Dharmasthala: Mandya YouTuber alleges paid campaign against Dharmasthala, seeks SIT probe
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Mandya: A local YouTuber has alleged that some content creators were offered money to produce videos targeting Dharmasthala under the guise of campaigns seeking justice for Sowjanya.
According to a report by Deccan Herald, Sumanth, a resident of Thoppanahalli in Maddur taluk, claimed he too was approached with such an offer but refused. “A conspiracy was hatched two years ago. YouTubers were funded to promote it. I was offered money as well, but I rejected it,” he said. Sumanth demanded a Special Investigation Team (SIT) inquiry into those “luring YouTubers with money” to post defamatory content.
The remarks come against the backdrop of recent cases involving YouTubers and activists over their comments on the Dharmasthala issue.
Meanwhile, Srirangapatna MLA Ramesh Bandisiddegowda praised the state government’s handling of the matter. He said the SIT probe had “upheld the glory and tradition” of the kshetra and protected the reputation of Lord Manjunatha and Annappa Swamy.
“The government has acted rightly. If the SIT probe had not been ordered, critics would have accused Chief Minister Siddaramaiah of being ‘secularist’ and targeted Deputy CM D.K. Shivakumar despite his faith,” the MLA said in the report by DH, dismissing the opposition’s demand to hand the case to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
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West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee moves SC against SIR
New Delhi (PTI): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in the state, sources said on Sunday.
The petition names the Election Commission (EC) and the chief electoral officer of West Bengal as respondents. It was filed before the apex court on January 28, the sources said.
Banerjee arrived in Delhi on Sunday. She is scheduled to meet Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar at 4 pm on Monday to discuss the ongoing SIR exercise in West Bengal. The Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo would be accompanied by a delegation of party leaders.
She is also likely to meet party MPs in the Parliament House on Monday.
Talking to reporters at the Kolkata airport before leaving for the national capital, Banerjee claimed that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the Centre is resorting to the SIR exercise because it is certain of its imminent defeat in the West Bengal Assembly polls, due in a few months, and said the saffron party should contest the election politically and democratically.
The West Bengal chief minister has written several letters to the CEC, raising concerns over the conduct of the exercise.
In her most recent letter to the CEC on January 31, she alleged that the methodology and approach of the exercise went beyond the provisions of the Representation of the People Act and the relevant rules, causing "immense inconvenience and agony" to citizens.
Earlier, TMC leaders, including Rajya Sabha MPs Derek O'Brien and Dola Sen, had moved the apex court, challenging certain aspects of how the SIR is being carried out in West Bengal.
