Proposal to name Mysuru road after Siddaramaiah evokes strong objections
Mysuru (PTI): A proposal by the Mysuru City Corporation council to name a stretch of road in the city after Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has evoked strong objections.
According to official sources, the proposal calls for naming a stretch of KRS Road from the Lakshmi Venkataramanaswamy temple to the Outer Ring Road junction as 'Siddaramaiah Arogya Marga'.
Based on a suggestion by Chamaraja Congress MLA Harish Gowda, the Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) took the decision at its meeting on November 22.
The matter was first placed before the Mysuru deputy commissioner prior to being tabled in the council meeting. The MCC then issued a newspaper notice inviting views from the public on the proposal within 30 days on December 13, the sources said.
Mysuru is the home district of Siddaramaiah, who is serving his second term as the chief minister.
The JD(S) called the move to name the KRS Road in the historic city of Mysuru as 'Siddaramaiah Arogya Marga' condemnable.
Pointing out that Siddaramaiah is an accused in the MUDA site allotment case and is facing probe by the Lokayukta police, the opposition party said in a post on 'X': "There is no elected board in the Mysuru City Corporation. The officials appointed by the Congress government have decided to name the road after Siddaramaiah as they are indebted to him."
Naming a road after the "corrupt" chief minister, who is involved in the MUDA scam, is a "betrayal and insult" not only to the historic city of Mysuru, but also to the entire state, the JD(S) alleged.
RTI activist Snehamayi Krishna, on whose complaint a case was registered in the alleged MUDA site allotment scam, said the road for which Siddaramaiah's name is proposed is "historic", as Maharaja Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar donated a vast swathe of land and established a tuberculosis hospital there in memory of his sister Princess Krishnajammanni and her children who succumbed to TB.
Speaking to reporters, Krishna said, "The officials have decided to name a road after Siddaramaiah, who is an accused in the MUDA case, despite not having any power to do so. Several citizens have expressed their objections to the proposal. I'm also fighting against it legally. If the proposal is not dropped, we will challenge it in the high court and seek action against the concerned officials."
Siddaramaiah is facing allegations of illegalities in the allotment of 14 sites to his wife Parvathi B M by the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA).
Siddaramaiah, his wife, brother-in-law Mallikarjuna Swamy and Devaraju -- from whom Swamy had purchased a land and gifted it to Parvathi -- and others have been named in an FIR registered by the Mysuru-located Lokayukta police on September 27, following a special court order.
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South African police arrest suspect in mass shooting that killed 12, including 3 children
Johannesburg (AP): A 32-year-old suspect has been arrested in connection with a mass shooting which claimed the lives of 12 people including three children at an unlicensed pub earlier this month, South African police said on Monday.
The man is suspected of being one of the three people who opened fire on patrons in a pub at Saulsville township, west of South Africa's capital Pretoria, killing 12 people including three children aged 3, 12 and 16.
At least 13 people were also injured during the attack, whose motive remains unknown.
According to the police, the suspect was arrested on Sunday while traveling to Botlokwa in Limpopo province, more than 340 km from where the mass shooting took place on Dec 6.
An unlicensed firearm believed to have been used during the attack was recovered from the suspect's vehicle.
“The 32-year-old suspect was intercepted by Limpopo Tracking Team on the R101 Road in Westenburg precinct. During the arrest, the team recovered an unlicensed firearm, a hand gun, believed to have been used in the commission of the multiple murders. The firearm will be taken to the Forensic Science Laboratory for ballistic analysis,” police said in statement.
The suspect was arrested on the same day that another mass shooting at a pub took place in the Bekkersdal township, west of Johannesburg, in which nine people were killed and 10 wounded when unknown gunmen opened fire on patrons.
Police have since launched a search for the suspects.
South Africa has one of the highest homicide rates in the world and recorded more than 26,000 homicides in 2024 — an average of more than 70 a day. Firearms are by far the leading cause of death in homicides.
The country of 62 million people has relatively strict gun ownership laws, but many killings are committed with illegal guns, according to authorities.
According to police, mass shootings at unlicensed bars are becoming a serious problem. Police shut down more than 11,000 illegal taverns between April and September this year and arrested more than 18,000 people for involvement in illegal liquor sales.
