Mangaluru: 28 students sent back home from two colleges for wearing hijab

Mysuru: Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah said Saturday that probe into some of the alleged scams are underway and he will speak on them once the investigation report comes to him.

The Congress veteran said he was overwhelmed at the success of the Janandolana held in Mysuru on Friday.

The Janandolan in the chief minister's home district was in support of him and to counter the opposition’s allegations and their foot march. Asked about opposition leaders' claim that they will continue their fight until the CM resigns, Siddaramaiah said, "Will I fear such things, will I bow down to such things? If they indulge in false propaganda. People will suppress their agitations that are with false allegations, on getting to know the truth."

The CM also visited Sri Chamundeshwari Devi temple atop the Chamundi Hills after a long time to mark Shravana Shanivara. Last year he has visited the temple in August to make the goddess the first beneficiary of Gruhalakshmi scheme, one of the five guarantees of the Congress government.

Attacking the BJP in the state, Siddaramaiah said he knows what the saffron party state president B Y Vijayendra, his father and former CM B S Yediyurappa, Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy and Opposition Leader R Ashoka have done. “There are some more scams to be unearthed,” he added.

The BJP-JD(S) are scheduled to conclude their protest march on Saturday in Mysuru city. The final day of the 'Mysuru Chalo' protest march began at Ramaswamy circle here today and will culminate at Maharaja’s College Grounds, where a valedictory rally is organised.

To a question on the opposition’s allegations against him, Siddaramaiah said, he will tackle them politically and legally. Describing the allegation against him as ‘false’, he said, "I have spoken on a few issues in the Janandolan and will present some more issues before the people shortly."

Speaking on the Janandolana, the CM said, "It was held to counter the opposition’s padayatra, to counter their false allegations. It was held, to tell the truth to the people. The BJP-JD(S) alliance is trying to project me in bad light. They are trying to weaken the democratically-elected government in Karnataka. They think that they will be politically benefited, if they defame me. They are involved in various scams. I will expose them all, and initiate action against them."

Hindenburg Research, the entity which shorted Adani stocks and led to a massive crash in the conglomerate's market value, has posted a cryptic message on social media platform X, wherein it said, "Something big soon India".

Their post has already started garnering a lot of attention, with many X users slamming the short seller based on the recent Sebi show cause notice to the firm regarding the Adani issue.

"Tool kit activated to distract more from Bangladesh," one user commented.

"Like the actual Hindenburg, I find your India coverage to be mostly hot air," another said.

Adani Enterprises had decided not to proceed with a debut retail bond offering of up to Rs 1000 crore last year after US-based short-seller Hindenburg Research accused the group of improper use of offshore tax havens and stock manipulation.

Adani Group denied Hindenburg's allegations, but shares of its group companies lost more than $100 billion in value before recovering in late 2023.

Hindenburg Research had shared an advance copy of its damning report against Adani group with New York-based hedge fund manager Mark Kingdon about two months before publishing it and profited from a deal to share spoils from share price movement, according to market regulator Sebi.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), in its 46-page show cause notice to Hindenburg, detailed how the US short seller, the New York hedge fund and a broker tied to Kotak Mahindra Bank benefited from the over $150 billion routs in the market value of Adani group's 10 listed firms post-publication of the report.

Sebi charged Hindenburg of making "unfair" profits from "collusion" to use "non-public" and "misleading" information and induce "panic selling" in Adani Group stocks.

Hindenburg, which made public the Sebi notice, in its response, has described the show cause as an attempt to "silence and intimidate those who expose corruption and fraud perpetrated by the most powerful individuals in India" and revealed that the vehicle used to bet against Adani's flagship firm Adani Enterprises Ltd belonged to Kotak Mahindra (International) Ltd, a Mauritius-based subsidiary of Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. 

Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday flayed the NDA government over its plan to amend the law governing Waqf boards, saying the move shows that it's against minorities.

The Bill has proposed far-reaching changes in the present Act, including ensuring the representation of Muslim women and non-Muslims in such bodies.

The Waqf (Amendment) Bill also seeks to rename the Waqf Act, 1995, as the Unified Waqf Management, Empowerment, Efficiency and Development Act, 1995.

"The NDA government is totally against the minorities in this country, they are not for secularism, they are not for social justice. We have been telling the people of the country that they are communal parties, they are casteists, that's why they are doing like that," Siddaramaiah told reporters here in response to a question.

The Bill was circulated among Lok Sabha members on Tuesday night ahead of its introduction.

According to its statement of objects and reasons, the Bill seeks to omit Section 40 of the current law relating to the powers of the Board to decide if a property is waqf property.

It provides for a broad-based composition of the Central Waqf Council and the State Waqf Boards and ensures the representation of Muslim women and non-Muslims in such bodies. The Bill also proposes the establishment of a separate board of Auqaf for the Bohras and Aghakhanis.

The draft law provides for the representation of Shias, Sunnis, Bohras, Agakhanis and other backward classes among Muslim communities.