Min. Satish Jarkiholi hosts dinner for Karnataka CM, cabinet colleagues giving rise to speculations
Bengaluru, Jan 3: Karnataka Public Works Minister Satish Jarkiholi hosted a dinner for Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his cabinet colleagues at his residence, giving rise to speculations about the new Congress state president.
A few ministers met Siddaramaiah at the dining table on Thursday night. About 18 to 20 ministers and MLAs were present at the dinner, Congress sources said.
Since the event happened in the absence of Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, who is abroad, rumours started making round that the dinner was being hosted to discuss the next Congress president in Karnataka.
Shivakumar has been holding the Congress state president post since March, 2020.
The BJP MP and former Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar on Friday said there was a strong infighting in the Congress and this dinner party in the absence of Shivakumar was its reflection.
"While Shivakumar is trying to remove the chief minister, whose image has taken a beating due to the MUDA scam, the chief minister is now trying to cut down on Shivakumar’s stature by removing him from the KPCC president’s post," Shettar told reporters.
He said the infighting would finally lead to the fall of the government.
State Social Welfare Minister H C Mahadevappa dismissed these speculations, saying that it was just a dinner which he had attended.
"We just had our dinner. We did not discuss any politics," he said.
Shivakumar has been holding the Congress state president post since March, 2020. Under his leadership, the party stormed to power with 134 seats in 224-member Karnataka legislative Assembly in 2023.
The Congress also increased its tally in the Lok Sabha election in Karnataka from just one out of 28 seats in 2019 to nine in 2024. Further, the party swept in the assembly bypolls by winning all the three seats recently.
The party high command often considered Shivakumar as its troubleshooter.
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UP: Head constable booked for changing bribe notes in court claiming 'rats nibbled them'
Bareilly (UP), Jan 5: A head constable has been booked for changing bribe notes in court claiming the original ones were nibbled by rats at the police station where they were stored, officials said on Sunday.
The case has been registered against Udayveer Singh, the head constable of Nawabganj police station in Bareilly district, they said.
According to Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Mukesh Chandra Mishra, on February 12, 2021, the Anti-Corruption Organisation (ACO) of Uttar Pradesh Police arrested a lekhpal (revenue official) posted in the Nawabganj tehsil while receiving a bribe of Rs 10,000.
The ACO team seized 20 bribe notes of Rs 500 denomination each from the accused, besides seizing Rs 80,361, a mobile phone, an Aadhaar card, and a PAN card from his possession.
The seized items, including the bribe money, were handed over to Singh.
While the cash and other items were later released on court's order, the bribe notes were deposited at the Nawabganj police station.
However, during the trial, the head constable didn't produce the bribe notes in the court and instead submitted 20 different Rs 500 currency notes, blaming rats for nibbling on the original ones.
Mishra said when Superintendent of Police (City) Manush Parikh investigated the matter, he found that Singh deliberately committed a criminal act to benefit the accused.
Based on a report submitted against Singh, an FIR was registered against the head constable on Saturday, police said.
