Won’t budge to Shamanur’s autocracy: M.B. Patil
Vijayapura, October 20: “We will not budge to the autocracy of senior MLA Shamanur Shivashankarappa who said he will complain against us to the party high command. Let him give complaint. We will see the next course of action”, said former minister M.B. Patil.
Speaking to reporters here on Saturday, Patil said that Shamanur Shivashankarappa was a senior leader and he has respect towards him. But he said that Vinay Kulkarni had a humiliating defeat. What about his son S.S. Mallikarjun? First he should introspect about his son, he added.
It was not fair to raise the issue of separate Lingayat religion during by-elections. Shamanur Shivashankarappa had joined hands with the seers of Pancha Peethas who were responsible for the defeat of the Congress in the last Assembly election, he alleged.
“Shamanur Shivashankarappa was elected in a constituency which has more than 70,000 Muslim voters. Let him think about the defeat of his son. But in my constituency, I have won though Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally campaigned against me”, he said.
The school records of Shamanur Shivashankarappa, Yeddyurappa, Umesh Katti and Pancha Peetha seers have shown that they were Lingayats. Only 10,000 people have written as Veerashaivas. When S.M. Krishna was the chief minister, MP Prakash had included the word ‘Veerashaiva’ in the software, he said.
If the central government rejected the proposal submitted by the state government on separate Lingayat religion status, they would move the Supreme Court. Now, Shamanur Shivashankarappa has joined hands with Rambhapuri Swamiji. He would discuss all the issues with the high command after November 3, he said.
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Allahabad HC orders FIR against Rahul Gandhi in dual citizenship case
Lucknow (PTI): The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court on Friday ordered an FIR be filed against Congress MP Rahul Gandhi in connection with an alleged dual citizenship controversy.
The bench permitted the state government to hand over the probe to any central probe agency after registration of the FIR.
The order was passed by a bench of Justice Subhash Vidyarthi on a petition filed by S Vignesh Shishir, who had challenged a January 28 order of a special MP/MLA court rejecting his plea for an FIR against Gandhi, the leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha.
The special court had earlier held that it was not competent to adjudicate on issues related to citizenship.
The petitioner, a BJP worker from Karnataka, had sought registration of an FIR and a detailed probe into the matter, levelling allegations against Gandhi under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), the Official Secrets Act, the Foreigners Act and the Passport Act.
The complaint was initially filed before the special MP/MLA court in Rae Bareli. However, on the petitioner's request, the high court transferred the case to Lucknow on December 17, 2025.
The MP/MLA court in Lucknow subsequently dismissed the plea on January 28, 2026, prompting the petitioner to approach the high court, which has now ordered registration of an FIR.
In its order, the bench said that from a bare perusal of the allegations, prima facie cognizable offences were made out against Gandhi and hence the allegations required to be investigated.
The bench said that the special court should have looked into whether the allegations prima facie made out any cognizable offences or not, but it failed to consider it.
Earlier, Deputy Solicitor General of India SB Pandey produced the central government's records in the court relating to the citizenship controversy surrounding Gandhi.
Government counsel VK Singh also consented on behalf of the UP government that the allegations prima facie made out cognizable offences.
After having a detailed hearing, the bench found that the material on records showed that Gandhi had committed "cognizable offences" in having dual citizenship, and these allegations required to be probed.
The petitioner has alleged that Rahul is a UK Citizen and incorporated a company named M/S Backops Ltd in August 2003.
It was further submitted that Gandhi categorically admitted and voluntarily declared his nationality as British, having a Director Identification ID and London and Hampshire addresses.
In his petition, Shishir claimed that Rahul submitted the company's annual returns in October 2005 and October 2006, listing his nationality as British.
Thereafter, the company was dissolved through a dissolution application in February 2009.
According to the petitioner, the material placed before the court includes records suggesting that Rahul Gandhi may have been listed as a voter in the United Kingdom and participated in electoral processes there.
During the course of the hearing, the high court earlier directed the Ministry of Home Affairs to place all relevant records, including classified documents, before the court.
