Congress will consider backing seer who vowed to take on Pralhad Joshi
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Congress President D K Shivakumar on Wednesday did not rule out the possibility of the party backing a prominent seer who announced that he would take on Union Minister Pralhad Joshi from Dharwad in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
The state deputy chief minister said they are weighing options, when asked about it.
Targeting Joshi, a Brahmin, Fakira Dingaleshwar Swami of Shirahatti Fakkireshwar Math had accused him of "suppressing" Veerashaiva-Lingayat and other communities, and also misusing and causing disrepute to the Lingayat 'maths' to stay in power.
The Veerashaiva-Lingayat seer, who had announced his decision to contest as an independent on Monday, had also accused Congress of neglecting Lingayats after coming to power, and not giving suitable positions to leaders of calibre from the community.
Shivakumar said that the party has already announced its candidate - Vinod Asooti - for the Dharwad seat and that he will speak to the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
"Nothing indirect, if we want (to support the pontiff) we will do it directly, it's a different matter. We have finalised our party candidate. If he (seer) had asked earlier, it would have been a different matter, now there is a proposal. We have given the ticket to Vinod (Vinod Asooti) of the Youth Congress and he is working," Shivakumar said, in response to a question of Congress giving indirect support to the seer.
Speaking to reporters here, he said, "There is a request...we have respect for the seer, as he has been working in the secular framework. Our candidate is a gentleman. CM and I will discuss by today or tomorrow."
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UP: Misled by GPS navigation, car falls into river from partially constructed bridge, 3 dead
Bareilly (UP), Nov 24: Three people died when their car fell into the Ramganga river from a partially constructed bridge here on Sunday, police said, adding that they suspect the driver was misled by its navigation system into taking the unsafe route.
The accident occurred around 10 am on the Khalpur-Dataganj road when the victims were travelling from Bareilly to Dataganj in the Badaun district, they said.
"Earlier this year, floods had caused the front portion of the bridge to collapse into the river, but this change had not been updated in the system," Circle Officer Ashutosh Shivam said.
The driver was using a navigation system and did not realise that the bridge was unsafe, driving the car off the damaged section, the police said.
There were no safety barriers or warning signs on the approach to the damaged bridge, leading to the fatal accident, Shivam said.
Upon receiving information, police teams from Faridpur, Bareilly and Dataganj police station rushed to the spot. They recovered the vehicle and the bodies from the river, Shivam added.
The circle officer said that bodies had been sent for post-mortem. Further investigation into the matter is underway.
— Bareilly Police (@bareillypolice) November 24, 2024
