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At least 8 people were killed and several others injured when a tourist bus fell while turning a sharp bend near Coonoor in the Nilgiris district of Tamil Nadu. There were 55 passengers on the bus, who were on their way to Tenkasi. The bus fell into the gorge after the driver of the vehicle lost control on a hairpin bend. Locals, police and fire officials rushed to the aid of the victims and rescued the injured. The bus toppled in the impact and the rescue workers were seen using ropes to get down to the ill-fated vehicle and reach out to the passengers. Police said preliminary reports suggest that the driver lost control on the sharp curve, leading to the bus's plunge down the steep incline. K Prabhakar, Superintendent of Police told NDTV "Investigation is underway. The driver appears to be at fault". Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin has expressed his condolences and announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh for the families who those who were killed in the accident. ...

Telangana's Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Saturday unearthed assets worth Rs 4.56 crore including over Rs 2 crores in cash allegedly belonging to a tahsildar (revenue officer) in Nalgonda district, after conducting searches at his house and other places. A case of disproportionate assets was registered against the tahsildar of Marrigudem Mandal, as he has allegedly acquired assets disproportionate to his known sources of income by indulging in "corrupt practices and dubious" means during his service, a release from ACB said. As this is an offence punishable under Section 13(1) (b) and 13 (2) of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (as amended in 2018), officers of ACB registered an FIR and conducted searches at his house and various other places, it said. During the search operation, net cash of Rs 2,07,00,000, movable and immovable properties all worth about Rs 4,56,66,660 were seized, it said, adding that the accused was arrested. The case is under investigation. ...

Heavy rains continued in several parts of Kerala affecting normal life today. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has sounded a "yellow alert" warning in 13 of 14 districts of the state except in Kottayam. The yellow alert predicts heavy rainfall between 6 cm and 11 cm. Uprooting of trees, waterlogging and collapsing of compound walls were reported in many places, but no major casualties have happened anywhere in the state so far in the rains continuing for the last two days. Heavy downpour submerged hundreds of acres of paddy fields at Edathua, a tiny hamlet in the Kuttanad region in Alappuzha district. The shutters of Aruvikkara Dam near the state capital was raised up to 160 cm in view of rising water level, district authorities here said. As the rain is expected to intensify in the coming hours, the state Disaster Management Authority urged people living in high range to maintain extra vigil and directed fishermen not to venture into the sea.   (Except for t...

An eight-year-old girl died after a wall of her house collapsed following heavy rainfall in Karnataka's Bidar district, police said on Friday. According to the police, Sandhyarani Sanjukumar Kamble sustained severe injury on the head after the wall of the house at Bajolaga village in Bhalki taluk crashed on her on Thursday evening. She was rushed to a nearby hospital but she was declared brought dead, a senior police officer said. "It was raining heavily on Thursday evening. A wall of the house collapsed on the eight-year-old girl resulting in severe head injury and she succumbed," he said. (Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.) source https://www.ndtv.com/karnataka-news/8-year-old-girl-dies-after-wall-collapsed-in-karnataka-cops-4434830

Heavy rain and strong winds lashed parts of Thiruvananthapuram city on Friday morning. This comes as the India Meteorological Department (IMD) predicted heavy rainfall and issued a yellow alert in all districts of Kerala for Friday. Earlier on Wednesday, the Met department announced that conditions were slowly becoming favourable for the withdrawal of the southeast monsoon from the country on September 25. An official statement from the Ministry of Earth Sciences on Friday predicted light to very heavy rainfall over several areas of South India from September 29 to October 1. "Light/moderate fairly widespread to widespread rainfall with isolated heavy rainfall very likely over ghat areas of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana on 29. Karnataka and Kerala & Mahe from September 29 to October 1. Isolated very heavy rainfall is very likely over coastal Karnataka and Kerala today," it said. The official statement from the Met Department also forecasted light to heavy ...

