Tourism minister Anand Singh creates political ripples in Karnataka yet again

News Network

August 11, 2021

Bengaluru, Aug 11: The taking down of the name board of Tourism Minister Anand Singh at his legislator's residence-cum-office at Vijayanagara city has created political ripples in the state.

A video depicting the same has also gone viral on Twitter. Yet another video has also gone viral which depicts the deserted look of his office. The office staff has informed the people of the minister's unavailability to receive their pleas and grievances.

Asked about the taking down of the name board, Singh said: "I do not want to comment on this. I have told the Chief Minister what I have to say."

In all these past days, he has not even once visited the Vidhana Sabha and he is yet to occupy his chamber. Sources say Singh is demanding energy or public works portfolios. Energy ministry has been allocated to Sunil Kumar.

Amidst these developments, Singh is expected to visit Bengaluru later today.

Earlier in Ballari, Singh had hinted that he would resign if his demand was not met. "I am a stubborn man. I will not bog down for any reason. I will even resign from my assembly membership if my demand is not met," he had threatened.

These threats from Singh are not new. He had issued such threats during the JDS-Congress coalition government while demanding district status to Vijayanagara.

When the JDS-Congress coalition government refused to heed to his demand, Singh resigned as Congress legislator and paved the way for other rebel JDS and Congress MLAs to resign.

After their resignations, the rebel JDS and Congress legislators joined the BJP and toppled the coalition government led by HD Kumaraswamy and paved the way for BS Yediyurappa to win trust vote in the state assembly and form the government.

After assuming charge as a minister in the BJP government, Singh had allegedly pressured Yediyurappa threatening to resign as a minister and quit the party if the Vijayanagara district was not carved out of Ballari.

Apparently sensing the danger it could cause to the government, Yediyurappa's government approved the new district on November 18, 2020, and finally announced Vijayanagara as the 31st district in its gazette notification.

Back story

A day after Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai allocated portfolios to his cabinet colleagues, Singh had expressed his discontentment over the portfolio allocated to him.

Last August 7, Singh had threatened to take extreme decisions if his portfolio was not changed and had asked Bommai to reconsider his demand. He also said that it was because of his resignation as the legislator, the BJP came to power in the state.

"I will request the Chief Minister to consider my demand. Tell me, am I not capable of handling the portfolio I had asked for? Am I not competent? Didn't I do anything to the party? Wasn't there my contribution in bringing the BJP to power? Let them say, if I am not capable. I will obey whatever their decision is," he had said.

Singh's resignation had started a flurry of resignations by JDS and Congress legislators to topple the previous coalition government and brought BJP to power. Therefore, he must get a better portfolio, he said.

Reacting to the development, Bommai said all ministers cannot be assigned the portfolios they wished for.

Apart from Singh, N Nagaraj, popularly known as MTB, also has expressed his dissatisfaction with the portfolios distributed to them.

Nagaraj was expecting the housing portfolio as he had held the same in the HD Kumaraswamy-led coalition government before defecting to BJP.

Comments

Greedy people - what more can we the kannadigas expect from these ministers? They were least bothered about the development of the state rather thinking always how to be rich within a day or two.

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HC refuses to quash probe against Mangaluru WhatsApp admin over offensive posts

News Network

February 1,2026

Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court has refused to quash an investigation against a WhatsApp group administrator accused of allowing the circulation of obscene and offensive images depicting Hindutva politicians and idols in 2021.

Justice M Nagaprasanna observed that, prima facie, the ingredients of the offence under Section 295A of the Indian Penal Code were made out. “The offence under Section 295A of the IPC is met to every word of its ingredient, albeit prima facie,” the judge said.

The petitioner, Sirajuddin, a resident of Belthangady taluk in Dakshina Kannada district, had challenged the FIR registered against him at the CEN (Cyber, Economics and Narcotics) police station, Mangaluru, for offences under Section 295A of the IPC and Section 67 of the Information Technology Act. Section 295A relates to punishment for deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage the religious feelings of any class of citizens.

According to the complaint filed by K Jayaraj Salian, also a resident of Belthangady taluk, he received a WhatsApp group link from an unknown source and was added to the group after accessing it. The group reportedly had six administrators and around 250 participants, where obscene and offensive images depicting Hindu deities and certain political figures were allegedly circulated repeatedly.

Sirajuddin was arrested in connection with the case and later released on bail on February 16, 2021. He argued before the court that he was being selectively targeted, while other administrators—including the creator of the group—were neither arrested nor investigated. He also contended that the Magistrate could not have taken cognisance of the offence under Section 295A without prior sanction under Section 196(1) of the CrPC.

Rejecting the argument, Justice Nagaprasanna held that prior sanction is required only at the stage of taking cognisance, and not at the stage of registration of the crime or during investigation.

The judge noted that the State had produced the entire investigation material before the court. “A perusal of the material reveals depictions of Hindu deities in an extraordinarily obscene, demeaning and profane manner. The content is such that its reproduction in a judicial order would itself be inappropriate,” the court said, adding that the material, on its face, had the tendency to outrage religious feelings and disturb communal harmony.

Observing that the case was still at the investigation stage, the court said it could not interdict the probe at this juncture. However, it expressed concern that the investigating officer appeared to have not proceeded uniformly against all administrators. The court clarified that if the investigation revealed the active involvement of any member in permitting the circulation of such content, they must also be proceeded against.

“At this investigative stage, any further observation by this Court would be unnecessary,” the order concluded.

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