Kumaraswamy hits back at Rajini for comments on Cauvery issue

Joining issue with actor Rajinikanth over his comments on release of Cauvery water by Karnataka to Tamil Nadu, Janata Dal-Secular leader H D Kumaraswamy today invited him to come to the state and see the situation for himself, after which he would change his stand.

"If there is water in Karnataka it is possible for us to give them water. I request Rajinikanth, please come and see the situation in our dams, what has happened to our farmers. After seeing that, if you (Rajinikanth) still want water, let's discuss," Kumaraswamy said.

He was responding to a question about the reported statement by the actor-politician in Chennai asking the new government in Karnataka to release to Tamil Nadu its share of Cauvery river water as mandated by the Supreme Court verdict.

"... on seeing the situation here, I think he (Rajinikanth) will change his stand," the JD-S leader told reporters in Bengaluru.

Kumaraswamy is all set to take over as the Karnataka Chief Minister on May 23.  -- PTI

The Congress today launched a scathing attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party for allegedly attempting horse-trading in Karnataka and demanded that Prime Minster Narendra Modi order a probe into efforts made by his party leaders to bribe and induce Congress and JD(S) legislators ahead of yesterday's trust vote.

"We hope the prime minister will order an investigation into the naked dance of corruption which his party MLAs were indulging in...

"The prime minister should prove his commitment to fighting corruption by launching an investigation into those MLAs who openly called Congress and Janata Dal-Secular MLAs and offered bribes with an intention to break the rock solid coalition of the Congress and the JD-S," Congress spokesperson Jaiveer Shergill told reporters New Delhi.

The Opposition attack came a day B S Yeddyurappa stepped down as the Karnataka chief minister without facing a Supreme Court-mandated trust vote.

According to Shergill, the Congress would work with its partners as had been earlier said by party president Rahul Gandhi to stitch a coalition to make the 'central government free from BJP' and free from hate politics.

"The truth is in 2014, a slogan in India was 'ghar ghar Modi'. In 2019, the Congress will ensure it is 'bye bye Modi'. Today, we are making friends and NDA is making enemies," he said.

Claiming that the government had looted the country of Rs 10 lakh crore by raising excise duty on diesel and petrol, Shergill said the 'loot' was used to poach MLAs in Karnataka.

"The petrol taxes are ultimately going into a bottomless pit, a bottomless well called BJP to fund their operations to hijack governments, topple democracy and crush democracy," he alleged.

Shergill also took a dig at the central government over the spiralling prices of petroleum products, saying the benefit that the government extended to the people by not raising the prices during the Karnataka elections, should be extended throughout the year so that people get 'all year-round relief from it'.

"If the prime minister can put a control on the escalation of fuel prices for self-interest, for the sake of polls in Karnataka, why can't he control the fuel prices all year around for the sake of public interest. That means fuel prices is only an election tool for the prime minister," he said.

Referring to the bridge collapse tragedy in Varanasi which claimed 18 lives, he said the prime minister not going to his constituency to express his solidarity showed he was not bothered about incidents which did not give him electoral benefits.  -- PTI

Director General of Jammu and Kashmir Police S P Vaid today expressed hope that the Centre's decision to halt anti-militancy operations in the state during the holy month of Ramzan would have a positive impact on everyone including those sponsoring terrorism.

Vaid also expressed confidence that the annual pilgrimage to the cave shrine of Amarnath in south Kashmir Himalayas, starting next month, would pass off peacefully.

"I hope this (unilateral ceasefire) initiative of the government of India will have a positive effect on everyone including the forces that are sponsoring terrorism," the DGP told reporters on the sidelines of a function in Jammu.

On May 16, the Centre announced that security forces would not launch any operation in the state during the holy month of Ramzan but they reserved the right to retaliate, if attacked.

Replying to a question about the initiative at a time when the Amarnath yatra was round the corner and Pakistan and its proxies were trying to escalate violence to undermine the effort, the police chief said he was sure that the two-month-long yatra, scheduled to begin on June 28, would pass off peacefully.

"This initiative has been taken in the holy month of Ramzan, and (Amarnath) yatra is also as auspicious as Ramzan. I am sure it will pass off peacefully,' he said.

He said, "The most important is what Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said yesterday that let the youth join their families and build strong Jammu and Kashmir and strong India."

