Mining baron Janardhana Reddy to rejoin BJP
Bengaluru, Mar 24: Mining baron and lone MLA of Karnataka Rajya Pragathi Paksha (KRPP) G Janardhana Reddy on Sunday said he would rejoin BJP on March 25.
The KRPP founder said he took the decision to make Narendra Modi the Prime Minister again for the third time.
"After consulting my supporters, I took the decision. Tomorrow at 10 am I am rejoining BJP," he told reporters here.
Reddy said he would support the BJP candidate from Ballari Lok Sabha constituency, B Sriramulu, whom he called a boy raised by him.
Sriramulu, a former minister, lost the assembly election from Ballari assembly segment in 2023.
Reddy was a minister in the BJP government headed by B S Yediyurappa and was jailed in the mining scam.
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He had distanced himself from the BJP and founded the KRPP.
In the 2023 assembly election, he was instrumental in the defeat of his two brothers, G Karunakara Reddy and G Somashekara Reddy, who were BJP candidates from Harapanahalli and Ballari City respectively.
Reddy fielded his wife Aruna Lakshmi against his brother and BJP candidate Somashekara Reddy in Ballari City and ensured his defeat. Congress candidate Nara Bharath Reddy won from there.
In the Rajya Sabha elections held on February 27, he supported Congress.
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MediaOne TV Facebook page restored after block linked to ‘government request’
Kochi: The official Facebook page of Malayalam news channel MediaOne TV has been restored after being blocked without prior notice, the broadcaster said on Wednesday.
The channel was quoted by Maktoob as saying that the restriction was lifted automatically, with Meta Platforms informing it that the action had been taken following a “government request” which has now expired or been reversed.
The development came shortly after the channel approached the Kerala High Court challenging the blocking of its page, terming it arbitrary and in violation of legal provisions and judicial precedents. The High Court had issued notice to Meta via email hours before the restriction was withdrawn.
In its petition, the channel said access to its Facebook page had been restricted for users in India without citing any specific content or alleged violation. It contended that while individual posts may be taken down under applicable a rule, blocking an entire page goes beyond the scope of such measures.
The incident followed an earlier action taken against the channel in 2022, when the Ministry of Information and transmitting prohibited it from transmitting. It cited national security concerns regarding the Ministry of Home Affairs' refusal of security clearance.
The Supreme Court of India in April 2023 set aside the ban, observing that national security claims cannot be made without substantive basis and that criticism of government policies does not render a media outlet anti-national.
