Janardhan Reddy Merges KRPP Party with BJP in Karnataka

Hyderabad, Dec 12 (IANS) Telangana’s Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Thursday began questioning Nikesh Kumar, Assistant Executive Engineer of the Irrigation Department, who was arrested earlier this month in a case of disproportionate assets case.

Day after a court granted the ACB custody of the tainted official for four days, the sleuths of the anti-graft agency took him into custody from Chanchalguda prison.

He was brought to the ACB office in Nampally, where investigating officers were questioning him.

The ACB officials had found assets valued at Rs 17.73 crore owned by Nikesh Kumar and his family members which are disproportionate to his known sources of income. In one bank locker, they found gold jewellery weighing 1.5 kg.

The market value of his assets, including a villa, flat, plots, agriculture land and gold ornaments together is pegged at over Rs 100 crore.

The official, who joined the job a decade ago, was said to be earning at least Rs 2 lakh a day allegedly through corrupt means. The ACB officials were shocked to find the value of the disproportionate assets.

The questioning by the ACB officials is likely to bring out more facts relating to the sensational case. The agency will also try to find out if Nikesh Kumar was acting as a ‘benami’ of any other person.

Nikesh was earlier trapped by the ACB team in May when he demanded and accepted a bribe of Rs 2 lakh along with three other officials working in the irrigation and revenue department.

A major chunk of Nikesh Kumar’s illegal wealth came allegedly through No Objection Certificates (NOCs) he issued for building permissions through the TG-bPASS portal.

This is said to be the second biggest catch by the ACB after the apprehension of the former director of Insurance Medical Services (IMS) Ch Devika Rani in 2019 and HMDA Director (Town Planning) Shiva Balakrishna earlier this year. While disproportionate assets worth Rs 30 crore were seized from Devika, unregistered properties worth Rs 9 crore were seized from Balakrishna. The value of the seized assets of the two tainted officials was only as per the government record. The market value is estimated to be worth hundreds of crores.

–IANS

ms/dpb

Bengaluru, Dec 20 (IANS) Karnataka’s Opposition leader and senior BJP leader R. Ashoka has criticised Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and said that the latter is obsessed with staying in power in the state instead of B.R. Ambedkar.

“It is a harmful obsession where he clings to power even if it means self-deception,” Ashoka added.

In his press statement following the conclusion of the Winter session on Thursday, the BJP leader said, “The whole country knows how the Congress betrayed B.R. Ambedkar. CM Siddaramaiah knows it too. If CM Siddaramaiah has even a bit of conscience, he should first leave the Congress party and then speak about Ambedkar.”

“In 1920, when the Simon Commission arrived, Ambedkar met them and demanded voting rights for Dalits. Congress leaders intervened and opposed granting Dalits the right to vote, claiming that Dalits lacked awareness. The Congress party was against giving Dalits voting rights and reservations. Siddaramaiah, being part of the Congress, has no moral right to speak about Ambedkar,” Ashoka said while targeting the Congress-led state government.

“Ambedkar himself said that joining Congress was like committing suicide. Yet, for the sake of power, CM Siddaramaiah joined the same Congress party. If he wants to speak about Ambedkar, he should resign from Congress first. Siddaramaiah, who has sold himself to Congress for power and betrayed his own principles, has no lessons to give to the BJP,” he added.

“Ambedkar gave us the Constitution to ensure the government is accountable to the people. However, the Congress government, despite taking an oath on the Constitution, evades accountability and responsibility in the Belagavi winter session. This is a disgrace to Ambedkar and the Constitution,” Ashoka opined.

The BJP leader also said, “Ambedkar once said, ‘I measure the progress of a community by the degree of progress its women have achieved.’ But the Congress government, while pretending to honour Ambedkar by displaying his photos, is, on the other hand, giving poor quality medicines and killing women. This is shameful.”

“The Congress government has turned the Belagavi session into an exercise in futility. The government has not provided answers to any serious issues raised. The problems of North Karnataka, the deaths of mothers and newborns in government hospitals, were not addressed. Not just BJP and JD (S) MLAs, even Congress MLAs expressed dissatisfaction over the government’s neglect of North Karnataka,” Ashoka said.

The Congress government should not just make promises but fulfill them, he demanded.

–IANS

mka/khz

Hyderabad, Dec 16 (IANS) Actor-politician Vijayashanthi on Monday said that the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) has no right to fight over the change in the design of the ‘Telangana Talli’ (Mother Telangana) statue.

Vijayashanthi recalled that in 2007, the first Telangana Talli statue was unveiled by the Talli Telangana Party, floated by her.

In a post on ‘X’, she said that BS Ramulu had designed Telangana Talli as the mother of the poor, weak, and marginalised communities.

Vijayashanthi, who is now with the Congress, stated the then TRS, which is now the BRS, did not design Telangana Talli.

“Subsequently, the TRS (BRS) unveiled a statue of Telangana Talli at their TRS office. However, for 10 years when they were in power, they never provided official status and respect to Telangana Talli,” she wrote.

The veteran actor-turned-politician mentioned that the present Congress government under the leadership of Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy gave official status, and respect and also laid down government policy for Telangana Talli.

“How does a political party like BRS have a right to fight over the change in the design of Telangana Talli,” she asked.

The former MP said that Telangana activists could also have fought when the BRS changed the design of Telangana Talli.

“Our Bonalu and Bathukamma culture has been and will continue for generations. There is no need for the involvement of political parties for their own interests,” she added.

Vijayashanthi’s comments came amid a protest by the BRS over the modified Telangana Talli statue, unveiled at the state Secretariat on December 9.

While the Congress claims that it reflects the true culture and traditions of Telangana, the BRS has accused it of insulting Telangana’s heritage.

BRS leaders have called the modified statue ‘Congress Talli’ as it displays the party’s poll symbol – the ‘hand’.

The omission of Bathukamma in the modified design has angered the BRS. In the earlier design, the mother was shown carrying Bathukamma (specially arranged flowers) in her left hand and plants in her right hand but in the modified version, the mother is seen carrying plants in her left hand and showing ‘Abhaya Mudra’ with her right hand.

BRS MLC K. Kavitha has launched a protest against the Congress government’s action. She is leading protest programmes by playing ‘Bathukamma’ with other women leaders and workers of the party.

–IANS

ms/vd