Bharat Bandh condemning fuel price hike: Bandh total in State
Bengaluru, September 10: Bharat Bandh called by the Congress and its allies condemning the fuel price hike in the country on Monday was total and peaceful barring some stray incidents in the state.
Congress and BJP workers engaged in verbal duals in Hubballi, Udupi, Bagalkot and Uttara Kannada districts, miscreants pelted stones at KSRTC buses, agitators tried to lay siege the office of MP Prahlad Joshi, Vatal Nagaraj tried to ride buffalo, while MLC TA Shravan rode horse and police caned the agitators during the bandh on Monday.
Schools and colleges were declared holiday. In some places, the agitators were seen forcefully closing down the fruits, vegetables and medical shops. In Bagalkot, the Congress workers tried to close the shops and other business establishments forcefully. The Congress workers who entered the market during the protest, force shut down the shops and asked the women who were selling fruits on the roadside to leave the place.
As the coalition partners Congress and JDS supported the bandh in the state, the administrative machinery was almost functionless. But the bandh did not have any impact on the proceedings of the courts. The High Court, City Civil Court and Magistrate Courts functioned as usual.
BMTC, KSRTC and Private buses, taxi cabs and autos were off the roads due to which, people suffered a lot at Majestic, KR Market, Shanti Nagar, Mysuru Road, Shivajinagar bus stations. In some places, auto drivers charged double amount than usual fare.
Though bus service started in some parts of the state in the morning, the agitators forcefully stopped the buses. Kannada Rakshana Vedike activists burnt tyres and blocked roads in Mysuru, Davangere, Hubballi, Hassan, Chikmagaluru and others parts, while Congress workers took out a huge protest march in Bengaluru. JDS workers took out protest march in bullock carts and burnt the effigy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in several places.
Vatal rides buffalo
Kannada Chalavali Vatal Party president Vatal Nagaraj condemned the fuel price hike in a unique way by riding a buffalo at Majestic bus stand. Speaking on the occasion, Vatal Nagaraj said that more than 2,000 pro-Kannada organizations have supported the bandh. He has rode buffalo condemning the stand of the Narendra Modi government at the centre which failed to check the fuel price hike. The NDA government at the centre has failed on all fronts. If it failed to check the fuel price, people would certainly revolt against it, he warned.
“The state government should not increase the bus fare in the state. This bandh is not just against the central government, but also applies to the state government. We have decided to call for a bandh against fuel price hike. But as the Congress has given the bandh call, we have extended our support to the bandh”, he said.
Karnataka Rakshana Vedike led by its president Praveen Shetty took out a protest jatha to the Raj Bhavan condemning the fuel price hike. At Mekri Circle, the agitators pulled the car to protest the fuel price hike. But the police took the agitators who were marching towards Raj Bhavan from Mekri Circle, into custody near Palace Guttahalli.
Indira canteen functions
Though Bharat Bandh is successful across the state, the Indira canteens of the state government functioned as usual on Monday. As the hotels were closed, the general public were dependent on Indira canteens.
Rs 200 cr loss?
It is said that the state Exchequer has incurred a loss of Rs 200 crore in terms of tax collection due to Bharat Bandh. Apart from this, the entire state has incurred more than Rs 2,000 crore loss as the business transaction was stopped completely, it is estimated.
Bandh peaceful at Capital city
No untoward incidents were reported in the State Capital during the Bharat bandh on Monday. The bandh was peaceful. Protests were held at Mysore Bank Circle, Town Hall, Mourya Circle, Railway Station and other parts peacefully, according to City Police Commissioner T Sunil Kumar.
Tight security arrangements were made as a precautionary measure in the city. Additional police force of 15,000 including police commissioners and DCPs were deputed to monitor law and order situation across the city. Apart from this, 30 KSRTP platoons, 200 Hoysala vehicles were deployed for patrolling. The police have taken 14 persons who were misbehaving with the people at Chalukya Circle and 40 persons at Mekri Circle, into custody, Sunil Kumar said.
Protesters lay siege MP Joshi office
JDS activists laid siege the office of Hubballi-Dharwad Lok Sabha Member Prahlad Joshi and protested. Opposing this, the BJP workers staged a protest in front of the Hubballi Satellite Town Police station demanding arrest of JDS workers.
Bandh affects airport too
Bharat Bandh has affected the passengers at the Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru. Though the number of passengers coming to the airport was less, the number of foreign travelers was as usual.
The officials tried to send the passengers by Airport taxis. As some pro-Kannada organizations blocked the connecting roads to the airport and protested and the traffic congestion was more due to accidents, the passengers had to suffer a lot.
Modi’s pot of sins has filled to its brim
The pot of Narendra Modi’s ‘sins’ has filled to its brim. The NDA government is at the verge of collapse. They were ruling according to their whims and fancies. Because of this, the rupee value against the dollar was collapsed. The fuel prices were sky-rocketing. It was sure that the NDA would not retain power in the next Lok Sabha election. The people were disappointed because of false assurances of the BJP and they would dethrone Modi from the PM position.