The Madras High Court on Friday upheld the convictions of 215 people involved in the heinous 1992 Vachathi Atrocities Case. In 2011, a lower court had convicted 215 policemen, forest and revenue officials for raping 18 women and torturing men in the tribal village of Vachathi in Tamil Nadu. On Jun 20, 1992, the village was raided by police teams along with forest and revenue officials who were looking for smuggled sandalwood hidden in the area. Over three days, the assault on the villagers, who were seen as "silent supporters" of dreaded bandit Veerappan, continued. On Friday, the high court upheld the lower court's 2011 order while dismissing the convicts' appeal against it. It also ordered the government to provide Rs 10 lakh each as compensation to the 18 rape survivors, out of which Rs 5 lakh has to be recovered from each of the rape convicts. The state should also provide the survivors with jobs and help them or their families with self-employment opportunitie...

Days after the Karnataka government released Cauvery river water to Tamil Nadu, a state-wide bandh was called in the state today. The bandh, called out by the 'Kannada Okkuta' – a blanket organisation of pro-Kannada groups, will be in effect for 12 hours from 6 am to 6 pm. This comes two days after the Bengaluru bandh, which received a mixed response.  Bengaluru city police have clamped Section 144 to restrict people from holding rallies or protests of more than five people.  What Will Remain Open Essential services —  hospitals, ambulances and medical stores will be operational. KSRTC and BMTC buses will be operational based on the situation across the state.  Namma Metro in Bengaluru will operate as usual. Security at the entrances of the metro station has been beefed up. What Will Be Closed Grocery shops and other non-essential shops in the state will remain closed. The inter-state operations, for instance, buses heading towards Tamil Nadu may not be ...

Four people, including a nine-year-old boy, who were under treatment for Nipah in Kozhikode, have recovered, state Health Minister Veena George said on Friday. Sharing the "good news", the minister said in a brief statement that they have tested "double negative" (they were tested twice and turned out to be negative). A total of six people were infected with the virus in the district, and of them, two died. Of the two deaths, the first person who died on August 30 was found to be the index case, or patient zero, from whom others caught the infection. Earlier, the Kerala government had withdrawn containment in all zones and allied restrictions imposed in the northern district, as no new cases of Nipah virus have been reported here since September 16. However, the district authorities urged people to continue their vigil against the virus infection, maintain social distancing and ensure the use of masks and sanitizer. All institutions in the district had been cl...

The umbrella organsation of Kannada and farmers' outfits 'Kannada Okkoota' has called for a bandh in Karnataka today to oppose the release of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu. Authorities have clamped prohibitory orders under Section 144 of Criminal Procedure Code in Bengaluru Urban, Mandya, Mysuru, Chamarajanagara, Ramanagara and Hassan districts, and declared a holiday for schools and colleges there. Here are the LIVE updates on Karnataka Bandh: source https://www.ndtv.com/karnataka-news/karnataka-bandh-live-updates-schools-colleges-closed-in-bengaluru-today-due-to-karnataka-bandh-4434062

"We have made proper arrangements as a bandh has been called by several pro-Kannada organisations. More than 50 people from the organisations have been taken into custody... We have sufficient staff and we will make sure nothing goes wrong," Additional Superintendent of Police of Bengaluru Rural Mallikarjun Baladandi told news agency ANI. In Chikkamangalur, protesters entered petrol bunks in bikes and protested, they also burnt the effigy of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin. In Bengaluru, protesters were detained and brought to Freedom Park. In Mandya, protesters rolled on roads in protest. 'Kannada Okkuta' - a blanket organisation of pro-Kannada groups on Friday announced a Karnataka bandh opposing an order directing the Karnataka government to release Cauvery river water to neighbouring Tamil Nadu. This comes two days after observing the Bengaluru bandh which received mixed responses. The bandh will be in effect from 6 am to 6 pm on Friday. Bengaluru city po...

