K'taka crisis deepens, political blackmail begins

New Delhi: The ongoing political crisis in Karnataka has placed a question mark on the BS Yeddyurappa-led BJP government in the state.

The Reddy brothers who are leading the rebellion in the state have arrived in Delhi with a list of demands and conditions that amount to a virtual blackmail of the state government.

The list of their demands include:

• The state home minister should be someone of the choice of the Reddy brothers.

• There must be a complete revamp of the administration in Bellary, which is the Reddy stronghold.

• All cases against the Reddy brothers and their supporters in connection with a kidnapping incident in a local contract case must be withdrawn.

• The government must speedily process permissions for all projects in which the Reddy brothers have interests.

• The government must also give a percentage of advertising revenue to Sakshi Group, a media outfit controlled by YSR Reddy's son Jagan Reddy, a business partner of the Bellary brothers.

Meanwhile, party top brass LK Advani, Arun Jaitley and Ananth Kumar have held a series of meetings to come to a conclusion in this matter.

Speaking on the ongoing tussle, one of the Reddy brothers Janardhan Reddy said, “Our top BJP leaders will make the best informed decision for the state.”

Special representative to the Karnataka government Dhananjay Kumar spoke to CNN-IBN and he remained confident that there won't be any change in the party leadership.

“Party has categorically said that there will be no change in the leadership in Karnataka. Party is united. Crisis in Karnataka government is not engineered by the BJP. Reddy brothers are in Delhi and all their issues will be amicably solved by the party leadership,” he said.

Who are the Reddys?

They were entrepreneurs in Bellary in 1999 when Congress President Sonia Gandhi first contested Lok Sabha polls.

In 2002, Janardhana Reddy turned to iron ore mining. As prices boomed, their fortunes soared.

In 2004 Lok Sabha polls, Karunakara Reddy took Bellary seat from Congress and retained it in 2009.

Reddy brothers helped Yeddyurappa get majority in May 2008 Assembly polls.

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K'taka crisis deepens, political blackmail begins

New Delhi: The ongoing political crisis in Karnataka has placed a question mark on the BS Yeddyurappa-led BJP government in the state.

The Reddy brothers who are leading the rebellion in the state have arrived in Delhi with a list of demands and conditions that amount to a virtual blackmail of the state government.

The list of their demands include:

• The state home minister should be someone of the choice of the Reddy brothers.

• There must be a complete revamp of the administration in Bellary, which is the Reddy stronghold.

• All cases against the Reddy brothers and their supporters in connection with a kidnapping incident in a local contract case must be withdrawn.

• The government must speedily process permissions for all projects in which the Reddy brothers have interests.

• The government must also give a percentage of advertising revenue to Sakshi Group, a media outfit controlled by YSR Reddy's son Jagan Reddy, a business partner of the Bellary brothers.

Meanwhile, party top brass LK Advani, Arun Jaitley and Ananth Kumar have held a series of meetings to come to a conclusion in this matter.

Speaking on the ongoing tussle, one of the Reddy brothers Janardhan Reddy said, “Our top BJP leaders will make the best informed decision for the state.”

Special representative to the Karnataka government Dhananjay Kumar spoke to CNN-IBN and he remained confident that there won't be any change in the party leadership.

“Party has categorically said that there will be no change in the leadership in Karnataka. Party is united. Crisis in Karnataka government is not engineered by the BJP. Reddy brothers are in Delhi and all their issues will be amicably solved by the party leadership,” he said.

Who are the Reddys?

They were entrepreneurs in Bellary in 1999 when Congress President Sonia Gandhi first contested Lok Sabha polls.

In 2002, Janardhana Reddy turned to iron ore mining. As prices boomed, their fortunes soared.

In 2004 Lok Sabha polls, Karunakara Reddy took Bellary seat from Congress and retained it in 2009.

Reddy brothers helped Yeddyurappa get majority in May 2008 Assembly polls.

Read more »

Mamata slams Buddhadeb, says he 'misled' nation on abducted cops

NEW DELHI: Demanding information on two policemen missing for months, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday met the home minister
and then accused West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee of misleading the country. The two cops were abducted by Maoists on July 30.
"I along the families of two missing constables met the home minister. He said he was upset and equally concerned. Though law and order is a state subject, he assured of all possible help in searching for them," Banerjee said after meeting Chidambaram here.

The two constables Kanchan Garai and Sabir Ali Mollah had been whisked away by Maoists on July 30 from West Midnapore district, and there has been no trace of them since. Last Saturday at a press conference here, Bhattacharjee made a remark regarding the "death" of two policemen.

That created a furore in the state, though the chief minister and his officials promptly said he was not referring to these two constables.

Banerjee said Bhattacharjee had misled the country.

"West Bengal chief minister has misled the country, distorted the facts and misled the people and families of abducted policemen. It's a matter of great concern," she said.

