Siddaramaiah pitching for a Lingayat to head state unit of Congress

April 18, 2017

Bengaluru, Apr 18: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is said to be pushing for a change in the state Congress presidentship, as part of the measures to galvanise the party to face the Assembly elections next year.

Siddaramaiah
Sources in the party said the chief minister has explained in detail to the party high command the need for replacing incumbent G Parameshwara, who has been doubling up as the party chief and the home minister. Siddaramaiah has recommended that a Lingayat leader be made the next president to steer the party in the next elections, the sources added.

Parameshwara, who is a Dalit leader, has been the state unit president for nearly six-and-a-half years. The chief minister and the KPCC president had been at loggerheads on many issues in the past. Differences between the two have again cropped up on who should claim credit for the party’s victory in the Nanjangud and Gundlupet byelections. Siddaramaiah has consolidated his position in the party after the byelection victories.

The sources said Siddaramaiah informed the high command that the byelections have shown that the party can penetrate the Lingayat strongholds. The byelections have also disproved a belief in political circles that Lingayats are strongly behind B S Yeddyurappa. Hence, a prominent community leader from North Karnataka should be made the KPCC president to woo the community, he suggested.

Names of former minister S R Patil and Water Resources Minister M B Patil are making the rounds for the post. Both are Lingayats. Siddaramaiah has not favoured a Vokkaliga leader for the KPCC post. Energy Minister D K Shivakumar, who is trying to project himself as the Vokkaliga face of the Congress after S M Krishna quit the party, is one of the aspirants for the post. But Shivakumar is not ready to give up his post as minister, the sources said.

The possibility of making a Dalit leader the state party chief was also discussed during the meeting. The chief minister has recommended PWD Minister H C Mahadevappa’s name as one of the key leaders of the community. Mahadevappa is a close associate of Siddaramaiah. He was the party in-charge of the byelection to the Nanjangud Assembly constituency. Mahadevappa has emerged as a prominent Dalit leader in the Old Mysuru region after the exit of V Srinivas Prasad. Former Union minister K H Muniyappa is also in the race for the post.

Sources said Parameshwara has been trying to continue as both the party president and minister. He is projecting himself as a successful pradesh Congress president and that he alone can take everybody along during elections.

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News Network
December 20,2025

Mangaluru, Dec 20: The Mangaluru City Police have issued a detailed traffic advisory ahead of the inaugural ceremony of Karavali Utsava, which will be held at the Karavali Utsava Ground on Saturday.

The festival will be inaugurated at 6:00 pm by Dakshina Kannada District Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao. Cultural and public programmes will be held at the venue every evening and will continue until January 2.

According to City Police Commissioner Sudheer Kumar Reddy, parking of vehicles is strictly prohibited on both sides of the road from Lalbagh to Karavali Utsava Ground. Visitors are requested to park their vehicles only at designated parking areas.

To help the public, traffic signboards and parking guidance flex boards have been installed along the routes leading to the venue. The police have urged commuters and visitors to follow these instructions to ensure smooth traffic movement.

Designated Parking Locations

•    Urwa Market Ground – Cars
•    Gandhinagar Government School (near Press Club) – Two-wheelers and cars
•    Ladyhill Church parking area – Two-wheelers and cars
•    Canara School Ground, Mannagudda – Two-wheelers and cars
•    Thimmappa Hotel premises – Two-wheelers and cars
•    Scout and Guide Bhavana premises (behind Karavali Utsava Grounds) – Two-wheelers
•    Urwa Market Road – Two-wheelers
•    Hat Hill Road – Two-wheelers

The police have appealed to the public to cooperate by following traffic rules and parking guidelines to avoid inconvenience during the festival.

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News Network
December 7,2025

Mangaluru, Dec 7: A 34-year-old fruit and vegetable trader in Mangaluru has reportedly lost ₹33.1 lakh after falling victim to an online investment scam run through a fake mobile app.

Police said the scam began in September, when the victim received a link on Facebook. Clicking it connected him to a WhatsApp number, where an unidentified person introduced a high-return investment scheme and instructed him to download an app.

To build trust, the fraudster asked him to invest ₹30,000 on September 24. The trader soon received ₹34,000 as “profit,” convincing him the scheme was genuine. Over the next two months, he transferred money in multiple instalments via Google Pay and IMPS to different scanner codes and bank accounts shared by the scammers. Between September 24 and December 3, he ended up sending a total of ₹33.1 lakh.

When he later requested a refund of his investment and promised returns, the scammers demanded additional payments, claiming he needed to pay a “service tax” first. Even after he paid a small amount, no money was returned, and the scammers continued pressuring him for more.

A case has been registered at the CEN Crime Police Station.

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News Network
December 5,2025

Mangaluru: In a significant step to curb online hate and intimidation, Mangaluru City Police have registered a suo motu case against multiple Instagram accounts accused of circulating alleged provocative and threatening content.

While monitoring social media activity on Tuesday, Kankanady Town PSI Anitha Nikkam identified the Instagram handle ‘team_targetttt_900’ for posting a hate message alongside images of lethal weapons. Another account, ‘team_nagara_900’, allegedly shared a threatening post targeting activist Bharath Kumdelu, tagging additional pages such as KARAVALI-OFFICIAL.

Several other accounts — including ‘immu_bhai.fan’, ‘target_boy_900’, ‘kings_of_manglore’, ‘team_target_boys.900’, ‘arshad_mangalore’, ‘target_ka19_ullal’, ‘team_target__’, ‘troll_tigersz_900’, ‘tr_group_900’, and ‘team_target_900’ — are also under scrutiny for spreading similar inflammatory material, police said.

Authorities have urged citizens, especially young social media users, to report suspicious pages and avoid engaging with groups that glorify violence or threaten individuals. Online hate can quickly escalate into real-world harm, and police stress that sharing or promoting such content can attract legal consequences.

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