Not offered ticket, Mandya MP Sumalatha to announce decision on election on April 3
Bengaluru, Mar 30: Mandya sitting MP Sumalatha Ambareesh on Saturday said she would announce her decision on the upcoming election on April 3, given that she was not renominated and NDA constituents BJP and JD(S) decided to field H D Kumaraswamy from her constituency.
The multi-lingual film actress-turned-politician convened a meeting of her supporters at her Bengaluru residence to decide her future course of action, with the change in political scenario.
Addressing her supporters, she said, "I will make my decision public at Mandya on April 3 because it is my duty to keep the voters of Mandya informed about any of my decisions."
Sumalatha had won the 2019 Lok Sabha election as an independent candidate with the BJP's backing, and defeated Nikhil Kumaraswamy, the grandson of former prime minister and JD(S) patriarch H D Deve Gowda and son of former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy.
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However, the Janata Dal (Secular) is now BJP's ally, and Kumaraswamy will be contesting the election as the NDA candidate.
In order to pacify Sumalatha, BJP state President and Yediyurappa's son B Y Vijayendra called on her on Friday but Sumalatha said she would consult her supporters on Saturday before taking a final call.
After the meeting with her supporters on Saturday, she told them that her political career had begun with their blessings. She also praised the fans of her husband and eminent Kannada film actor-turned politician late Ambareesh, who stood by her.
"I have people on the stage who have been supporting Ambareesh for the past 30 years. They shared their pain with me. They were those who gave me confidence to fight the election though I did not have any political experience," Sumalatha said.
"Though no big names were behind us except for a crowd of diehard fans of Ambareesh, the people of Mandya did not bother about it and wholeheartedly supported me," the independent MP said.
Sumalatha was expecting a BJP ticket and had met all the BJP central leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP National President J P Nadda and former Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa.
However, the party decided to reserve the Mandya seat for its ally JD(S). Late on Friday, the JD(S) officially declared that Kumaraswamy will be their candidate.
BJP Karnataka in-charge Radha Mohan Das Agarwal who first announced that Mandya seat would be reserved for JD(S) said Sumalatha has a bright future in politics'.
According to BJP sources, the party is likely to offer the Mandya MP a Rajya Sabha ticket.
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BharatPe fraud case: Delhi HC quashes lookout circular against Ashneer Grover, wife
New Delhi, Nov 12: The Delhi High Court has ordered cancellation of a lookout circular (LOC) issued against Ashneer Grover, the former MD of payment app BharatPe, and his wife Madhuri Jain Grover, noting that the FIR lodged against them over allegations of cheating and forgery has already been quashed.
Justice Sanjeev Narula passed the order on Monday after the court was informed that another bench of the high court quashed the FIR on the same day.
The FIR was quashed by Justice Chandra Dhari Singh after considering a plea moved by the Grovers stating that they have arrived at a settlement with the fintech company.
In his order, Justice Narula said, "Although the copy of the order (quashing the FIR) is not available as of now, the aforenoted fact is not disputed by the counsel for the parties.
"In light of the fact that the underlying FIR has been quashed, the LOC issued by respondent No. 3 (Bureau of Immigration), in the opinion of the court, will not survive."
The LOC was issued by the Bureau of Immigration at the instance of Delhi Police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW) in view of the investigation against the Grovers in the cheating and forgery FIR.
The court was hearing a plea moved by Grover and his wife Madhuri Jain Grover seeking quashing of the LOC issued against them in connection with the investigation into the cheating and forgery case.
"Accordingly, the present petitions are disposed of with a direction to the respondents to cancel the LOC against the petitioners in their records," the court noted.
Earlier, the Grovers claimed that they were informed about the LOC for the first time when they were detained at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here on November 16, 2023, while they were scheduled to travel to the US.
After being detained, they were informed that the LOC was operational from November 6, 2023.
In May last year, the EOW filed an FIR against Grover, his wife Madhuri, and others under eight sections of the Indian Penal Code, including 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating and dishonesty), 467 and 468 (forgery), and 471 (using forged documents as genuine) for an alleged Rs 81 crore fraud after a complaint was lodged by BhartPe, the fintech unicorn.
In its complaint, BharatPe alleged that Grover and his family caused damages to the tune of Rs 81.3 crore through illegitimate payments to bogus human resource consultants, inflated and undue payments through pass-through vendors connected to the accused, sham transactions in input tax credit and payment of penalty to GST authorities, illegal payment to travel agencies, forged invoices by Madhuri, and destruction of evidence.
Madhuri was the head of controls at BharatPe before she was fired in 2022 after a forensic audit revealed several irregularities.
Subsequently, Grover resigned as the chief executive officer of the fintech firm in March 2022.
