Bengaluru, April 20: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday filed his nomination to contest the ensuing state Legislative Assembly elections from Chamundeshwari constituency in Mysuru, an official said.
"Siddaramaiah, along with his son Yathindra, visited the Chamundeshwari temple atop Chamundi Hills in Mysuru to pray to goddess Durga before filing his nomination," an official from the Chief Minister's Office told here.
The 69-year-old veteran leader contested from Chamundeshwari seat seven times since 1983 and won five times. He later shifted his constituency to Varuna in Mysuru district, from where he was elected twice since 2008, including the last assembly polls in 2013.
Siddaramaiah has paved way for his son, Yathindra, to contest the May 12 assembly elections from his home constituency Varuna. Yathindra, who will be contesting the state elections for the first time, also filed his nomination papers on Friday.
Siddaramaiah switched over to the Congress from the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) in August 2006 following differences with its supremo and former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda and his second son and former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy.
He is also only second lawmaker in the southern state to complete the five-year term as Chief Minister in 40 years after Devaraj Urs did from 1972-78, as about 10 chief ministers could not compete their full term in between for various reasons.
Meanwhile, JD-S state president Kumaraswamy filed his nomination for the state polls from both Channapatna and Ramanagara assembly segments in Ramanagara district, about 50km southwest from here.
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SGPC writes to Mann, seeks ban on 'Emergency' in Punjab a day before release
Amritsar, Jan 16 (PTI): The SGPC on Thursday wrote to Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, seeking a ban on the release of Kangana Ranaut's movie 'Emergency' saying it "tarnishes" the image of Sikhs and "misrepresents" history.
Actor and BJP MP Ranaut's 'Emergency' is slated to release in cinemas on January 17.
In the letter to Mann, Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee chief Harjinder Singh Dhami expressed strong objection to Ranaut's film.
Dhami said that if the film is released in Punjab, it will spark "outrage and anger" in the Sikh community and therefore it is the responsibility of the government to ban its release in the state.
The SGPC, an apex gurdwara body, had earlier also protested the film.
"It has come to our attention that the movie 'Emergency' produced by BJP MP Kangana Ranaut is going to be released on 17th January 2025 in cinemas in different cities of Punjab and the tickets have also started to be booked," its letter to Mann read.
Dhami said the SGPC had also protested the release of the movie in a letter to the Punjab Chief Secretary on November 14 last year.
"But it is sad that the Punjab government has not taken any step till now. If this film is released on January 17, 2025, then it is natural to create outrage and anger in the Sikh world," the current letter read.
Dhami said the SGPC will submit a letter also to all the deputy commissioners in Punjab, seeking a ban on the film in the state.
The SGPC denounced the "character assassination" of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, the Khalistani militant killed in 1984 in a military operation.
"If this film is released in Punjab, we will be forced to strongly oppose it at the state level," Dhami said.
In August last year, the SGPC sent a legal notice to the producers of the 'Emergency' film, alleging that it "misrepresented" the character and history of Sikhs, and asked them to remove the objectionable scenes depicting "anti-Sikh" sentiments.
In the notice, the producers of the film, including Kangana Ranaut, were asked to remove the trailer released on August 14 from all public and social media platforms and tender a written apology to the Sikh community.
The SGPC objected to film writing separate letters to the Minister of Information and Broadcasting and the Central Board of Film Certification.