Vaid said the holy month of Ramzan is for everyone and 'I think Pakistan should also observe it (by giving up violence)'.

On the rejection of the ceasefire initiative by Lashker-e-Tayiba terror group, he said, "That is their statement...We will do what we feel is correct."  -- PTI

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh wants a dialogue with Maoists and believes most thorny issues including Naxalism can be resolved through development.

In an interview to PTI/Bhasha, a day before five Chhattisgarh Police personnel were killed and two others injured when Naxals blew up their vehicle in Dantewada district, Singh said his government would be ready for talks with the Maoists if their leaders took take part in the meeting.

"We are ready for a dialogue with the top leadership of Naxals but it should include their politburo members then only some conclusive talks can take place," he said.

Singh, who is touring the state under a programme called 'Vikas Yatra', said the Centre and state government were making efforts to bring development to Naxal-affected areas.

Efforts were also on to strengthen communication networks in these areas and to bring people into the mainstream through development, he said.

National and state highways are being constructed which have led to a fall in Naxal activities, the chief minister said.

In the 2013 assembly elections, Singh said, "The Congress had won more seats in Naxal-hit Bastar region but this time we will get much better results."

He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had last month launched a phase of Ayushman Bharat -National Health Protection Scheme from Bijapur district of Bastar region.

The chief minister claimed there were no challenges before Prime Minister Modi because the 'artificial unity' of the opposition parties would crumble due to their 'infighting'.

"No challenges appear to be there for PM Modi right now. The Congress is trying to exist in Karnataka with the help of crutches. "Today, the opposition is displaying its artificial unity. This artificial unity will crumble due to infighting," Singh said.

The Congress has been restricted to just 10 per cent area of the country and now appears to be a regional party, the CM said.   -- PTI

A senior official of Directorate General of Civil Aviation has confirmed that a Mumbai-based jeweller, Birju Kishore Salla, who created a hijack scare on board a Jet Airways flight last year, has become the first person to be put on the 'National No Fly List'.

Salla, 37, was arrested in October last year by the crime branch following the emergency landing made by the Mumbai-Delhi Jet Airways plane at the Ahmedabad airport after the pilot was alerted about a note about hijackers and a bomb which was found in the plane's washroom by a cabin crew.

He was also the first one to be booked under the stringent Anti-Hijacking Act.

According to the DGCA, it is the responsibility of Jet Airways now to inform other airlines about the grounding of this particular passenger under the Civil Aviation Requirements.

No-fly-list is a central database of unruly or disruptive passengers.

If an airline decides to ban a passenger for unruly or disruptive behaviour, it will have to inform the DGCA and other airlines and the passenger will become a part of the National No-Fly List.  -- ANI

The Central Bureau of Investigation is likely to approach Interpol for a Red Corner Notice against absconding billionaire jewellers Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi who are allegedly the brains behind the over $2 billion scam in Punjab National Bank, agency sources said.

Modi along with his wife Ami, a United States citizen, brother Nishal a Belgian, and uncle Choksi, Gitanjali group's promoter, had fled the country before the bank approached the CBI with a complaint against his companies for allegedly cheating through fraudulent issuance of Letters of Undertakings and Foreign Letters of Credit.

The agency recently chargesheeted both Modi and Choksi separately in the scam and will now approach the Interpol for a Red Corner Notice aimed at bringing them back for facing trial in the cases against them, the sources said.

The PNB had approached the CBI with a complaint on the basis of which the agency had registered an FIR against Modi.

The agency had immediately issued a diffusion notice with the Interpol to track Modi and Choksi but their whereabouts remain unknown, the sources said.

They said the Red Corner Notice will allow enforcement agencies of the member countries of Interpol to try to find and arrest them in their respective countries.

The CBI, in its chargesheets filed last week, alleged that Modi, through his companies, siphoned off funds to the tune of Rs 6,498.20 crore using fraudulent LoUs issued from PNB's Brady House branch in Mumbai.

Choksi swindled Rs 7080.86 crore, making it possibly the biggest banking scam in the country, it alleged.

An additional loan default of over Rs 5,000 crore to Choksi's companies is also a matter of probe under the CBI.

It is alleged that Modi and Choksi through their companies availed credit from overseas branches of Indian banks using the fraudulent guarantees of the PNB given through LoUs and letters of credit which were not repaid bringing the liability on the state-run bank, the officials said.