The Trinamool Congress leader also demanded an explanation on how the two policemen were abducted during the joint operations against Maoists in the restive Lalgarh region of the state.

Read more »

Mamata slams Buddhadeb, says he 'misled' nation on abducted cops

NEW DELHI: Demanding information on two policemen missing for months, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday met the home minister
and then accused West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee of misleading the country. The two cops were abducted by Maoists on July 30.
"I along the families of two missing constables met the home minister. He said he was upset and equally concerned. Though law and order is a state subject, he assured of all possible help in searching for them," Banerjee said after meeting Chidambaram here.

The two constables Kanchan Garai and Sabir Ali Mollah had been whisked away by Maoists on July 30 from West Midnapore district, and there has been no trace of them since. Last Saturday at a press conference here, Bhattacharjee made a remark regarding the "death" of two policemen.

That created a furore in the state, though the chief minister and his officials promptly said he was not referring to these two constables.

Banerjee said Bhattacharjee had misled the country.

"West Bengal chief minister has misled the country, distorted the facts and misled the people and families of abducted policemen. It's a matter of great concern," she said.

The Trinamool Congress leader also demanded an explanation on how the two policemen were abducted during the joint operations against Maoists in the restive Lalgarh region of the state.

Read more »

Girls warned not to hide boyfriends' guns

LONDON: A campaign warning girls not to stash or carry guns for their boyfriends was launched by London police on Wednesday.

The hard-hitting adverts, which are aimed at 15 to 19-year-olds of African and African Caribbean heritage, are designed to combat a worrying growth in the number of young women being arrested and convicted of possessing weapons.

times of india

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Girls warned not to hide boyfriends' guns

LONDON: A campaign warning girls not to stash or carry guns for their boyfriends was launched by London police on Wednesday.

The hard-hitting adverts, which are aimed at 15 to 19-year-olds of African and African Caribbean heritage, are designed to combat a worrying growth in the number of young women being arrested and convicted of possessing weapons.

times of india

Read more »

Indians feel attacks not due to race, but financial conditions

MELBOURNE: With incidents of attacks on Indians here on the rise, many community members feel the root cause of such assaults is not race but the students' financial conditions that force them to be out at night for odd jobs to meet high cost of living in Australia.

Many Indians in Australia feel students from India should be "alert" and "careful" if they travelling at odd hours in the night.

"It is not the race that is the problem but it is their hard financial conditions," Ravi Bhatia, Primus CEO and a leading community member, said reacting to the latest attack in which a 22-year old Sikh was attacked while he was asleep at a bus stop.

"What makes you sleep at that time at a bus stop. Are you not inviting problems by doing so?" he asked.

"Students as a migrants have some obligations also and they should take basic safety measures," he said.

Srinivas Vasan, Federation of Indian Association of Victoria (FIAV), said Australia is the most multicultural society and has allowed people from all over the world to live here peacefully.

Over 30 Indian students were attacked in various Australian cities from June to September.

"We have been urging students on some do's and don'ts like to organise their late night travels, not to carry cash and be careful and alert. If you are working late nights and travelling odd hours in public transport you are expected to be alert and careful," Vasan said.

Echoing his views, Neeraj Nanda, Editor of a local Indian newspaper who conducted a survey on what could be the cause of such attacks, said majority of Indians settled here felt that their own countrymen were largely responsible for the attacks.

"Talking to many families I found all most everyone felt that Indians were to be blamed for inviting problems. They refuse to integrate in Australian society that sorts of annoy the localites," he said.

While Australia still tops as a safest destination by many Indian students, for many of them things are not as rosy as painted by their agents back home and interestingly, there has been a pattern noticed in such incidents.

Most of the students in vocational courses hail from rural parts of India. With little or no financial support they pick odd jobs like in security, cleaner, at petrol stations or drive a cab late at night.

To add to the problem, they rent out in cheap and crime prone areas and use public transport at odd hours which make them highly prone to such attacks.

"We have many Indian students who work odd hours and do not sleep properly for days as they work odd hours," said Elizabeth Drozd, Victorian multiculturalism commissioner and a university teacher.

"They attend their classes in the morning and work late nights to meet out their living," Drozd said, adding many of these students feel so tired and they sleep anywhere.

However, Gautam Gupta of Federation of Indian Student Association disagrees if with the view. He said if someone sleeping at late night at a bus stop was risky then half of India was at high risk.

Bhatia said like Indians even Chinese student population is huge here but majority of Chinese belong to affluent families and they can afford expensive education and living.

"Chinese do not become such targets as they are from rich families and can easily afford the expenses of living and studying here. Aspiring students should be able to fully fund course fee and not rely on a part time work wages," he said.

Meanwhile, Australian government has suspended almost 200 agents operating in a number of countries for lodging on line student visa applications because of evidence of fraud or poor approval rates.

times of india

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