Yeddyurappa’s bail plea rejected
BANGALORE: The Karnataka high court on Monday rejected the anticipatory bail petition of former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa in land scam and graft cases.Rejecting the bail plea, Justice N. Narayana Swamy directed Yeddyurappa to be present in the Lokayukta (ombudsman) court later in the day in response to the summons issued by its judge N.K. Sudhindra Rao Aug 8.Though Yeddyurappa was to appear in the trial court Saturday, his counsel pleaded for his exemption as he was suffering from fever. Rao, however, rejected the counsel’s plea and ordered Yeddyurappa to appear before the court Monday.The twin cases relate to denotification of land near Bangalore in favour of his kin and a Rs13 crore kickback in awarding a contract work to the highest bidder in the Upper Bhadra irrigation project during his tenure as the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) first chief minister in south India. (IANS)
Bihar village in gloom as Anna supporter succumbs to burns
PATNA: A pall of gloom descended on Bihar’s Sarfuddinpur village Monday after news of the death of its resident Dinesh Yadav, who set himself ablaze last week in New Delhi in support of Anna Hazare’s campaign. Hundreds of people flocked to Yadav’s village to mourn his death.Yadav’s wife Malmatiya Devi and his mother, Maya Devi, have been sobbing inside their mud and thatch house ever since news of the death.A close relative of Yadav said that he was the sole bread winner and Malmatiya Devi and her five children will face livelihood problems. “It is going to be difficult for them,” he said.”Dinesh sacrificed his life to fight against corruption. No one will forget it,” villager Ashok Yadav said.Another villager, Mantosh Kumar, said: “We have lost a real hero for a cause.”Kumar told IANS over phone that Yadav had become the talking point in Sarfuddinpur, 45 km from Patna, ever since he set fire to himself. “Dinesh has become a household name not only in the village but in Patna and New Delhi also. We were hoping he would recover,” he said.Yadav shouted pro-Anna Hazare slogans and poured petrol on himself and set himself alight near Rajghat Aug 23.He sustained 70-80 percent burn injuries.(IANS)
Pro-Telangana body asks Cong leaders to quit posts, join stir
HYDERABAD: Seeking to mount pressure on the ruling Congress leaders, the Telangana political Joint Action Committee (JAC) on Monday asked them to quit their posts and join the “strike by all sections of people” scheduled to start from next month. “We will go ahead with the strike. We urge the Ministers and other Congress leaders to join the strike,” JAC Convener M Kodandaram told reporters here. He was responding to Civil Supplies Minister D Sridhar Babu’s reported appeal to the JAC and other Telangana supporters to postpone the proposed strike in view of the ill- health of Congress President Sonia Gandhi among other reasons. The JAC has earlier said the strike, scheduled to start from the second week of September, would aim at mounting pressure on the Telangana leaders of Congress and main Opposition TDP to quit their posts and also on the Centre towards accepting the separate statehood demand. The mass resignations of the public representatives would put pressure on the Centre, it maintained.(PTI)