Three leaders in Karnataka earlier with BJP join Congress
Bengaluru: K Jayaprakash Hegde, who was until recently the Chairman of Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes, and two former MLAs, B M Sukumar Shetty and M P Kumaraswamy, who were earlier with the BJP, on Tuesday joined the Congress party weeks before Lok Sabha polls.
Hegde - a former MLA, MP and Minister - as the Chairman of the Commission for Backward Classes, submitted the much awaited Socio-Economic and Education Survey report, popularly known as the 'caste census', to the government on February 29.
He is likely to be the Congress candidate from Udupi-Chikmagalur Lok Sabha constituency, according to party sources.
Hegde was earlier with the BJP, and during the tenure of the previous BJP government he was appointed as the Chairman of the Commission.
He had earlier unsuccessfully contested from the Udupi-Chikmagalur seat in 2009 and 2014 on a Congress ticket. He had won the seat in 2012 by-poll for Congress, after BJP's D V Sadananda Gowda vacated it to become the chief minister.
Hegde, a noted political figure, had previously represented the Brahmavar assembly constituency, twice and independent and once from erstwhile Janata Dal. He served as the minister of ports and fisheries in the then Janata Dal government and played a pivotal role in the establishment of the Udupi district, carved out of Dakshina Kannada.
Former BJP MLAs - B M Sukumar Shetty, who represented Byndoor Assembly Constituency in 2018, and Kumaraswamy, who represented Mudigere Assembly segment thrice - too joined the Congress on Tuesday. Both of them were denied tickets by the BJP in the 2023 assembly polls. They were with the Congress in the past.
Kumaraswamy had unsuccessfully contested the 2023 assembly polls from Mudigere on a JD(S) ticket.
They joined the party along with their supporters in the presence of state Congress President and Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, Home Minister G Parameshwara, Energy Minister K J George and several leaders.
Addressing Congress workers and leaders after joining the party, Hegde, Shetty and Kumaraswamy said, they will work for the success of the grand old party in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls and take the works of the ruling government in Karnataka to the people.
Shivakumar, welcoming them into the party, said, Congress was strong and this has forced BJP and JD(S) to come together.
He said, "BJP is saying that they will win over 370 seats in the Lok Sabha polls (nationally). If they are so confident, why are they inducting Congress and other opposition party leaders in a number of states? If their party is strong, why do they want people from other parties," he asked.
Further stating that the BJP candidates list for Karnataka is likely to be announced in a couple of days, he said, "according to my information, they are replacing sitting MPs with new candidates in at least 10 seats, it is because there is anti-incumbency against them, as they did not respond to the concerns of the people. Knowing that 10 of them will lose, they are changing the candidates."
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MP cruise boat tragedy: Search ops expanded to trace four missing passengers
Jabalpur (PTI): Army divers and disaster response teams on Saturday expanded their search at Bargi Dam in Madhya Pradesh to locate a man and three children still missing after the cruise boat tragedy that claimed nine lives two days ago, officials said.
With 28 of the 41 identified passengers onboard the ill-fated cruise boat rescued safely, police are preparing to register an FIR in connection with the accident that occurred at the reservoir in Jabalpur district on Thursday evening, they said.
The search radius has been expanded to 5 km in the backwaters of the Bargi Dam, located downstream of the Narmada River, area sub-divisional officer of police (SDOP) Anjul Ayank Mishra told PTI.
Nine people drowned in the incident, while 28 were rescued, and efforts are ongoing to trace the missing persons, he said.
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According to the police, more than 200 rescuers, including around 20 Army divers airlifted from Agra, began the search operation at 5 am on Saturday to trace Kamraj, an employee of the Ordnance Factory in Khamaria, his son Tamil (5), Vijay Soni (6) and Mayuram (5).
Mishra said that an inquest case has been registered and the post-mortem of nine deceased persons has been completed.
"Our priority is to search for the missing persons. We will soon register an FIR," he said.
Investigators have said that CCTV footage near the boarding point showed 43 people heading towards the ill-fated boat, and the names of 41 persons, who boarded the vessel, have been ascertained so far.
Collector Raghvendra Singh confirmed that a search is underway for four missing persons.
The rescue operation, being carried out by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and local divers, was briefly affected around 9 am due to strong winds.
The state government on Friday ordered a probe into the incident and dismissed three crew members after survivors alleged negligence and safety lapses, including failure to provide life jackets.
The government also banned the operation of similar vessels in the state.
The boat, operated by the state tourism department, sank during a sudden storm around 6 pm on Thursday, and the wreckage was retrieved from the dam water on Friday, after the rescuers confirmed that there were no more bodies inside.
Eyewitnesses have said that strong winds made the water choppy, prompting passengers to raise an alarm and ask the crew to steer the vessel towards the riverbank.
A survivor alleged negligence by the crew and described a last-minute scramble for life jackets.
