Mangaluru: In a press conference held at the District Congress Committee office on Tuesday, Congress leader and former minister Ramanath Rai issued a strong challenge to MLA Bharat Shetty, stating, "If Bharat Shetty has the courage and strength, let him lay hands on our common worker."

Rai’s statement came in response to Shetty's earlier condemnation of the remarks made by Rahul Gandhi. The MLA had said that ‘Rahul Gandhi should be locked up and slapped inside the Parliament for his anti-Hindu statements’.

The senior Congress leader has demanded that a suo motu case be filed against Bharat Shetty for his comments on Rahul Gandhi. He accused the BJP of attempting to undermine Rahul Gandhi's statement, calling Shetty “a man without merit”, who rose in politics through the support of Amarnath Shetty.

Rai defended Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, emphasizing the sacrifices of his family for the country.

Shankaracharya Swami Avimukteshwarananda Saraswati had also earlier said that Rahul Gandhi's statements did not term Hindus as violent. He had further demanded that those spreading misinformation should be punished.

Rai criticized the BJP, accusing them of engaging in divisive, low-level politics aimed at inciting violence and garnering votes. He further said that the government is taking necessary measures to curb the spread of dengue. He questioned the mismanagement during the COVID-19 pandemic by the BJP government. He also spoke against rising inflation.

Congress leaders Shashidhar Hegde, Shubhodaya Alva, Naveen D'Souza, M.G. Hegde, Ashraf, Prakash Salian, Ramanand Pujari, Neeraj Paul, Chittaranjan Shetty, Salim, Surendra Kambli, and Imran Sawad were present in the press conference.

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ISLAMABAD: At least two more cases of poliovirus were reported in Pakistan, taking the number of infections to 52 so far this year, a report said on Friday.

“The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health has confirmed the detection of two more wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases in Pakistan," an official statement said.

The fresh infections — a boy and a girl — were reported from the Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.

“Genetic sequencing of the samples collected from the children is underway," the statement read. Dera Ismail Khan, one of the seven polio-endemic districts of southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has reported five polio cases so far this year.

Of the 52 cases in the country this year, 24 are from Balochistan, 13 from Sindh, 13 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.

There is no cure for polio. Only multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and completion of the routine vaccination schedule for all children under the age of five can keep them protected.