Dakshina Kannada: Cops gear up for assembly polls; security upped at checkposts, sensitive areas

Mangaluru, May 26: Senior Congress leader B Ramanath Rai on Friday urged the state government to form a special investigation team (SIT) to investigate the ‘politically motivated’ murders that took place in the district in the last few years.

Addressing reporters at the Congress office here, Rai said many youths, belonging to Hindu and Muslim communities have been victims of political violence in the district in the last few years.

He said there should be a comprehensive probe into these murders after preparing a list of the victims. Congress workers were not involved in these political murders and the role of BJP and other communal outfits in the communally sensitive district should be probed, the former minister said.

The Congress government will not tolerate violence of any kind in the coastal region, he said.

Bengaluru, May 20: As many as eight Congress MLAs were sworn in as ministers in the Karnataka Cabinet during the oath-taking ceremony of Karnataka’s new chief minister and his deputy in Bengaluru on Saturday.

Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot administered the oath of office and secrecy to the MLAs at the swearing-in ceremony held at the jam-packed Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge's son Priyank Kharge, party's MLAs G Parameshwara and MB Patil were among the eight MLAs.

The other MLAs who took oath included KH Muniyappa, KJ George, Satish Jarkiholi, Ramalinga Reddy and BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan.

Congress leader Siddaramaiah was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Karnataka for the second time on Saturday after the party's thumping victory in the Assembly elections.

This is the same stadium where Siddaramaiah took oath in 2013 when he became Chief Minister for the first time.

DK Shivakumar was sworn in as sole Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka.

Top brass of the Congress party including the Gandhi family members - Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, party's national president Mallikarjun Kharge were present on the occasion.

The Chief Ministers of the Congress-ruled states including Himachal CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot, and Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel attended the event.

The party had also sent an invitation to numerous opposition parties and their leaders.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his Deputy Tejashwi Yadav, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, Farooq Abdullah were also present during the swearing-in ceremony.

Other opposition leaders who were present include Sharad Pawar, and Kamal Haasan.

Actor and Makkal Needhi Maiam chief Kamal Haasan attends the swearing-in ceremony of the newly-elected Karnataka Government in Bengaluru.

Ahead of the ceremony, Rahul Gandhi, Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah were seen holding each other's hands in the air as a show of strength and unity.

Congress bagged 135 seats in the May 10 elections to the 224-member Karnataka Assembly ousting the ruling BJP, which got 66 seats while the Janata Dal (Secular) secured 19 seats in the results declared on May 13.

Mangaluru, May 25: A complaint has been filed against Belthangady BJP MLA Harish Poonja at Puttur town police station over his speech raising false allegations against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.

In his complaint on Tuesday, municipal councillor Mohammed Riaz said Poonja, during the BJP’s election victory celebrations at Belthangady on May 22 had alleged that Siddaramaiah was responsible for the murder of 24 Hindu workers. He also handed over the video of the incident to the police along with the complaint.

He said such charges against the Chief Minister are condemnable and asked the police to hold an enquiry and take strict legal action against Poonja.

The audio and video clips of the speech in which he strongly criticised Hindu workers who campaigned for Congress during the Assembly elections had gone viral on social media.

"You sought a vote for Siddaramaiah who got 24 Hindu activists killed. You sought a vote for Congress which is proposing a ban on Bajrang Dal," he had allegedly said in the speech.

BJP had been claiming that during the previous tenure of Siddaramaiah between 2013 and 2018, coastal Karnataka region witnessed murders of Hindu activists. The party also alleged that the Siddaramaiah government had withdrawn cases against SDPI workers.