Ahead of the Telangana assembly polls, BRS leaders Mynampally Hanumanth Rao and Vemula Veeresham joined the Congress on Thursday in the presence of party chief Mallikarjun Kharge at his residence here. While Mr Rao is a sitting MLA from Malkajgiri, Mr Veeresham is a former MLA. Stage Congress chief A Revanth Reddy was also present as the two leaders joined the Congress. Assembly elections are due in Telangana later this year. The Congress is looking to dislodge the K Chandrashekar Rao-led government of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) in the southern state. The grand old party is going all out with its campaign and has also announced six guarantees to the people of the state ahead of the polls. (Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.) source https://www.ndtv.com/telangana-news/kcrs-party-mla-mynampally-hanumanth-rao-another-leader-join-congress-4433388

JD(S) patriarch H D Deve Gowda on Wednesday defended the decision of aligning with the BJP for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, stating that it was aimed at saving the party, and assured that he and his political outfit will stick to its secular credentials and never let minorities down. The former prime minister also sought to clarify that the JD(S) was not power-hungry and does not practice opportunistic politics. The JD(S) on Friday decided to ally with the BJP following a meeting of its leader and former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy (Gowda's son) with Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP national president J P Nadda in New Delhi. "We (JDS) have never done politics by even slightly letting down our secular credentials and there is no question of doing it in the future too. I'm saying this very frankly. Before Kumaraswamy met BJP leaders, I had met the Union Home Minister (Amit Shah), there is nothing to hide in it, and had spoken to him on the situation in Karnataka politics i...

The Cauvery Water Regulation Committee's direction to Karnataka to release water to Tamil Nadu will be challenged before the Supreme Court, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said on Wednesday. The panel had directed Karnataka to release water at the rate of 3,000 cubic feet per second (cusecs) to the neighbouring state from September 28 to October 15. Siddaramaiah said he had spoken to the state's legal team, which opined that it should be challenged in the top court. "We are challenging the order of the Regulation Committee before the Supreme Court. We don't have water to give," the chief minister told reporters at Male Mahadeshwara Hills in this district. Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar had on Tuesday expressed satisfaction over the CWRC rejecting the request of Tamil Nadu, which wanted Karnataka to release 12,000 cusecs. The committee recommended Karnataka to release 3,000 cusecs of water to the neighbouring state. Karnataka submitted before CWRC at its mee...

The Enforcement Directorate has arrested PR Arivandakshan, a CPM Municipal Councillor from Kerala's Wadakkanchery, in connection with the Karuvannur co-operative bank fraud case, officials said Tuesday. The agency has also arrested a former employee of the bank, CK Jills, who allegedly siphoned off Rs 5 crore bank funds, they said. Arivandakshan's arrest is the first of a political person in the alleged scam in which several political functionaries of the CPM are under scanner, they said. The probe in the alleged fraud, beginning in 2010, in the Thrissur-based bank stems from 16 FIRs registered by the Kerala Police (crime branch) in Thrissur. The ED has said its probe found that "on the instructions of certain persons, who were district-level leaders and committee members of certain political party and governed the bank, loans were disbursed by the bank manager through the agent in cash to non-member benamis by mortgaging properties of poor members without their knowle...

Farmers in Trichy engaged in an unexpected way as a token of protest against Karnataka and the central government demanding Cauvery water release from Karnataka to Tamil Nadu. Farmers held rats in their mouth to mark their protest over the ongoing dispute with Karnataka. National South Indian River Interlinking Farmers' Association Tamil Nadu unit president Ayyakannu is leading the protest in Trichy. The protestors demanded the sharing of Cauvery water to save the standing 'kuruvai' crop cultivation in TN. Earlier a group of farmers in Trichy on Sunday staged a protest in Cauvery River water over the ongoing dispute with Karnataka. The farmers were demanding the release of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu. Meanwhile, the farmers in Karnataka's Mandya are protesting to stop water from being released from Karnataka dams to Tamil Nadu. Farmers across Karnataka have been protesting since the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) ordered the state to release 5000 cusecs o...

A small-scale businessman was found dead at his house in Kerala, following which the family members raised grave charges against a Karnataka-based private bank on Tuesday. Binu K C, 50, who was running a footwear shop, died by suicide on Monday afternoon. His family alleged he was very disturbed due to the continuous harassment and threats by one of the employees of the bank from where Binu had recently availed of a loan of Rs 5 lakh. Due to the poor business in recent times, Binu could not repay the loans for some months, his daughter Nandana said. "My father took a loan from the same bank earlier also and he repaid the entire amount without any fail," she told the media. She also accused Pradeep, said to be the manager of the bank, of threatening and harassing her father after going to his footwear shop. "This made my father mentally down...I am sure that due to this insult, he took the extreme step," she added. Otherwise, he would not have decided to end h...

