BJP complains to poll officials on political activities in offices of K'taka Ministers, MLAs
Bengaluru: The BJP on Sunday complained to the Chief Electoral Officer of Karnataka, regarding the continued political activities in the offices of ministers and MLAs of the Congress government in the state.
A delegation of BJP leaders led by party MLA and former Minister S Suresh Kumar have asked for Ministers and legislators to be barred from carrying out any political activity in government buildings.
''Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar seems to have thought Vidhana Soudha was a Congress office. On March 30, Sivakumar violated the Election Code of Conduct by organising Najma Nazeer Chikkanerale's induction into the Congress party, at the Vidhana Soudha office,'' BJP said in a statement.
It accused Shivakumar of defying the code of conduct by organising a political programme at the government office, despite being aware that it should not be done.
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Despite this happening under the nose of the state's Chief Secretary Rajneesh Goel, his apparent inaction is alarming, it added.
The Lok Sabha elections have been announced and filing of nomination papers have already started, but the lack of enforcement of the election code by government officials is evident, the BJP said, adding it has informed poll officials that party activities are still going on in the offices of several ruling party MLAs.
The ministers are holding press conferences from their offices in Vidhana Soudha and Vikasa Saudha, it said. ''An example is that on March 25, Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda held a press conference at Vikasa Soudha and criticised the Central government. The Election Commission should immediately close the offices of the Ministers,'' it added. Ministers and MLAs should be barred from carrying out any political activity in government buildings, the BJP said in its petition, and requested the Election Commission to give appropriate direction to the concerned authorities in this regard.
It also demanded that a strict action should be taken against the officials who are allowing such activities defying the rules.
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Mumbai family deaths: FDA finds no watermelon vendor in area to check for affected stock
Mumbai (PTI): The Food and Drug Administration team probing the cause of death of four members of a family in south Mumbai's JJ Marg area have not been able to zero in on any watermelon vendor in the vicinity to check if the fruit had a role to play in the ill-fated incident, an official said on Thursday.
The Dokadia family, residents of Ghari Mohalla on Ismail Kurte Road, had hosted a get-together of relatives on the night of April 25. At around 1 am, hours after the guests had left, Abdullah Dokadia (40), his wife Nasreen (35), and daughters Ayesha (16) and Zaineb (13) ate pieces of a watermelon.
They suffered severe bouts of vomiting and diarrhoea in the early hours of April 26 and were rushed to a local hospital before being referred to the government-run J J Hospital where all four died during treatment.
"The FDA team visited the house of Dokadia and collected samples of chicken pulao and watermelon pieces. After two days, the leftover chicken pulao had developed fungus growth. The team also tried to locate watermelon vendors to check for any affected lots," he said.
But no vendors were found in the area for the past two days, preventing the FDA team from getting samples, the official added.
The FDA has requested the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) to share the report on the food samples collected by them, he added.
A senior Mumbai police official said the force is waiting for FSL reports in the case, adding that questions on presence of sedatives etc in the fruit could be answered only then.
The statements of the kin of the deceased are being recorded to ascertain if it is a case of mass suicide, and it is being checked if the Dokadia family were in debt or distressed over some issue, the police official said.
