Mangaluru: Cong leaders not happy with tickets distribution for MCC elections; blames Ramanath Rai
Mangaluru: The internal problems of Congress party ahead of Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) elections are in no mood to stop anytime soon. Senior local leaders of party on Friday called press conference and expressed their displeasure over reports that four former Mayors were not given party ticket in a bid to ignore supporters of former union minister Janardhan Poojary.
Speaking at the press conference called at press club in the city, former MLA Vijaykumar Shetty added that some party leaders with vested interests were compromising on the principles of the Congress party.
“Former Corporator Gulzar Banu, who became the Mayor when BJP was in power was ignored for party ticket in her own constituency. Now her son is framed for attacking for MLA and has been jailed. All this is very shameful. Former Mayors Purandar Das Koloor and Mahabala Marla were also ignored for tickets. The party is ignoring those who have worked really hard for the party” Shetty told reporters.
Slamming former minister Ramanath Rai over the issue, Shetty said “Ramanath Rai says he missed home ministry because of me. I told his history to everyone during the meeting. But still he was made minister and now he is blaming me for missing home minister’s post. He doesn’t have any knowledge about the principles of Congress party. I am not scared of anybody when it comes to speaking truth. I was offered tickets for assembly election by other parties but I never accepted it because for me Congress is the only political party I can be a part of. That’s why I am still in the party. There are a lot of things that are happening in the party which the senior party leader should know about”.
Another local party leader Tharnath Shetty added that informing Purandar Das that he would not get the ticket for the election would have been fair. “But inviting him to office, asking him to prepare B form and them cancelling his name in the last ten minutes was wrong. This is why we have called this press conference”.
Tharnath further alleged that the local leaders have this time ignored the party’s norms of selecting a candidate for the election, and has not taken anybody under their confidence before finalizing the names.
“Purandar Das, a Dalit leader has done remarkable job in his constituency. KPCC Incharge KC Venugopal and former Minister UT Khader had also discussed about it. But everything changed in last ten minutes which is very wrong” Tharnath said.
Congress leader Karunakar was also present at the press conference.
Meanwhile Purandar Das has added that he has received many call after he was dropped from the party’s ticket list. “I will decide in next two days about whom to support in the election” Das told reporters.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Karnataka approves AI Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru's Electronics City
Bengaluru (PTI): The Karnataka government has approved the establishment of a CoE for AI in Biotechnology at IBAB in Electronics City (Phase 1), here.
The decision, taken by the state Cabinet on Thursday night, marks a significant step towards strengthening Karnataka’s leadership in emerging technologies, IT and biotechnology, Karnataka Minister Priyank Kharge said on Friday.
The centre will be established over four years with a total outlay of Rs 20 crore, in partnership with the Institute of Bioinformatics and Applied Biotechnology and the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms (C-CAMP), according to a statement from the minister’s office.
"Karnataka has consistently been at the forefront of technological innovation. As we enter the decade of deep tech, our focus is on building future-ready capabilities at the intersection of artificial intelligence and biotechnology," Minister for IT and Biotechnology said.
"This Centre of Excellence will strengthen our research ecosystem, accelerate innovation and enable Karnataka to lead in high-impact next-generation technologies," he added.
Priyank added that the state government, through the Departments of Electronics, IT, Biotechnology, and Science & Technology, is actively investing in emerging technologies and taking steps to strengthen Karnataka’s AI and deep-tech ecosystem.
The minister said the Cabinet has also approved the transfer of a 51 per cent stake in the Karnataka Technology & Innovation Museum Foundation (KTIMF) to the Unboxing BLR Foundation.
KTIMF was established by the Government of Karnataka as a not-for-profit organisation to promote innovation, technological awareness, startup culture and public engagement in science and technology, aligned with the state’s vision of building a robust innovation ecosystem, he said.
The Technology & Innovation Museum will be developed at the NGEF campus in Baiyappanahalli, Bengaluru, under a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model, with a total project cost of Rs 100 crore. Of this, Rs 49 crore will be contributed by the state government and Rs 51 crore by the private partner, he said.
