Will contest next Assembly polls from Badami: Siddaramaiah

News Network
July 6, 2021

Bengaluru, July 6: Amid continued speculation about the constituency from where he will contest the 2023 assembly polls, senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah on Tuesday reaffirmed he will contest from the Badami segment that he currently represents.

Heaping praise on the people of Badami for accepting him, who had come from Mysuru and electing as their MLA in the 2018 polls, the former Chief Minister said he will always be indebted to them.

"You have come here asking me to contest the next election from Badami..have I ever said that I will not contest from Badami? It is true that people are inviting me to contest from other constituencies like Koppal, Chamarajpet, Kolar, like you out of respect," Siddaramaiah said.

Addressing his followers and party workers, who had come from Badami, he said the election is still one year and ten months away and he has already said in the state assembly, about contesting the next polls from Badami and won't go back on it.

"I'm the legislator from Badami constituency and as per the wish expressed by all of you and the people I will once again contest from Badami," he declared, amid cheers of his supporters, who even called him the next Chief Minister.

There have been speculations within the party for some time now that the leader of the opposition, who represents Badami in north Karnataka, may return to his home turf of the old Mysuru region or somewhere in Bengaluru for the next general election.

His loyalist and Chamarajpet legislator B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan, who has been openly projecting him as CM face for the next assembly polls causing some differences within the party, has even offered to vacate the constituency for the Congress Legislature Party leader.

Pointing out that Zameer Ahmed Khan has been asking him to contest from his Chamarajpet constituency in Bengaluru, as it is closer, Siddaramaiah maintained that he has never said he will contest from Chamarajpet or Kolar or Koppal.

"I had come from Mysuru, you the people of Badami have accepted and elected me. With what margin I won is not the question, despite me visiting Badami only twice ahead of elections, you elected me.. can I contest from elsewhere without asking you?" he said.

Siddarmaiah has already announced that he will not contest again from the Chamundeshwari assembly constituency in Mysuru, where he had tasted defeat during the May 2018 assembly polls.

Siddarmaiah, the then sitting Chief Minister, had lost in Chamundeshwari to JD(S) G T Deve Gowda by a margin of over 36,042 votes.

He, however, won Badami, the other constituency from where he had contested, defeating BJPs Sriramulu by a margin of just 1,696 votes.

Noting that he had to face defeat in Chamundeshwari in Mysuru from where he had won five times, as some political leaders got together against him out of malice, Siddaramaiah said, it is the people of Badami who trusted him, though he had come from elsewhere and got him elected.

"I can't forget the people of Badami.How much ever I thank you it will be less," he said, pointing out that the only disadvantage is he cannot meet the people of the constituency on a daily basis as he will have to attend the duties of the Leader of Opposition and that of the party in Bengaluru and other parts of the state. When his supporters cried out there were no shortcomings despite his absence and they want him as their legislator again, Siddaramaiah said, "you the people of Badami have never complained, but there should not be any dereliction of duty from my side.I have done whatever I can and will continue to do whatever needs to be done for the constituency." Making his debut in the Assembly in 1983, Siddaramaiah had got elected from Chamundeshwari on a Lok Dal Party ticket.He has won five times from this constituency and tasted defeat thrice.

After neighbouring Varuna became a constituency in 2008 following delimitation, Siddarmaiah represented it till he vacated the seat for his son Dr Yatindra in the 2018 assembly polls last year and went back to his old constituency of Camundeshwari.

Ahead of the May 2018 assembly polls, Siddaramaiah had said it would "most likely" be his last election.

Earlier, during the 2013 assembly polls too, he had said that it was his last election and went on to become chief minister after the polls.

It is no secret that Siddaramaiah is nursing his ambition to become chief minister for a second term if the party wins the next assembly polls in 2023.

With State Congress President D K Shivakumar too having similar ambitions, it has triggered a game of one-upmanship between the two leaders.

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News Network
March 20,2025

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Hyderabad: A police case has been registered in Telangana against 25 celebrities, including prominent actors Rana Daggubati, Prakash Raj, Vijay Devarakonda, and Manchu Lakshmi, for allegedly endorsing illegal betting apps. The FIR was lodged following a complaint by businessman Phanindra Sarma.

The list of accused celebrities and influencers also includes Praneetha, Nidhi Agarwal, Ananya Nagalla, Siri Hanumanthu, Sreemukhi, Varshini Sounderajan, Vasanthi Krishnan, Shoba Shetty, Amrutha Chowdary, Nayani Pavani, Neha Pathan, Pandu, Padhmavathi, Imran Khan, Vishnu Priya, Harsha Sai, Sunny Yadav, Shyamala, Tasty Teja, and Bandaru Sheshayani Supritha.

