MLA Janardhana Reddy disqualified following conviction in illegal mining case
Bengaluru, May 8 (PTI): Independent MLA and BJP supporter G Janardhana Reddy was on Thursday disqualified as the member of Karnataka Legislative Assembly after a special CBI court convicted him in the Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC) illegal iron ore mining case.
With this, one seat of the state assembly has fallen vacant.
“Consequent upon conviction of G Janardhana Reddy Member of Karnataka Legislative Assembly representing the Gangavati Constituency by the Court of the Principal Special Judge for CBI, cases, Hyderabad in CC.No.1 of 2012, he stands disqualified from the membership of Karnataka Legislative Assembly from the date of conviction i.e., May 6, 2025 in terms of the provisions of article 191(1) (e) of the Constitution of India read with section 8 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951,” Karnataka Assembly said in a notification.
It said, “Such disqualification shall continue for a further period of six years since his release, unless the conviction is stayed by a competent Court.”
A special CBI court in Hyderabad on Tuesday convicted Reddy and three others in the Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC) illegal iron ore mining case after a prolonged legal battle spanning nearly 14 years.
The court sentenced them to seven years rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on each.
Reddy was named accused number two. The court also imposed a Rs 1 lakh fine on the company.
Soon after the judgment, the CBI took Janardhana Reddy and others into custody, and were shifted to the prison.
Janardhana Reddy had formed the Kalyana Rajya Pragati Paksha (KRPP) ahead of the Assembly polls in 2023, snapping his two-decade-old association with the BJP, and won the Gangavati assembly seat.
He, however, rejoined the BJP ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls by merging his outfit with the saffron party.
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FIDE Women's World Cup final: Humpy draws with Divya in first game
Batumi (Georgia), Jul 26 (PTI): Young Indian International Master Divya Deshmukh held her nerves to hold stalwart Koneru Humpy to a draw in game 1 of the FIDE Women's World Cup final, with both players having their share of opportunities to take the lead here on Saturday.
The draw with black means Humpy, the two-time World Rapid champion, holds a slight edge going in the second and final game under the classical chess rules in the two-game mini-match, and should the deadlock continue, games of shorter duration will be played to determine the winner.
Humpy employed the Queen's gambit accepted as black and it turned out to be a pretty fascinating game right out of the opening as Divya, 19, came up with a piece sacrifice early to deny the black king the right to castle.
Humpy was the first to err and, according to computers, Divya had things under control on the 14th move. However in her bid to recover the extra material, the Nagpur girl, who has secured a place in the Candidates tournament with her sterling performance here, missed a promising continuation.
What followed the exchange of all minor pieces and the ensuing queen and rook endgame gave enough counter play to both players. The game was eventually drawn after Humpy sacrificed her rook to force perpetual checks.
"The game saw an extremely sharp battle with the game ending in a draw in 41 moves. On move 7, Divya made her aggressive intentions clear by offering another pawn,
which looked like home preparation. Humpy made a practical decision of refraining from taking the pawn and a balanced position was reached by move 10 by white," said Grandmaster Pravin Thipsay, an Arjuna awardee and the first Indian to get a chess Grandmaster norm.
"However, instead of developing the undeveloped Knight, Humpy retreated the centralised Knight on move 10, giving huge positional advantage to Divya. Divya could have gained huge positional advantage on the 12th move by moving a rook. However, she chose to play for King side attack by sacrificing a piece instead.
"Humpy, too, erred at this stage and instead of moving the King to Queen side, moved it to the King side. Divya, on move 14, could have obtained a crushing attack by threatening a mate by developing her Queen. Instead she chose to exchange a pair of Bishops first, which enabled Humpy to defend her King by returning the piece," said Thipsay.
"Players thus reached a balanced Queen and two Rooks ending. Divya continued to play ambitiously and tried to attack Humpy’s King but the latter defended accurately and the game was drawn in 41 moves by perpetual check," he added.
In the play-off for the third place, Chinese players Zhongyi Tan, the former women's world champion and top seed Lei Tingjie also decided to split points out of a Queen’s gambit declined game.
The opening raised visions of a close contest between the two but having been knocked out of title race in the previous round, none of them wanted to take any huge risk. It was still a middle game when the players shook hands.
With the top two positions sealed for the Indians, the berth to the next Candidates is also assigned, while the player finishing third will also get an entry to the premier event scheduled for 2026.
Results: Divya Deshmukh (Ind) drew with Koneru Humpy (Ind); Zhongyi Tan (Chn) drew with Tingjie Lei (Chn).
