Cong close to finalising candidates for Karnataka Assembly bypolls
Bengaluru (PTI): Congress general secretary and party's Karnataka in-charge, Randeep Singh Surjewala, on Saturday indicated that the party is close to finalising candidates for the upcoming bypolls and that a decision on ticket allocation is likely later in the day or March 22 following consultations with leaders at various levels.
Intense lobbying continued within the Congress regarding the April 9 Assembly bypolls in Davangere South and Bagalkote constituencies, with aspirants and community leaders mounting pressure on the leadership to decide soon.
"In response to your question about when the tickets will be announced, it will be made by tonight or by tomorrow. The party is almost fully in agreement," Surjewala told reporters here.
He said the party wanted to have a broad discussion.
"As I have said earlier, even if a single worker has a differing opinion, it must be heard. That is the Congress Party. We will not bulldoze decisions. We will listen to everyone and then decide," the Congress general secretary said.
According to him, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi will take a call.
A recommendation will be sent by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy D K Shivakumar, who is also the Congress Karnataka president, after consultations with everyone by late Saturday, he added.
"The decision will be made by late evening or by tomorrow," Surjewala said.
When asked about the delay in announcing the candidates, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said, "Local leaders will resolve it. I cannot react to everything."
Party leaders held multiple rounds of discussions in Bengaluru, with several aspirants staking claim and delegations, including representatives from the Muslim community, meeting senior leaders to press for greater representation.
The bypolls were necessitated following the deaths of sitting Congress MLAs Shamanur Shivashankarappa and H Y Meti, which resulted in vacancies in the Davanagere South and Bagalkote Assembly segments respectively.
Both leaders had won their seats in the 2023 Assembly elections.
The relatives of Shamanur Shivashankarappa and Meti are demanding a Congress ticket.
Meti's family members earlier met Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar and demanded a ticket.
Siddaramaiah on Wednesday told reporters that three members of the Meti family -- Mallikarjun, Umesh, and Mahadev -- had sought the ticket to contest from Bagalkote.
Shivashankarappa's son S S Mallikarjun, who is Congress Davangere North MLA, is demanding ticket for his son Samarth Shamanur for Davangere South, Congress sources said.
The BJP has announced fielding Veerabhadrayya Charantimath from Bagalkote and Srinivas T Dasakariyappa from Davangere South.
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.
Kerala court sentences man to life imprisonment for doc's murder in hospital
_vb_42.jpeg)
Kollam (PTI): A teacher convicted in the sensational murder of Dr Vandana Das inside a hospital here was sentenced to life term on Saturday, and the prosecution said it will move an appeal seeking death penalty for the accused. The victim's family also batted for "maximum punishment".
Dr Das was brutally killed inside a taluk hospital in May 2023 by G Sandeep.
Kollam Additional District and Sessions judge P N Vinod sentenced Sandeep to a total of 30 years for various offences under the then Indian Penal Code (IPC) and said that after he serves that period, his life imprisonment for Das' murder will commence.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 2.35 lakh on the convict.
Though the prosecution had sought death penalty for the accused during the arguments on sentence, the court was of the view that the case does not fall under the rarest-of-rare category to warrant the maximum punishment.
It was also of the view that there was a chance of the convict getting reformed as he told the court that the rest of his life would be one of repentance, the order on sentence said.
"At the same time, I agree with the stand of the prosecution to the effect that the sentence should commensurate with the gravity of the crime and the sentence should not only be reformative, but should also have a deterrent effect."
"In my view, the said objective can be achieved by directing that the term sentences that will be imposed will run consecutively and life sentence that has to be imposed will commence only after the expiration of terms sentences," the judge said.
After the verdict, special public prosecutor (SPP) Prathap G Padickal told reporters outside the court that he will recommend to the prosecution to file an appeal seeking enhancement of the life imprisonment to death penalty.
The victim's father said that the verdict has come as a relief for the family, but that he cannot authoritatively say whether his late daughter has got justice. He indicated his dissatisfaction with the punishment, saying that steps will be taken to seek its enhancement after discussions with the public prosecutor.
Dr Das' mother said that the family can only wish for the maximum punishment and it was up to the court to decide what sentence should be given. She said that the family will go in appeal, but declined to comment on whether her daughter got justice.
She tearfully said that she wants the convict to suffer the same pain that her daughter underwent "as he stabbed her 27 times".
The court on March 17 had convicted Sandeep for various offences under the IPC, including murder, destruction of evidence and wrongful restraint.
It had also held him guilty under the provisions of the Kerala Healthcare Service Persons and Healthcare Service Institutions (Prevention of violence and damage to property) Act 2012.
Sandeep was brought to the taluk hospital by the police for medical treatment during the small hours of May 10, 2023 and he went on a sudden attacking spree using a pair of surgical scissors kept in the room where his leg injury was being dressed.
A school teacher by profession, he had initially attacked the police officers and another person who had accompanied him to the hospital and then turned on the young Dr Das, who could not escape to safety.
She was stabbed several times and later succumbed to her injuries in a private hospital in Thiruvananthapuram where she was rushed following the attack.
Dr Das was a native of the Kaduthuruthy area of Kottayam district and the only child of her parents.
She was a house surgeon at Azeezia Medical College Hospital and was working at the Kottarakkara taluk hospital as part of her training.
Sandeep had called the emergency number 112, claiming that his life was in danger. When local police located him, he was standing close by his home, surrounded by local residents and his relatives, and had a wound on his leg following an alleged quarrel.
He was then taken to the hospital for dressing the wound.
_vb_97.jpeg)
_vb_62.jpeg)