The perennial tug-of-war between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka - over sharing of water from the Cauvery River , with the focus on divisions during a 'distress year' - made headlines (again) last week after the Supreme Court refused to interfere with orders directing the latter to release 5,000 cusecs daily for 15 days to the former. READ | Bengaluru Bandh Today, 200 Protesters Taken Into Custody: 10 Points The Cauvery Water Regulatory Committee order (upheld by the Cauvery Water Management Authority) led to protests in Karnataka, where farmer and pro-Kannada groups, and labour unions have called for two bandhs in 96 hours - in Bengaluru today and across the state on Friday. The fiery sentiments behind this fight have been emphasised by visuals of pro-Kannada protesters shouting slogans and burning effigies. Farmer groups are also protesting in Mysuru and Mandya, as well as Bengaluru, to express their anger and demand the state refuse to release water. The complexities have been...

All routes of the Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) will be operational as usual on Tuesday despite the bandh called by farmer bodies to protest against an order by Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) to release 5,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu. The announcement was made by BMTC on X (formerly Twitter). Visuals showed buses with few passengers leaving the Majestic BMTC Bus stop in the city. Manju, a bus conductor, told ANI, "As bandh has been called, no commuters are seen at Kempegowda bus stop, which is usually one of the busiest bus stops in the state." Police personnel have reportedly been deployed in Bengaluru's Cottonpete to maintain law and order. All shops are closed except those providing essential services. Farmer bodies, Kannada organisations, and opposition parties have called the bandh today in the city to protest against the CWMA order directing the state to release 5,000 cusecs of water to neighbouring Tamil Nadu for 15 days,...

Calls for protests over a longstanding river water sharing dispute between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka have forced global firms including Walmart and Google to ask employees in Bengaluru to work from home on Tuesday. Farmers and activists have called for a strike in Bengaluru demanding state authorities to refrain from releasing more water from the Cauvery river to Tamil Nadu. Internal memos seen by Reuters showed multinational firms such as Google, Walmart, IBM and Accenture have advised employees to work from home and avoid any non-essential commuting during Tuesday's strike. The dispute over who gets access to the water has been a source of friction between the states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu for more than a century. Deadly riots broke out in Bengaluru in 2016 after the top court ordered the release of some water to Tamil Nadu. Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said on Monday his government would not curtail the protests but emphasised the importance of maintaining peac...

Tamil Nadu's AIADMK has snapped ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party and the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance - just months before the national election - amid a row over comments by the latter party's state boss, K Annamalai. The break-up was announced by AIADMK Deputy General Secretary KP Munusamy after a resolution was passed unanimously at a meeting of MPs, MLAs and district heads at the party's head office in Chennai. "AIADMK is breaking all ties with BJP and NDA from today. State leadership of BJP has been making unnecessary remarks about our former leaders for past year."  The news was celebrated by party workers setting off firecrackers, and AIAMK spokesperson Sasirekha told news agency ANI, "... based on members' opinion we are taking this resolution. This is the happiest moment (for us). We are very happy to face the upcoming elections (on our own), whether Parliamentary or Assembly." AIADMK Spokesperson Sasirekha, "...Based o...

A group of unidentified people in Kerala allegedly assaulted an Indian Army soldier on Sunday night and painted the letters "PFI" on his back. The police in Kadakkal town of Kollam district have filed a case based on a complaint from the army personnel. An investigation is underway to ascertain the facts of the case, they said. The victim, Shine Kumar, said he was attacked by a gang of six people in a rubber forest next to his house. They allegedly tied his hands with tape, and wrote "PFI" on his back with green paint. PFI may refer to banned Islamic outfit Popular Front of India, though there has been no official confirmation from the police. source https://www.ndtv.com/kerala-news/pfi-kerala-army-jawan-attacked-by-6-in-kerala-pfi-painted-on-his-back-in-green-4421764

Over one lakh cameras, a real-time traffic monitoring system and a helipad - the new war room at Hyderabad's Integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC) resembles the US Pentagon's military command centre. Telangana Home Minister Mahmood Ali today inaugurated the latest addition to the country's most sophisticated ICCC at Hyderabad's police commissionerate headquarters. The room is equipped with state-of-the-art facilities that can enable all operations to be controlled centrally in the event of a disaster. There is also a helipad atop the building for choppers to take off and land during an emergency. It is equipped with a variety of advanced technologies including the mechanism to oversee a video surveillance system with over one lakh cameras installed across the city. A traffic monitoring system has been established in the war room that can track the movement of vehicles in Hyderabad in real-time A weather forecasting system has been set up that can provide earl...

