13 killed in road accident in Chikkaballapur
Chikkaballapur (PTI): Thirteen people were killed when the SUV they were travelling in crashed into a stationary tanker here on Thursday morning, police said.
Mourning the deaths, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah announced a compensation of Rs two lakh to the next of the kin of the deceased. He also sought details regarding the accident from the officials.
The accident occurred on the outskirts of the district headquarters town of Chikkaballapur at around 7 am, they said.
The vehicle was plying from Anantapur district in Andhra Pradesh to Bengaluru and crashed into the stationary tanker on NH 44 killing 13 passengers, including four women.
A preliminary probe has stated that the victims, including the driver of the four wheeler, who also died in the accident, hailed from Anantapur district. The exact cause of the accident is yet to be ascertained. However, low visibility due to fog is also suspected to be one of the reasons which needs to be verified, a senior police officer said.
The victims who hailed from Gorantla in Anantapur district do not belong to the same family, he said.
"Twelve people died on the spot in the accident while one critically injured person who was being treated at a nearby hospital succumbed to injuries. All of them were travelling in the vehicle from Anantapur to Bengaluru and on the way, the vehicle collided with a stationary tanker," D L Nagesh, Superintendent of Police (Chikkaballapur) told PTI.
A case of accident under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code has been registered and efforts are being taken to identify and contact the family members of the victims, police said.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
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.