An LoU is a guarantee given by an issuing bank to Indian banks having branches abroad to grant short-term credit to the applicant.

The instructions for transferring the funds were allegedly issued by a bank employee, Gokulnath Shetty, using an international messaging system for banking called SWIFT platform and without making their subsequent entries in the PNB's internal banking software, thus bypassing scrutiny in the bank, they said.  -- PTI

Re-polling is being held on booth number 79 and 80 in Jalpaiguri's Ambikanagar Village on Sunday.

Heavy police force has been deployed at the booths to ensure voting is held peacefully and smoothly.

Voting, which began at 7 am, will end at 5 pm.

The panchayat elections in West Bengal saw huge-scale violence this time.

Clashes between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Trinamool Congress workers resulted in the death of at least 20 people and injuries to 50 others on the polling day -- May 14.

The Congress, the Communist Party of India-Marxist, Revolutionary Socialist Party and other parties of the Left Front also staged a protest outside the State Election Commission in Kolkata against the incidents of violence.

Following the violence, re-polling was conducted in 568 booths across the state on May 16.

Taking note of the incident, the Ministry of Home Affairs also sought a report from the state government regarding incidents of violence during the recently-concluded panchayat election, wherein ruling Trinamool Congress.

On May 14, five crore people voted to select their representatives for 621 zilla parishads, 6,000 panchayat samitis, and nearly 31,000 gram panchayats.   -- ANI

Ahead of Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah's visit to Assam today, RTI activist and farmers' leader Akhil Gogoi, along with his supporters was taken into custody in Guwahati for protesting against Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2016, a police officer said.

Shah is scheduled to attend the third conclave of North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) in the state capital later in the day.

Several Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti members, headed by Gogoi, gathered in different parts of city this morning to wave black flags at the BJP leader as a mark of protest over the proposed Bill, the officer said.

The bill, among other things, proposes to reduce the aggregate period of residential qualification for the process of citizenship by naturalisation of the concerned persons from 11 years to six years.

The KMSS had been launching widespread campaigns in the regions to garner support against the move.

Gogoi, who was arrested near Srimanta Sankardeva Kalakshetra where Shah is scheduled to attend the meeting, said his supporters had been holding a peaceful protest in the state capital.

"It is our democratic right to protest, the police are behaving in a high-handed manner," he told reporters before boarding the police van.

The KMSS leader also appealed to the people to continue their protest 'peacefully' without getting 'provoked'.

"The Bill is dangerous and harmful to the indigenous people of the state and we will continue our protest to ensure that it is not passed by Parliament," he added.  -- PTI

A 45-year-old man was beaten to death and his friend severally thrashed by four people for allegedly slaughtering a cow in Satna district, the police said.

The four accused have been arrested, they said.

The accused, on getting information that two persons were slaughtering a cow at a forest area in Anjar village, about 70 km from Satna, reached the spot and allegedly beat one of them to death on the intervening night of Thursday and Friday, Superintendent of Police Rajesh Hingerkar said.

The deceased has been identified as Siraj, he said.

The other person, identified as Shakeel, 35, was also brutally beaten and sustained severe injuries, he said.

Sub-Divisional Officer of Police, Maiher area, Arvind Tiwari, said they recovered 'beef' and carcass of a slaughtered bull from the spot.

As per the investigation, the deceased was beaten with lathis (sticks), he said.

On getting information about the incident, the police reached the spot and rushed the injured person for treatment to a hospital in Jabalpur district, Tiwari said.

The police have arrested four persons -- Pawan Singh, 35, Vijay Singh, 26, Phool Singh, 36, and Narayan Singh, 28 -- in connection with the incident, he said.

About 400 policemen have been deployed to maintain law and order in the area following the incident, Inspector General of Police, Rewa Range, Umesh Joga said.  -- PTI

IMAGE: The arrested accused. Photograph: ANI

At least six security personnel killed as Naxals blow up police vehicle in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada's Cholnar Village.

"Six jawans are dead, one injured according to preliminary investigation. Search operation is being held by security forces. Blast could be of high intensity, but the exact details will come after the investigation," Sunder Raj P, DIG Anti-Naxal Operation said.

Troops of Central Reserve Police Force rushed to the spot.

