Belthangady: Independent candidates supported by the Congress and the BJP were declared winners of the by-polls to two gram panchayat seats in the taluk.

Anand Bangera who was supported by the Congress won the by-poll held for the third ward of the Hosangady Gram Panchayat with 457 votes, beating his rival Sunil Shetty, supported by the BJP, by 183 votes. The by-election was reportedly held following the death of Congress-supported member Hariprasad.

BJP-supported candidate, Jayalakshmi, won the Puduvettu Gram Panchayat by-election by 372 votes. Her victory margin was 252 votes, with Congress-supported candidate Sindhu getting 120 votes in the by-poll.

The by-election at Puduvettu was held as BJP-supported Anitha resigned as Gram Panchayat member member.

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Ranipet (Tamil Nadu) (PTI): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was being "controlled" by US President Donald Trump and that the PM wanted the AIADMK to capture power so that he could control Tamil Nadu Chief Minister.

Also, he claimed that the prime minister "handed out our energy security and gave away our data, besides selling our farmers and small and medium industries."

"You saw yesterday (in Parliament) the face of Prime Minister Narendra Modi completely lacking confidence," Rahul said on the delimitation bill.

"He (PM) could not even face the opposition. He was sitting sideways. And the reason is, he is controlled by the United States. He signed the India-US deal that sold our country out," Rahul said while addressing an election rally here.

He further said, "Today, if Donald Trump tells Modi to jump, Modi jumps. If Donald Trump tells Modi to lie down, Modi lies down. Why? Because Donald Trump controls Modi fully. How does he control him? He controls through the Epstein files. He controls him because he knows Modi's financial systems and understands Modi's link with Adani," the Congress leader alleged.

Just as he was being controlled by Trump, Modi wanted to do the same to the chief minister of Tamil Nadu. "That is why he wants to put AIADMK in power in TN," Rahul said.

The Union government had rejected references to PM Modi in the latest Jeffrey Epstein case files, describing it as “little more than trashy ruminations by a convicted criminal that deserves to be dismissed with the utmost contempt”.