A surprise search planned by the Anti-Narcotics squad of the Kottayam police at the house of a man suspected to be a drug dealer resulted in a shock for them due to the presence of several violent dogs trained to bite anyone wearing 'khaki' attire. The presence of the dogs hindered the search process on Sunday night and also enabled the accused to escape from the police who were focused on avoiding the attacks of the canines. However, the dogs were subdued and over 17 kilograms of ganja was seized from the site, police said. Speaking to reporters, Kottayam SP K Karthick IPS said it was close to midnight when the search team, also comprising officers from the nearby Gandhinagar police station, arrived at the location. "We did not expect there would be so many dogs here and that they would be violent. So, we faced difficulty initially in carrying out a proper search. Fortunately, none of the officers were injured. "The accused had imparted training to the dogs to b...

One among the nine Vande Bharat services that were flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday, the Tirunelveli-Madurai-Chennai service is the first such train to connect the southern parts with the state capital. The train will run six days a week-- except Tuesday, and will cover the 653-km distance in 7.50 hours, according to Southern Railway. From Tirunelveli, it will leave daily at 6 am, while the train will depart from here at 2.50 pm towards the southern city. The stoppages are Virudhunagar, Madurai, Dindigul, Tiruchirappalli and Villupuram junctions, besides Tambaram, before arriving at Chennai Egmore. The service is expected to give a boost to tourism in the Tirunelveli-Madurai sector and help professionals, including businessmen. The first intra-state Vande Bharat service was flagged off by the Prime Minister in April this year, and it runs between the western industrial city of Coimbatore and Chennai, covering about 500 km in 5.50 hours. Meanwhile, Telangana G...

Isha Gramotsavam, a social initiative by Sadhguru aimed at bringing the spirit of sports and playfulness into the lives of rural people, is all set for a spectacular finale in front of the iconic 112-feet Adiyogi, Isha Yoga Center, Coimbatore on Saturday. Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur and spiritual leader and founder, Isha Foundation, Sadhguru graced the occasion. They were treated to a demonstration of the country's growing rural sporting prowess. The finals of the four major sports competitions - Men's Volleyball Tournament, Women's Throwball Tournaments, and the Kabbadi Tournament for both men and women - were staged in the presence of Sadhguru and the Union minister. Teams selected from the divisional level matches, from the five states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Puducherry competed in the finals. The 15th edition of Isha Gramotsavam saw the participation of over 60,000 players, with over 10,000 rural women, mostly househol...

An 18-year-old lioness died of a heart attack due to old age at the Indira Gandhi Zoological Park, Visakhapatnam (Vizag Zoo), an official said on Sunday. The lioness, Maheswari, died late Saturday night. "The cause of death is severe myocardial infarction (heart attack) due to senility (old age) as per the post-mortem report submitted by the veterinary assistant surgeon," Vizag Zoo curator Nandani Salaria said in a press release. Born in 2006 and brought to the Vizag Zoo from Gujarat's Sakkarbaug Zoo in 2019, Maheshwari has contributed to the cause of conservation and enabled education on Asiatic lions to millions of people, she said. According to Salaria, lions survive for about 16 to 18 years in the wild while Maheswari managed to enter its 19th year of life. (Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.) source https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/18-year-old-lioness-dies-of-heart-attack-in-andhra-pra...

