaran, leader of Opposition V.D.Satheesan, Ramesh Chennithala and even veteran Congress leader former Defence Minister A.K.Antony.

Apparently, the only leader who has not joined the others is two-time former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy.

The single reason for the never-seen unity at the party's top level here is Tharoor's decision to contest against Mallikarjun Kharge for the party president post, as the latter was the nominee of the party high command. Tharoor's sudden decision to oppose him sent shockwaves in the party and since then, the Lok Sabha MP has found the going getting tough.

What made them restless is Tharoor's expanding support base which now includes important social and religious groups and their heads, who recently had rolled out a red carpet, when the leader visited the headquarters.

Thanks to the proliferation of social media and the new age media and Tharoor's dabbling in it, he has emerged as the most popular politician in the state.

And sensing Tharoor has nothing to lose, while the state unit of the party has a lot to lose in the power game, the AICC finally decided to intervene.

According to sources in the know of things, it will remain like this till the conclusion of the special AICC session to be held next month, when a new set of office-bearers are elected to join Kharge.

--IANS
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Godhra(Gujarat), Jan 16 (IANS) The Panchmahal police have exhumed a youth's body from an agriculture field and detained one person for murdering the youth, police said on MOnday.

The accused, identified as Ranchod Rathva, and the victim were in a homosexual relationship, and the victim was blackmailing him to continue the relationship.

According to complainant Suresh Parmar, his younger brother Suman had gone missing on January 8. On Sunday, accused Ranchod Rathva is said to have admitted to the police that he murdered Suman Parmar on January 8 night and buried his body in the agricultural land in the Revaliya village.

"The victim's body was exhumed on Sunday in the presence of the executive magistrate and the victim's family members. Body was sent for the post-mortem and accused Rathva is detained and will be officially arrested once his Covid report is negative," said investigation officer, R.J. Jadeja.

The complainant had stated that on January 7 Ranchod had met his parents and complainant at their residence and complained about Suman. Ranchod had alleged that Suman had physical relations with him, and had taken his nude photos and was blackmailing him and forcing him to continue the physical relationship.

On the January 8th evening, victim Suman reached out to the accused at his agricultural land and a quarrel broke out over informing his parents about their physical relationship. Suman threatened him that if he did not continue the relationship, he would circulate his onscene photos. The accused then killed Suman by hitting him with an axe and burying his body. said the police.

--IANS
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Panaji, Jan 16 (IANS) The six opposition MLAs, including Leader of Opposition Yuri Alemao, were marshalled out of the Assembly as they tried to disrupt the governor's address during the first day of the winter session on Monday over the Mhadei diversion issue.

Alemao along with Goa Forward Party MLA Vijai Sardesai, AAP MLAs Venzy Viegas and Cruz Silva, Congress MLAs Carlos Alvares Ferreira and Altone D'Costa were demanding that Governor P.S. Sreedharan Pillai should first speak on Mhadei diversion issue and not the government programmes.

The Opposition MLAs, wearing black outfits, with placards in their hands with 'Save Mhadei' message went into the well of the House and reiterated their demand that the governor should speak on Mhadei. However, their demand was not fulfilled and they were moved out of the Assembly House by marshals, while the governor began with his address.

Speaking to the reporters, Yuri Alemao said that they had demanded that the governor should first speak on the Mhadei diversion issue as it is important. "Aren't the 33 MLAs in power using Mhadei water? They should resign if they can't resolve the Mhadei issue. This government is not interested in resolving issues pertaining to the peoples' welfare," Alemao said.

"Switching off mike (in the Assembly) of Leader of Opposition shows that this is dictatorship. The opposition will fight this battle unitedly," Alemao said.

Vijai Sardesai said that they wanted the governor to express his opinion on the Mhadei issue first and not the government speech. "Mhadei movement is of peoples' movement. We are supporting this movement. The governor should have expressed his opinion over Mhadei," Sardesai said.

He said that the speech written by the government (for governor) is only boasting about incomplete projects. "Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has sold Mhadei to Karnataka to protect his chair," he alleged.

Since Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai announced that the Centre has cleared the much disputed Kalasa-Bhanduri dam project in his state, people have started to vent their anger over the issue and political parties are holding public meetings.

Goa and Karnataka are currently battling out a dispute over the Kalsa-Bhandura dam project across the waters of the Mhadei river at a central tribunal.

Mhadei originates in Karnataka and meets the Arabian Sea in Panaji. While the river traverses 28.8 km in Karnataka, it is 81.2 km in length in Goa. Karnataka plans to construct dams on the river, aimed at diverting the waters into its water-starved Malaprabha basin in North Karnataka.

--IANS
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