2 MLAs of Apna Dal, an ally of BJP resign blaming Yogi govt

Mangaluru: Congress leader and five-time Belthangady MLA K Vasanth Bangera, passed away on Wednesday, at a private hospital in Bengaluru on Wednesday. He was 79.

His health condition had worsened recently, and he was shifted to Bengaluru for treatment. His body is likely to be brought to Belthangady on May 9 and will be kept for public homage, family sources said.

He has the credit of contesting from all three parties - BJP, Janata Dal and Congress. Since 1983, he had contested nine assembly elections and won five times.

Bangera had entered the Legislative Assembly by winning Belthangady constituency as a BJP candidate in 1983 against Gangadhar Gowda of the Congress.

He won had the elections again in 1985 and later joined the Janata Dal. However, he lost the election against Gangadhar Gowda of Congress in 1989.

He became an MLA once again for the third time in 1994. In the 1999 election, Bangera lost to his brother Prabhakar Bangera who contested from BJP.

In 2008, Bangera joined the Congress and won the elections for the fourth time. In 2013, he had once again won the elections against Ranjan Gowda of the BJP, but he also lost the elections to sitting MLA Harish Poonja of the BJP in 2018.

He was born to Kede Subba Poojary and Devaki. He is survived by his wife Sujitha V Bangera, and two daughters Preethitha and Binutha.
 

A day after National Commission for Women said no woman from Hassan approached the national body to file complaints against Karnataka MP Prajwal Revanna, a new FIR accusing BJP leader Devaraje Gowda of abusing and assaulting a woman has come to light.

The FIR against Gowda was filed by a woman at the Holenarasipura town police station on April 1, after her husband had filed a complaint against the BJP leader on March 30. 

The purported victim's husband has alleged in his plaint that Gowda barged into their home, and threatened the couple while the BJP leader also abused the woman.

Gowda, notably, flagged Prajwal Revanna's case to the saffron party.

Reacting to the allegations levelled against him, the BJP politico posted a video on Facebook where he details how he met the woman and her husband in his office. He also claims that the allegations against him are a plot and false.

It must be noted here that a Special Investigation Team is currently probing the sexual assault cases against Prajwal Revanna who along with his driver Karthik is no longer in the country. A Blue Corner notice is also in place to apprehend the son of H D Revanna who himself is placed under judicial custody till May 14.

In a major twist to the entire case— the woman in the FIR alleged that Devaraje Gowda who apprised BJP of the sex videos involving Prajwal Revanna— has been harassing her for the past 10 months under the guise of helping her sell a property.

The woman also said that she came in contact with Gowda during the process involving the property that she wanted to sell. However, on the pretext of guiding her, the woman alleged that the whistleblower BJP leader physically assaulted and harassed her while Gowda also threatened the couple.

The woman has now sought police protection for herself and family. Further levelling allegations against Gowda in her plaint, she said that the politico had taken her to an isolated place where he assaulted her and threatened to kill the couple.

Former chief minister of Karnataka and Prajwal Revanna's uncle H D Kumaraswamy recently demanded a CBI probe in the Prajwal Revanna matter. However, Home Minister G Parameshwara turned down the demand for the investigation to be handed over to CBI.

A senior UN official says around 800,000 people have been "forced to flee" Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip since the Israeli regime began carrying out ground incursions into the refugee-packed city from various axes.

Philippe Lazzarini, the head of UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, made the remarks in a post on X, former Twitter, on Saturday.

"Nearly half of the population of Rafah or 800,000 people are on the road having been forced to flee since the Israeli forces started the military operation in the area on May 6," he said.

The invasion of the city came amid a genocidal war against Gaza by the regime that has so far claimed the lives of more than 35,300 Palestinians.

Around 1.5 million Palestinians had taken refuge in Rafah prior to the incursions, having fled there from the ravages of the war that began following a retaliatory operation against the occupied territories by Gaza’s resistance groups.

The Gazans, who have now left the city, have fled to "the middle areas and [the southern Gaza city of] Khan Younis, including to destroyed buildings," Lazzarini said.

Al-Mawasi, a 14-square-kilometer town on the coast, as well as the central city of Deir el-Balah, were "crammed" with recently displaced people, he added.

"Every time, they are forced to leave behind the few belongings they have ....Every time, they have to start from scratch, all over again."

The Israeli military has, meanwhile, seized the Rafah crossing in southern Gaza, which borders Egypt and serves as the main point of entry for aid supplies, including fuel, into Palestinian territory.

The move came as part of an all-out siege that the regime has been enforcing against the entire Gaza simultaneously with the war.