Farmers outfits and pro-Kannada organisations have jointly declared a strike across Bengaluru on Tuesday demanding that the state government does not release water to Tamil Nadu. To raise their demand, a protest march is scheduled at 11 am on Tuesday from Town Hall to Mysore Bank Circle. The protesters disagree with the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA)'s order asking the Karnataka government to release 5,000 cusecs water to neighbouring Tamil Nadu for 15 days. Kuruburu Shanthakumar, state Sugarcane Farmers Association president, has appealed to schools, colleges, IT companies, and the film chamber to grant a day off. He also requested the state government to look into the issue at a special assembly session. On Tuesday, public transportation, shops, banks, offices, restaurants, schools, and colleges are likely to stay closed. However, hospitals, medical services, government offices, supermarkets, as well as police, fire, and other emergency services will continue ...

Days after Janata Dal (Secular) joined hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of the ensuing 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the party's state unit Vice President Syed Shafiulla Saheb has decided to cut his ties with the party.  Shafiulla, in his resignation letter to the JD(S) Karnataka president said that he had opted to stay outside the party for the period during which our state unit of the party had joined with the BJP to form the state government. "I would like to state that I have worked hard and served the party in order to serve the society and the community only because our party believes and was standing on the secular credentials, except when our leader Sri Kumara Swamy had earlier joined hands with the BJP to form the government in the state. I also like to mention that, I had opted to stay outside the party for the period during which our state unit of the party had joined with the BJP to form the state government," Shafiulla Saheb said in the letter.  ...

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Saturday announced that his government would accord full state honours to the funeral of organ donors from the state. A decision to this effect was taken to honour the sacrifices made by those declared brain dead and their family members who come forward to donate the organs thereby saving several lives. "Tamil Nadu is leading the country in organ donation and this has only been made achievable because of those families who come forward to donate the organs of those who have been declared brain dead," the DMK chief said in a social media post. "It has been decided to accord state government honors henceforth during the performance of last rites to those individuals who are declared brain dead and their organs have been donated to others," he added. உடல் உறுப்பு தானத்தின் மூலம் நூற்றுக்கணக்கான நோயாளிகளுக்கு வாழ்வளிக்கும் அரும்பணியில் நாட்டின் முன்னணி மாநிலமாகத் தமிழ்நாடு தொடர்ந்து விளங்கி வருகின்றது. குடும்ப உறுப்பினர்கள...

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will flag off nine Vande Bharat Express trains on Sunday that will help improve connectivity across 11 states. The new trains will be the fastest on the routes and will bring down travel time for passengers. 1. Udaipur – Jaipur Vande Bharat Express This Vande Bharat Express train will boost connectivity between Udaipur and Jaipur. It will be about 30 minutes faster than the fastest train that currently operates along the route. This will be the third Vande Bharat train in Rajasthan. The other two are Jodhpur- Sabarmati and Ajmer-Delhi Cantt Vande Bharat Express. 2. Tirunelveli-Madurai- Chennai Vande Bharat Express The Tirunelveli-Madurai- Chennai Vande Bharat Express train will connect the religious towns of Tirunelveli and Madurai with Chennai and provide faster travel for pilgrims. It is likely to reduce the travel time by over two hours. The train will leave from Tirunelveli Junction and reach Chennai with several stoppages including at Virudhunagar,...

Amid the Cauvery water sharing row with Karnataka, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader TKS Elangovan on Saturday said, Karnataka does not own Cauvery. The DMK spokesperson added that no state can claim a river as its own if it flows from its state. "Karnataka is not the owner of Cauvery. No river which starts from a state, that state cannot claim the river to be its own. Rivers will have to flow, it has to support the lower riparian areas. That is the international understanding, he said while speaking to ANI. "If the river starts and stops within that state, they can take the water. But if it starts from that one area and flows through other states, the water has to be divided," he added. Meanwhile Pro-Kannada outfits and farmer organisations in Karnataka's Mandya observed a 'Bandh' on Saturday to protest against the order of Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) for asking Karnataka government to release 5000 cusecs of water to neighbouring Tamil...

A purported video in which veteran Congress leader A K Antony's wife Elizabeth was seen justifying their elder son's recent entry into the BJP has gone viral on social media platforms, putting the Congress party in a fix in Kerala. In the video, released on the YouTube channel of a Christian meditation centre, an emotional Elizabeth could be seen admitting that she knew about the invitation Anil Antony received from the saffron party much earlier. Claiming that her son got the new opportunity in politics because of the intercessory prayers, she said it had also helped resolve the issues that cropped up in the family due to his unexpected entry into the BJP. She said though both her sons wanted to join politics, the resolution passed by the Congress party in its recent Chintan Shivir against dynasty politics was a setback. She said she prayed intensely for the good future of her son and then she received a call from Anil. "My son turned 39...He called me and said he go...

