Congress stages 'Raj Bhavan Chalo' against alleged misuse of Karnataka Guv's office
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Saturday said the 'Raj Bhavan Chalo' was organised by the Congress party to protest against the alleged misuse of the office of the Governor.
Shivakumar, who is the Congress Karnataka unit president, said the march is mainly to ensure that Raj Bhavan should not become the office of a political party.
"I want to clarify that we organised 'Raj Bhavan Chalo' not on behalf of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. The matter is in the court of law..." the Deputy CM said.
"This 'Raj Bhavan Chalo' is to make sure that the Governor's office should not become an office of a party. We are going there (Raj Bhavan) with a demand to protect the sanctity of this constitutional post," he said.
Shivakumar lamented that there were many pending petitions, seeking permission to prosecute some individuals, with the Governor.
Holding placards, banners, posters and raising slogans condemning Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot, the Congress leaders led by Shivakumar took out a march, which saw the participation of several ministers, Congress MLAs and MPs.
Later, they handed over a memorandum to Gehlot.
Earlier, Siddaramaiah, his cabinet colleagues, Congress MLAs and MPs staged a sit-in demonstration near the Gandhi statue on the Vidhana Soudha premises here.
The Congress government is at loggerheads with Gehlot after he granted permission to investigate and prosecute the CM in the alleged Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) site allotment scam.
Siddaramaiah's wife Parvathi is accused of getting compensatory sites in the Mysuru upmarket against the 'illegal acquisition' of 3 Acres and 16 guntas of her agricultural land in Kesare village in Mysuru by the MUDA.
The Chief Minister has been alleging that the Governor's office was misused to 'destabilise' the Congress government in the state.
Siddaramaiah has also accused Gehlot of discriminating against him while granting permission for prosecution.
Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot on August 16 accorded sanction for prosecution of the CM under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and Section 218 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 for the commission of the alleged offences as mentioned in the petitions of three social activists.
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Several Indians inducted into Russian Army remain missing: Report
New Delhi: In a concerning development, several Indians who were illegally enlisted in the Russian Army and forcibly sent to the war zone on the Russia-Ukraine border are reportedly still missing.
According to a report published by The Hindu on Sunday, citing communication from the Ministry of External Affairs and statements from the families of two missing men, Mohammad Amin Sheikh, a 65-year-old resident of Kupwara in Tangdhar, Jammu and Kashmir, said that his 27-year-old son, Zahoor Sheikh, last contacted the family on December 31, 2023.
Amin Sheikh mentioned that his son said that he was going for training and would not be available for the next three months on phone. “But when we started getting news about the deaths of Indians in Russia in January, we got worried and called on his number. We could not reach him. We are yet to hear from him,” Sheikh, a retired Inspector from the Public Health Department in Jammu and Kashmir, was quoted as saying by the publication.
Last week, Mohammad Amin Sheikh and his two other sons travelled to New Delhi to seek answers from the Ministry of External Affairs and the Russian Embassy after the Indian Embassy in Moscow failed to give them information about Zahoor Sheikh.
“We submitted a petition at the Russian Embassy,” 31-year-old Aijaz Amin, Zahoor Sheikh’s elder brother, told The Hindu. “They said they are looking into the matter. The MEA officials said that at least 15 Indians are still missing and though the Russian government is cooperative, their commanders on the ground are not responsive,” he added.
Zahoor had travelled to Russia after he came across a YouTube video promising the job of a security helper in Russia. Instead, he was reportedly deceived into joining the Russian Army.
Similarly, 30-year-old Mandeep, from Jalandhar in Punjab, has been missing since March. His brother, Jagdeep Kumar, also arrived in Delhi, looking for answers from the government about his sibling's whereabouts.
“We last spoke on March 3. He initially went to Armenia and was supposed to go to Italy from there in search of work. Instead, he was tricked by an agent to go to Russia and was forced to join the Russian Army. He was sent to the war zone after a few days of training,” Kumar told The Hindu.
Kumar said he met officials from the External Affairs Ministry in the capital city, who told him that at least 25 Indians were reported missing in Russia.