- M Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress leader in Lok Sabha
Prohibitory order at Udupi
Following clash between the Congress and BJP workers during the bandh, police security was beefed up across the Udupi city and clamped prohibitory orders under Section 144 in the City Municipal Council limits, according to an order from the tahsildar. He also warned against conducting any kinds of victory celebrations, or protests and possessing any weapons.
“Our party workers were peacefully protesting. But the police caned them. As a result, one person lost one of his fingers and four others were injured. This issue would be brought to the notice of the District Minister and the Home Minister. The incident would be discussed with the party leaders in the district. If the police caned the party workers without any reason, then the Congress would stage protest in front of the SP office”.
- Vinay Kumar Sorake, former minister
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Trump orders blockade of 'sanctioned oil tankers' into Venezuela, ramping up pressure on Maduro
Washington (AP): President Donald Trump said Tuesday he is ordering a blockade of all “sanctioned oil tankers” into Venezuela, ramping up pressure on the country's authoritarian leader Nicolas Maduro in a move that seemed designed to put a tighter chokehold on the South American country's economy.
Trump's escalation comes after US forces last week seized an oil tanker off Venezuela's coast, an unusual move that followed a buildup of military forces in the region. In a post on social media Tuesday night announcing the blockade, Trump alleged Venezuela was using oil to fund drug trafficking and other crimes and vowed to continue the military buildup until the country gave the US oil, land and assets, though it was not clear why he felt the US had a claim.
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“Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America,” Trump said in a post on his social media platform. “It will only get bigger, and the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before — Until such time as they return to the United States of America all of the Oil, Land, and other Assets that they previously stole from us.”
Pentagon officials referred all questions about the post to the White House.
Venezuela's government released a statement Tuesday accusing Trump of “violating international law, free trade, and the principle of free navigation” with “a reckless and grave threat” against the South American country.
“On his social media, he assumes that Venezuela's oil, land, and mineral wealth are his property,” the statement said of Trump's post. “Consequently, he demands that Venezuela immediately hand over all its riches. The President of the United States intends to impose, in an utterly irrational manner, a supposed naval blockade on Venezuela with the aim of stealing the wealth that belongs to our nation.”
Maduro's government, according to the statement, plans to denounce the situation before the United Nations.
The US buildup has been accompanied by a series of military strikes on boats in international waters in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. The campaign, which has drawn bipartisan scrutiny among US lawmakers, has killed at least 95 people in 25 known strikes on vessels.
Trump has for weeks said that the US will move its campaign beyond the water and start strikes on land.
The Trump administration has defended the strikes as a success, saying they have prevented drugs from reaching American shores, and pushed back on concerns that they are stretching the bounds of lawful warfare.
The Trump administration has said the campaign is about stopping drugs headed to the US, but Trump's chief of staff Susie Wiles appeared to confirm in a Vanity Fair interview published Tuesday that the campaign is part of a push to oust Maduro.
Wiles said Trump “wants to keep on blowing boats up until Maduro cries uncle.”
Tuesday night's announcement seemed to have a similar aim.
Venezuela, which has the world's largest proven oil reserves and produces about 1 million barrels a day, has long relied on oil revenue as a lifeblood of its economy.
Since the Trump administration began imposing oil sanctions on Venezuela in 2017, Maduro's government has relied on a shadowy fleet of unflagged tankers to smuggle crude into global supply chains.
The state-owned oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA, commonly known as PDVSA, has been locked out of global oil markets by US sanctions. It sells most of its exports at a steep discount in the black market in China.
Francisco Monaldi, a Venezuelan oil expert at Rice University in Houston, said about 850,000 barrels of the 1 million daily production is exported. Of that, he said, 80 per cent goes to China, 15 per cent to 17 per cent goes to the US through Chevron Corp, and the remainder goes to Cuba.
In October, Trump appeared to confirm reports that Maduro has offered a stake in Venezuela's oil and other mineral wealth in recent months to try to stave off mounting pressure from the United States.
“He's offered everything,” Trump said at the time. “You know why? Because he doesn't want to f—- around with the United States.”
It wasn't immediately clear how the US planned to enact what Trump called a “TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE OF ALL SANCTIONED OIL TANKERS going into, and out of, Venezuela.”
But the US Navy has 11 ships, including an aircraft carrier and several amphibious assault ships, in the region.
Those ships carry a wide complement of aircraft, including helicopters and V-22 Ospreys. Additionally, the Navy has been operating a handful of P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft in the region.
All told, those assets provide the military a significant ability to monitor marine traffic coming in and out of the country.
Trump in his post said that the “Venezuelan Regime has been designated a FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATION,” but it wasn't clear what he was referring to.
The foreign terrorist organisation designation has been historically reserved for non-state actors that do not have sovereign immunities conferred by either treaties or United Nations membership.
In November, the Trump administration announced it was designating the Cartel de los Soles as a foreign terrorist organisation. The term Cartel de los Soles originally referred to Venezuelan military officers involved in drug-running, but it is not a cartel per se.
Governments that US administrations seek to sanction for financing, otherwise fomenting or tolerating extremist violence are usually designated “state sponsors of terrorism.”
Venezuela is not on that list.
In rare cases, the US has designated an element of a foreign government as an “FTO.” The Trump administration in its first term did so with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, an arm of the Iranian government, which had already been designated a state sponsor of terrorism.