More details awaited.  -- ANI

Photograph: ANI

Actor Rajinikanth says that whatever happened in Karnataka yesterday was a victory for democracy.

"What happened in Karnataka yesterday was a win for democracy. The BJP asking for some more time and Governor giving 15 days was a mockery of democracy," he said.

"I would like to thank the Supreme Court for its order, which upheld the democracy," Rajinikanth said in Chennai.

On whether he would contest the 2019 elections, he said, "The decision to contest elections in 2019 will be taken at the time when the elections are announced. The party is not yet launched, but we are ready for anything. Also, it is too early to talk about any kind of alliance."   -- ANI

The Border Security Force today said that the Pakistan Rangers today 'pleaded' with them to stop firing along the International Border after being pounded with heavy artillery that also left a trooper dead across the border.

The border guarding force also released a 19-second thermal-imagery footage showing the destruction of a Pakistani picket across the border in retaliation to the unprovoked firing and shelling along the IB.

"(Pakistan) Rangers called up Jammu BSF formation today and beseeched to stop firing," a BSF spokesman said.

"The befitting reply by BSF units to the unprovoked shelling and firing across the IB by Pakistani forces has forced them to plead for ceasefire," a senior official said.

"For the last three days, the precision fire of BSF troopers on Pakistani firing locations inflicted heavy losses and yesterday this firing found their mark with one of the rangers in chicken neck area," the official said.

The BSF had lost two of its jawans in this latest round of unprovoked firing on the Jammu IB over the last few days.

A number of civilians were also killed and injured in the Jammu area due to this firing incident which was seen to have increased in the wake of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's day-long visit to Jammu and Kashmir yesterday.

Jammu and Kashmir witnessed a spurt in Pakistani shelling and firing along the IB and the Line of Control (LoC) this year.

Over 700 incidents of fire and shelling were reported, which left 38 people including 18 security personnel dead and scores injured.  -- PTI

Janata Dal-Secular leader H D Kumaraswamy will meet United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi tomorrow.

"Yes, tomorrow morning I'm going to Delhi. I'll meet Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi. Just 24 hours after the oath, I'll prove the majority," Kumaraswamy said.

Meanwhile, talking about Karnataka cabinet formation, senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said, "The high command will take decision. We, being a national party, supported JD-S -- a regional party -- to uphold Constitutional principles and democracy. Keeping everything in mind, there ought to be a 'give and take' equation."   -- ANI 

The combined market valuation of five of the 10 most valued Indian companies dropped by Rs 57,333.55 crore last week, with Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) taking the steepest hit.

While RIL, ITC, HDFC, Maruti Suzuki India and ONGC suffered losses in their market capitalisation (m-cap) for the week ended Friday, Tata Consultancy Services, HDFC Bank, Hindustan Unilever Ltd, Infosys and Kotak Mahindra Bank made gains on the other hand.

The m-cap of RIL tumbled Rs 34,908.45 crore to Rs 5,91,353.05 crore.

The valuation of HDFC slumped Rs 10,582.42 crore to Rs 3,11,482.69 crore and that of Maruti dived Rs 6,819.46 crore to Rs 2,57,147.16 crore.

ONGC lost Rs 2,887.47 crore to Rs 2,37,479.02 crore and ITC shed Rs 2,135.75 crore to Rs 3,44,344.18 crore from its m-cap.

On the other hand, HUL's valuation jumped Rs 21,169.09 crore to Rs 3,47,212.06 crore. HUL on Friday went past ITC in market valuation to become the most valued FMCG firm.

TCS added Rs 7,992.15 crore to Rs 6,70,450.51 crore and Kotak Mahindra Bank Rs 5,488.64 crore to Rs 2,46,654.92 crore.

The m-cap of Infosys went up by Rs 600.63 crore to Rs 2,58,546.04 crore and that of HDFC Bank rose by Rs 584.32 crore to Rs 5,22,745.23 crore.

In the ranking of top-10 firms, TCS stood at number one position followed by RIL, HDFC Bank, HUL, ITC, HDFC, Infosys, Maruti, Kotak Mahindra Bank and ONGC.

Over the last week, the Sensex lost 687.49 points, or 1.93 per cent.  -- PTI

That Sonia Gandhi made a formal call to H D Deve Gowda offering unconditional support to the Janata Dal-Secular and the chief ministership to H D Kumaraswamy is now well known.