Former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu has requested the Supreme Court to cancel the high court order for his police custody in an alleged corruption case. The Andhra Pradesh High Court had dismissed Mr Naidu's request for relief and sent him to two-day police custody in the alleged AP Skill Development corruption case. The Andhra Pradesh Police today began questioning Mr Naidu at the central jail in Rajamahendravaram. Mr Naidu was arrested on September 9 for allegedly misappropriating funds from the Skill Development Corporation, leading to an alleged loss of over Rs 300 crore to the state. The state police's crime investigation department (CID) has named Mr Naidu as the "principal conspirator" and "accused number 1" in the alleged multi-crore scam. He was earlier "accused number 37". The police case against the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief has roiled Andhra Pradesh politics - there have been clashes as party workers protest...

After Janata Dal (Secular) formally joined the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) on Friday, Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara said that the Congress is not disturbed by the development. The Karnataka Home Minister said, “Right from the beginning we are saying that we are not disturbed. We had an alliance with JDS last time...We were able to win only 1 seat...” He also said that the alliance would not affect the Congress. "Last time the voters did not like our alliance with the JD(S). I cannot predict the mind of the voters at present. We will definitely retain the share percentage which is 42 per cent in the assembly elections," he further said.  Earlier, the Janata Dal (Secular) of former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda on Friday announced an alliance with the BJP in Karnataka and formally joined the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. JD(S) leader and former Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy made the announcement after mee...

A team of Andhra Pradesh Police's CID officials on Saturday began interrogation of TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu in the Skill Development Corporation scam case on Saturday at the central prison here. On Friday, the ACB Court in Vijayawada granted two days' police custody of the 73-year old Mr Naidu to the CID for further interrogation. The questioning is allowed from 9.30 am to 5 pm on both days (September 23 and 24). The court allowed three deputy superintendents of police (DSPs) from the Economic Offences Wing of the CID, accompanied by six more junior police officers, one professional videographer and two official mediators to participate in the interrogation. The court also permitted the assistance of a team of lawyers for Mr Naidu during the interrogation at reasonable intervals of five minutes after every one hour of questioning. The court directed the CID to permit Naidu's counsel to be present within a visible distance during his custody without interference. ...

Congress leader P Chidambaram on Saturday took a swipe at the BJP and the JD(S) over their alliance and said the SC, ST, OBC, minorities and women of Karnataka must take note of this tie-up between "conservative, regressive and misogynist parties". Ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Janata Dal (Secular) decided to ally with the BJP following a meeting of H D Kumaraswamy with Home Minister Amit Shah and party president JP Nadda. In a post on X, Mr Chidambaram said, "The long-suspected secret is out. The BJP has officially welcomed the JD (S) into the NDA." "The SC, ST, OBC, minorities and women of Karnataka must take note of this alliance between conservative, regressive and misogynist parties that want to preserve the old order," the former Union minister said. The long-suspected secret is out The BJP has officially welcomed the JD (S) into the NDA The SC, ST, OBC, Minorities and women of Karnataka must take note of this alliance between conservati...

Electoral necessities almost always outweigh ideological foundations while forging political alliances. Hence, it's no surprise for former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda's Janata Dal (Secular), which as the name suggests has little ideological affinity to the BJP, to join an alliance with the ruling BJP led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. While the JDS and BJP have been allies in the past - the BS Yediyurappa-led BJP state unit formed a coalition government in Karnataka with Deve Gowda's son HD Kumaraswamy as Chief Minister in 2006 - the entry of the JDS into the NDA now is a very different chapter in the regional party's politics. This is the first time the JDS will form a pre-poll alliance while it is not in power running a coalition government in Karnataka. It has always wielded the "brute" post-poll bargaining power. Whenever Kumaraswamy had forged an alliance, it was to occupy the Chief Minster's post. In 2019, he fought the Lok Sabha polls as a...