Siddaramaiah to meet Congress high command in Delhi to decide on CLP leader
Bengaluru: With the selection of next Congress Legislature Party leader and state Congress president on the cards, former chief minister Siddaramaiah will meet the party high command in Delhi on Tuesday, a senior leader said on Sunday.
"Yes... He is leaving for Delhi on Monday evening. There is a meeting scheduled with the party high command on Tuesday," said a Congress leader close to Siddaramaiah.
Names that are doing rounds for the post of CLP leader include H K Patil and former speaker K R Ramesh Kumar whereas D K Shivakumar and K H Muniyappa are the top contenders for the state party chief's post.
Siddaramaiah had stepped down as the CLP leader while Dinesh Gundu Rao had resigned as state Congress president on December 9 after the party's poor performance in the assembly bypolls at 15 places.
While the ruling BJP won 12 seats, Congress could secure only two seats namely Hunasuru and Shivajinagar. An independent candidate won from Hoskote.
The bypolls were necessitated due to the disqualification of 17 MLAs which brought down the coalition government of Congress and the JD(S).
The bypolls were held at 15 places whereas the decision regarding the two other assembly segments was put on hold pending court order. The BJP's thumping victory in the bypolls helped the saffron party gain majority in the Karnataka assembly with 117 seats minus the speaker.
The Congress and the JD(S) were expecting a substantial victory in the bypolls but the BJP's stellar performance left the leaders of the two parties in a state of shock. The bypolls were being seen as an acid test for Siddaramaiah and Rao.
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South African police arrest suspect in mass shooting that killed 12, including 3 children
Johannesburg (AP): A 32-year-old suspect has been arrested in connection with a mass shooting which claimed the lives of 12 people including three children at an unlicensed pub earlier this month, South African police said on Monday.
The man is suspected of being one of the three people who opened fire on patrons in a pub at Saulsville township, west of South Africa's capital Pretoria, killing 12 people including three children aged 3, 12 and 16.
At least 13 people were also injured during the attack, whose motive remains unknown.
According to the police, the suspect was arrested on Sunday while traveling to Botlokwa in Limpopo province, more than 340 km from where the mass shooting took place on Dec 6.
An unlicensed firearm believed to have been used during the attack was recovered from the suspect's vehicle.
“The 32-year-old suspect was intercepted by Limpopo Tracking Team on the R101 Road in Westenburg precinct. During the arrest, the team recovered an unlicensed firearm, a hand gun, believed to have been used in the commission of the multiple murders. The firearm will be taken to the Forensic Science Laboratory for ballistic analysis,” police said in statement.
The suspect was arrested on the same day that another mass shooting at a pub took place in the Bekkersdal township, west of Johannesburg, in which nine people were killed and 10 wounded when unknown gunmen opened fire on patrons.
Police have since launched a search for the suspects.
South Africa has one of the highest homicide rates in the world and recorded more than 26,000 homicides in 2024 — an average of more than 70 a day. Firearms are by far the leading cause of death in homicides.
The country of 62 million people has relatively strict gun ownership laws, but many killings are committed with illegal guns, according to authorities.
According to police, mass shootings at unlicensed bars are becoming a serious problem. Police shut down more than 11,000 illegal taverns between April and September this year and arrested more than 18,000 people for involvement in illegal liquor sales.
