Won't ask for land so long as Siddu is at helm: Deve Gowda

Bengaluru/Mysuru, Jan 24: JD(S)?supremo H?D?Deve Gowda on Friday said he would not approach the State government in the future seeking land for his party’s office as long as Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was at the helm.

Gowda said he had no personal attachment to the office and the party’s belongings had already been packed. “I saw this vacant land, may be disputed, and thought we could move our office stuff into a temporary shed on the land. We decided to do so after the Supreme Court ordered us to vacate the office. I?have seen the manner in which the government has been behaving towards us whenever we approached it for the BBMP or the BDA?land. I?shall not apply for any land henceforth till this chief minister is in power,” he said.

Gowda further said there were several honest party workers who would come forward to accommodate the JD(S)?office. “We will wait till February 3 when the appeal on the site allotted at Vyalikaval would be heard. If no decision comes by then, I?will operate out of a rented house, if need be,” he said. The JD(S) will conduct a membership drive and party workers’ meeting at the Palace Grounds here on Saturday.

Addressing a press conference in Mysuru, Revenue Minister V Sreenivas Prasad targeted Gowda over the controversy on the JD(S) office. He criticised the antics of building a shed on the land. “The JD(S) is not facing any economic constraints to build an office. Gowda, (H D) Kumaraswamy and (H?D) Revanna do not belong to a BPL family. But they are acting like they do,” he said. Building a shed on the land is just a drama, he said.

Meanwhile, Sri Ramalingeshwari Swamy said on Friday if Gowda asked for the vacant land on Race Course Road—which belongs to the mutt—he would give it.

“So far, nobody has contacted us. But if they do now, we would not mind giving it to the JD(S) to build its office temporarily. It’s inaccurate that Gowda has contacted the mutt. If he contacts me even now, I will immediately give the land on a temporary basis,” he told reporters.

The pontiff also clarified the mutt didn’t have any land in Shivamogga. The mutt is based in Haranahalli, Chennagiri taluk, Davangere. Some people are spreading these rumours to grab the land, he claimed.

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Elusive bamboo shrimp resurfaces in Mangaluru estuary after 70 years

News Network

December 7,2025

Mangaluru, Dec 7: A rare bamboo shrimp has been rediscovered on mainland India more than 70 years after it was last reported, confirming for the first time the presence of Atyopsis spinipes in the country. The find was made by researchers from the Centre for Climate Change Studies at Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, during surveys in Karnataka and Odisha.

The team — shrimp expert Dr S Prakash, PhD scholar K Kunjulakshmi, and Mangaluru-based researcher Maclean Antony Santos — combined field surveys, ecological assessments and DNA analysis to identify the elusive species. Their findings, published in Zootaxa, resolve decades of taxonomic confusion stemming from a 1951 report that misidentified the species as Atyopsis moluccensis without strong evidence.

The shrimp has now been confirmed at two locations: the Mulki–Pavanje estuary near Mangaluru and the Kuakhai River in Bhubaneswar. Historical specimens from the Andaman Islands, previously labelled as A. moluccensis, were also found to be misidentified and actually belong to A. spinipes.

The rediscovery began after an aquarium hobbyist in Odisha spotted a shrimp in 2022, prompting systematic surveys across Udupi, Karwar and Mangaluru. Four female specimens were collected in Mulki and one in Odisha, all genetically matching.

Researchers warn the species may exist in very small, vulnerable populations as freshwater habitats face increasing pressure from pollution, sand mining and infrastructure development. All verified specimens have been deposited with the Zoological Survey of India for future reference.

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