High command worried over Siddaramaiah's 'caste politics'

DHNS
August 12, 2017

New Delhi, Aug 12: The Congress high command is worried over the possible “fallout” of caste politics overshadowing developmental agenda of the Siddaramaiah government as the state Assembly elections are a few months away.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s perceived support for separate religion tag to the Lingayat community and his keeness to release a caste census report have not gone down well with the party top brass.

A section of Congress leaders from Karnataka have also urged the top brass that the party should not deviate from its developmental agenda and resort to caste politics as it may boomerang on the Congress.

While the party asked the chief minister not to go head with the release of caste census, the high command also cautioned him not to stretch too much on Lingayat-Veerashaiva row, apprehending that it may go against the party’s interest, a senior leader told DH.

Several pro-poor programmes of the Siddaramaiah government, including distribution of free rice, milk to school children, programmes for minorities and the most recent one of waiving farm loans, received kudos from people of the state. However, all these have faded from the public glare ever since Siddaramaiah said he is ready to recommend to the Centre to grant separate religion tag to the Lingayat, said a senior leader here.

“Despite the Congress’ position improving remarkably in the state over the past two to three months and workers being very enthusiastic to bring it back to power, the caste politics seems to be hurting the party’s prospects”, said the leader.

Some leaders from the Vokkaliga and the Lingayat communities have recently urged the high command to put on hold the release of the caste census report saying it would be against the interest of their communities. Even a section of Dalits, mainly followers of former Deputy Prime Minister the late Jagjivan Ram, has also opposed the report questioning its authenticity.

The caste census exercise will benefit a particular group of people in the state and not all communities, said a leader, who has been canvassing against the release of the report.

“The Congress never identified with any religion or caste. Ours is inclusive politics. Despite the BJP claiming that the Lingayats have been backing it in the previous elections, several of our Lingayat leaders have won”, said a leader.

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News Network
March 19,2024

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Mangaluru: The Mangalore International Airport (MIA) will connect to a new domestic destination with the introduction of a non-stop flight to Tiruchirappalli International Airport in Tamil Nadu. 

The non-stop service, once-a-week, will operate on Wednesday (from TIA) and Thursday (from MIA), starting April 3. Air India Express will operate the flight.

The flight is expected to help those taking up a pilgrimage to Vailankani shrine.

Sources from the AIE said that the airline carrier decided to fly non-stop between the two southern Indian cities as a flight to Jeddah, which will start from April 3, arrives from Tiruchirappalli International Airport. 

“It is a ferry or positional flight from TIA to MIA. Instead of flying empty, the management has decided to run it as a commercial flight. This will help both passengers and the airline. The airline will deploy Boeing 737-800 aircraft with a 186-seater all-economy configuration on this route. 

The same flight, after landing in MIA, will further fly to Jeddah,” a source said. 

The flight IX 1498 will depart every Thursday at 5am from MIA to TIA. The TIA-MIA flight IX 1499 departs at 12.50pm. It is a one-hour nonstop flight. The same flights will also operate nonstop between Jeddah and MIA. 

The non-stop flight IX 499 will depart MIA at 2.50pm and reach King Abdulaziz International Airport, Jeddah at 6.25pm. The IX498, will depart from Jeddah at 7.25pm and reach MIA early at 3.40am.

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News Network
March 27,2024

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Hassan: Former Prime Minister and JD(S) supremo H.D. Deve Gowda has announced that his son, former Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy will contest from state's Mandya parliamentary seat as NDA candidate.

Deve Gowda told reporters on Tuesday that the decision to field Kumaraswamy, who is also JD(S) state president, in Lok Sabha polls from the Mandya seat was taken amid mounting public demand. "People are demanding that Kumaraswamy should contest from Mandya. In the core committee meeting as well, all members suggested that he should contest from Mandya," Deve Gowda said.

The former Chief Minister's son Nikhil Kumaraswamy had lost to independent candidate Sumalatha Ambareesh from Mandya in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

The JD(S) supremo further said that the name of senior leader Mallesh Babu has been finalised from the Kolar seat.

Deve Gowda's grandson and former Karnataka Minister H. D. Revanna's son sitting JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna will be contesting as the NDA candidate from the Hassan seat.

Earlier in the day, Kumaraswamy in a media briefing indicated that he would contest from Mandya amid mounting public pressure on him.

Congress has fielded Venkatarame Gowda popularly known as ‘Star Chandru’ from the Mandya seat dominated by Vokkaligas. Star Chandru is a close associate of Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar.

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News Network
March 28,2024

Mangaluru, Mar 28: Dakshina Kannada deputy commissioner Mullai Muhilan MP has warned the individuals and political parties against the poll code violations during private events. 
 
“Private events such as marriages, birthdays, housewarming ceremonies, and other non-political programmes do not require any permission. However, one should ensure that there is no violation of the model code of conduct (MCC) at these functions. Permission is needed if the events are attended by politicians or candidates,” the DC said. 

He said that these gatherings will be under the surveillance of MCC teams, as there are chances of luring voters by campaigning and supplying food, said the DC. The district has 38,386 new voters, of which, 19,619 are men.

He said that the notification of election in Dakshina Kannada Lok Sabha constituency will be issued soon, and the filing of nominations will be held between 11 am and 3 pm till April 4. 

Only five persons, including the candidate, will be allowed to enter the returning officer’s chamber to submit the nominations. A facilitation centre will be opened at the DC’s office. 

The expenditure of the candidate will be counted from the day the candidate files the nomination.

The DC said that the district is not an expenditure-sensitive constituency. Assistant expenditure observers and expenditure observers will monitor the expenditure of the candidates. An expenditure book will be provided to the candidate to record expenditure incurred, he explained.

Further, he said that no election materials can be printed without the name and address of the publishers, and the number of copies printed. Separate permission should be availed for procession prior to the submission of nomination papers from the ARO office, through the single-window system.

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