According to the FIR, these individuals promoted betting platforms through social media advertisements, encouraging users to invest money in illegal online gambling. "These platforms deal with transactions worth thousands of lakhs of rupees, pushing several families—especially from middle-class and lower-middle-class backgrounds—into financial distress," states the complaint.

The complainant alleged that many people have lost their savings due to these apps. He claimed that he himself almost deposited money on one such platform but refrained after being warned by his family. The FIR further accuses the celebrities of accepting substantial remuneration to endorse these apps, thereby influencing the public—particularly those facing financial hardship—to invest and eventually fall into addiction, leading to severe financial consequences.

The case has been registered under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, the Information Technology Act, and applicable state laws concerning cheating and online fraud.

Reacting to the FIR, actor Prakash Raj clarified that he had endorsed such a platform back in 2015 but opted out within a year. He stated that he is currently gathering more details about the case.

This development comes amid heightened scrutiny of Telugu cinema celebrities. Notably, it follows the controversial arrest of Allu Arjun in December after a tragic incident at the premiere of Pushpa 2: The Rule in Hyderabad, where a woman lost her life due to a chaotic crowd surge. Police had claimed the actor’s presence at the event was unplanned and that no security measures were in place to control the large turnout.

The arrest of Allu Arjun had ignited a heated debate, drawing criticism from political opponents of the ruling Congress and key figures in the film industry. In response to the controversy, Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy met with a delegation of filmmakers and actors, reassuring them of the state’s support for the film industry while asserting that law and order would remain a priority.

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Agencies
March 26,2025

The airstrikes led by the United States have killed at least 25 civilians in Yemen over the past week, marking the deadliest week of bombing on the country since the final months of the Washington-backed Saudi war in January 2022.

In a report released on Tuesday, the Yemen Data Project said the 25 civilians were the victims of 38 US-led aerial assaults on March 15-21, adding that 28 people were also injured in the attacks.

The independent tracker also said that 21 out of the 38 US air raids hit non-military, civilian targets.

“Civilian targets hit included: a medical storage facility, a medical center, a school, a wedding hall, residential areas, a cotton gin facility, a health office, Bedouin tents, and Al-Eiman University,” it said.

The deadliest US strike in the first week of US bombing campaign struck a residential area in Yemen’s northwestern Sa'ada province, killing 10 civilians and wounding 11 others, among them children.

The US began bombing Yemen on March 15, a few days after Yemen resumed its operation against Israeli-linked ships in response to Israel’s Gaza aid blockade that violated a ceasefire with the Hamas resistance group.

The Yemeni Armed Forces began their anti-Israel naval campaign in November 2023, a month after the occupying regime waged a genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.

The Yemeni forces halted their attacks in solidarity with the Palestinians in January, when Israel accepted a three-phase Gaza ceasefire.

Two months later, however, Israel unilaterally broke the Gaza truce and resumed its brutal onslaught on the besieged territory.

On Tuesday, Yemeni media reported 17 US strikes on Sa'ada and two more on the nearby 'Amran province.

The reports said American warplanes carried out "aggressive air raids... causing material damage to citizens' property," but gave no details of casualties.

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News Network
March 20,2025

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Gaza’s health ministry says Israel’s renewed savagery has led to the massacre of at least 970 people in 48 hours.

The wave of deadly airstrikes that shattered a fragile ceasefire in Gaza on Tuesday has so far claimed the lives of at least 970 people across the besieged territory, the health ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

Before the resumption of the offensive, the death toll from the regime’s 15 months of genocidal war recorded by the ministry at midday on March 17 stood at 48,577.

By midday on Wednesday, the figure had risen to 49,547, the ministry said.

The health ministry also registered "one death and five severe injuries among foreign staff working for UN institutions.”

It said Israel attacked a UN headquarters in Deir el-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, on Wednesday.

The victims had been taken to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, the health ministry said.

Israel's military denied attacking a UN building in Gaza.

The UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS) confirmed the death of one of its staff by an explosive that was "dropped or fired" on its building in Deir el-Balah.

"An explosive ordnance was dropped or fired at the infrastructure and detonated inside the building,” it said, adding that five others were injured.

UNOPS Executive Director Jorge Moreira da Silva said he was "shocked and devastated" by the death of a staff member.

“This was not an accident.”  he said, adding that "attacks against humanitarian premises are a breach of international law."

Bulgaria's foreign ministry said later in the day that one of its citizens working for the United Nations was killed in Gaza, without specifying where in the territory.

Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel threatened on Tuesday that the massacre of women and children in Gaza was “only the beginning.” He stands accused of committing war crimes and ethnic cleansing in Gaza.

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