Bengaluru(PTI): Well-known Kannada actor Puneeth Rajkumar died here on Friday following a heart attack, hospital sources said.

The 46-year old Sandalwood star was rushed to the hospital after he complained of chest pain.

A statement from the hospital earlier said that Puneeth Rajkumar "was brought to the emergency department, Vikram Hospital with history of chest pain at 11:40 am, he was non-responsive and was in Cardiac Asystole and Advanced cardiac resuscitation has been initiated."

The son of matinee idol the late Rajkumar, and Parvathamma, he was fondly called 'Appu' by his fans.

A popular television presenter, the 'power star', who began his career as a child artist, was also among the highest paid actors in the Kannada film industry.

 

Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.



Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.

In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.

Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.

He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.

Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.

He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.

Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.

He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.