Women march to Bengaluru demanding ban on liquor
Completed 200 km padayatre
Bengaluru, Jan 30: Hundreds of women walked over 200 kms to reach the state capital Wednesday demanding a blanket ban on the sale and consumption of liquor in Karnataka.
Beginning their march from Raichur on January 19, the women under the banner of Madya Nishedha Andolana converged to the city via Peenya and gathered at the Malleswaram ground here.
The police, however, prevented them from going to the Vidhana Soudha, the seat of power.
Later, a delegation of the protesters led by theatre artist Prasanna called on Chief minister H D Kumaraswamy and urged him impose prohibition.
In response, Kumaraswamy sought time to discuss the issue, a government release said.
He told the delegates that during his previous stint as chief minister in 2007-09, he had banned arrack and lottery in the state, the release added.
Kumaraswamy said he need to take his allies in the government into confidence and discuss the issue with them to arrive at a decision.
Earlier, addressing the protesters, Papamma, a women activist from Kolar said: We chose this day, the January 30, to remind the government that Mahatma Gandhi sacrificed his life for this nation. His wish was to see a liquor-free society. Its sad that the government considers liquor as a source of income and not as a social evil,
Taking a jibe at the people at the helm, Papamma said that it was surprising that the educated policymakers have no clue to the ill effects of liquor which even an illiterate person is well aware of.
Former MLA B R Patil said he wholeheartedly supported the prohibition demand.
He pointed out that he had raised this issue with the then chief minister Siddaramaiah but that no action was taken to this effect.
Speaking on the occasion, theatre artist Arundhati Nag highlighted that the Bihar government had to bow to the peoples demand for imposing ban on sale of liquor.
The Karnataka government cannot ignore this demand, she said. In a tragic incident, one of the participants Renukamma from Khairavadagi village was killed in a road accident on Monday near Bengaluru.
A Lingayat seer Swami Panditaradhya said the indifferent state government has chosen to turn a blind eye to the demand.
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ED searches: Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah accuses Centre of targeting Cong leaders
Chamarajanagara (Karnataka) (PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday accused the central government and its agencies of consistently targeting Congress members by using searches on their properties, and questioned why similar action is not taken against BJP leaders.
He was reacting to searches conducted by the Enforcement Directorate on Monday on several individuals, among them the sons of Karnataka Congress MLA N A Haris and the grandson of former Union Cabinet minister K Rahman Khan, in connection with a cryptocurrency-linked money laundering case.
"The central government always targets Congress leaders. Will they raid the houses of BJP leaders?" Siddaramaiah said in response to a question. More than a dozen premises in the city were searched as part of the operation carried out by the ED under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The premises searched comprised those of Mohammed Haris Nalapad and Omar Farook Nalapad, the sons of the MLA; Aqeeb Khan, the grandson of veteran Congress leader K Rahman Khan; and an alleged crypto hacker, Srikrishna Ramesh, alias Sriki, officials said.
The money laundering case stems from Karnataka Police FIRs and charge sheets filed in a 2017 case involving the hacking of national and international websites, theft of bitcoins, and the sale of these stolen virtual digital assets (VDAs) through crypto platforms by the alleged hacker Sriki and his associates.
Mohammed Haris Nalapad, Omar Farook Nalapad, and Aqeeb Khan are alleged to be beneficiaries of the proceeds of crime generated through this crypto-linked activity, officials added.
