Bad weather halts Amarnath Yatra
Srinagar, June 28 : Bad weather along both the north and south Kashmir routes of Baltal and Pahalgam on Thursday halted the Amarnath Yatra that officially started earlier in the day.
"It has been raining along both Baltal and Pahalgam treks to the Cave Shrine since early morning. Pilgrims camped at Baltal and Nunwan (Pahalgam) base camps have been advised not to proceed till the weather improves," an official said.
"All the pilgrims are safe and a decision on allowing them to proceed further will be taken later," he added.
Officially, the annual Amarnath Yatra began around 4 a.m. with the second batch of 3,425 pilgrims leaving Jammu for the two base camps in the Kashmir Valley.
"Pilgrims left in two groups: The first group of yatris left Bhagwati Nagar Yatri Niwas at 3.55 a.m. in an escorted convoy for Baltal base camp and the other group left at 4.20 a.m. for Pahalgam base camp. Thursday's batch included 2,679 males, 592 females, three children and 151 Sadhus, the police said.
The 60-day long Amarnath Yatra will end on August 26, coinciding with the Shravan Purnima festival.
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Dy CM Shivakumar confident of Congress win in Karnataka bypolls
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Saturday expressed confidence that the ruling Congress will secure a decisive victory in the Assembly bypolls scheduled for April 9 in the Bagalkote and Davanagere South constituencies, citing a favourable ground response to the party’s guarantee schemes.
These are ‘Shakti’, ‘Gruha Lakshmi’, ‘Gruha Jyoti’, ‘Yuva Nidhi’ and ‘Anna Bhagya’.
The bypolls were necessitated by the demise of sitting Congress MLAs Shamanur Shivashankarappa and H Y Meti, who represented Davanagere South and Bagalkote constituencies, respectively.
The Congress has fielded Shivashankarappa’s grandson, Samarth Shamanur, in Davanagere South and Umesh Meti in Bagalkote. They are locked in direct contests with BJP candidates T Dasakariyappa and Veerabhadrayya Charantimath.
“Both Bagalkote and Davanagere are very positive. Congress workers are doing an excellent job, going door to door and convincing people about the guarantee schemes,” Shivakumar told reporters here.
He said even voters who had earlier supported the BJP were now inclined towards the Congress.
“Even those who voted for the BJP earlier are saying they will vote for Congress. People want the guarantees to continue and are expressing difficulties due to rising prices,” he said.
Expressing confidence of an improved electoral performance, he added, “There is a strong sense that we will win with a bigger margin than before.”
Shivakumar also said he would travel to Kerala for two days and resume campaigning thereafter. “I am going to Kerala for two days. After returning, we will continue the campaign from Davanagere,” he said.
Referring to the shortage of LPG, including auto LPG, in the state, Shivakumar blamed the BJP-led government and called for immediate intervention by the Centre.
“The LPG shortage is due to the BJP. Auto drivers and those in the transport sector are facing difficulties,” he claimed.
“This is something the central government has to address. It must formulate proper policies and take precautionary measures,” he said, adding that the BJP should apologise to the public.
“They should come forward and apologise to the people for the inconvenience caused and resolve the issues they have created,” he said.
