Bengaluru:

A Bengaluru court has issued a non-bailable warrant against BJP MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal for failing to appear before it in connection with a case registered against him for his alleged remarks against Karnataka Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao’s wife.

The case stems from Basanagouda Patil Yatnal’s alleged comments on Tabassum Rao, in which he reportedly suggested there was “half Pakistan” in Dinesh Gundu Rao’s family.

In response, Tabassum Rao filed a petition against Basanagouda Patil Yatnal and lodged a complaint with the Karnataka State Women’s Commission against the BJP’s social media cell, accusing them of making derogatory remarks about her.

Tabassum Rao, who is not involved in politics, expressed her frustration over being targeted in political disputes.

She emphasised the importance of respecting women and denounced the communal undertones of the remarks, stating that political disagreements should not involve personal attacks on family members.

The court has scheduled the next hearing for October 28.

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Bengaluru:

A Bajrang Dal leader and activist filed a complaint on Friday against Karnataka Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao for his controversial remarks on Veer Savarkar.

Tejas Gowda, the complainant, stated that the health minister should be more cautious with his language in public.

“He holds a responsible position as the health minister, and whenever he addresses the media or speaks in public, he should be careful. His recent statement about Veer Savarkar was inappropriate. He claimed that Savarkar, despite being a Brahmin, consumed beef. I would like to ask Dinesh Gundu Rao: Do you have any proof that Savarkar consumed beef? Or, I ask directly, did Veer Savarkar appear in your dreams and admit it?” he said.

Mr Gowda further challenged the minister to an open discussion on Savarkar. “I challenge Gundu Rao to set a date, place, and time for a public discussion on this matter. We are ready to discuss this openly instead of allowing such false allegations and rumours about Savarkar to spread. I urge you to focus on your portfolio and the health of the people,” he added.

On October 2, during the launch of the Kannada version of Gandhi’s Assassin: The Making of Nathuram Godse and His Idea of India, Dinesh Gundu Rao said, “Savarkar was not opposed to cow slaughter. He was a Chitpavan Brahmin but a non-vegetarian. In that sense, he was a modernist. While his thinking was fundamentalist in some ways, he was also modern. Some even say he ate beef, but certainly, as a Brahmin, he consumed meat and openly advocated for it.”

He continued, “Gandhi was a vegetarian and deeply believed in Hinduism, but his actions were different. He was a democratic person… Jinnah was a devout Islamist who drank wine and, according to some, ate pork. Yet, he became a Muslim icon. He wasn’t a fundamentalist, but Savarkar was. Jinnah compromised his philosophy for political power, while Savarkar remained a fundamentalist.”

The minister also spoke about Nathuram Godse. Speaking to ANI, he said, “Someone like Godse, who assassinated Gandhi, was a fundamentalist because he believed he was doing the right thing. This is the danger of fundamentalism–even when committing heinous crimes, you believe you are justified. That is the issue.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Bengaluru:

Karnataka Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao said on Thursday that the Centre had stocks of rice available but with a political motive they have stopped it across the country, not only for Karnataka in order to scuttle state’s efforts to implement the Anna Bhagya scheme.

On July 10, the Karnataka government launched the Anna Bhagya scheme for only those belonging to Below Poverty Line (BPL). Under this scheme, the state government distributes money instead of rice. Under this scheme, an amount of Rs 170 is given to beneficiaries through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) in return for an additional 5 kg of rice.

“Today when the requirement was there and when they (Central Government) had stocks available they could have given. It was unfortunate…It was done with a political motive…Because of that they now have stopped it across the country, not only for Karnataka…It is done intentionally to scuttle our efforts to implement the ‘Anna Bhagya’ scheme,” said Dinesh Gundu Rao.

Earlier, over the same issue Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday had accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led central government of being anti-poor and inhumane.

The statement was made by the Karnataka CM at an event that was held at Madhugiri in Tumakuru district to celebrate the completion of 10 years of the ‘Ksheera Bhagya’ scheme, which offers milk to government schoolchildren every day.

Siddaramaiah said the ruling party denied rice to the people of Karnataka. He said that when he became the chief minister of the state, he had written to the Food Corporation of India (FCI) to supply rice for the Anna Bhagya scheme.

The FCI had assured that it would provide rice, but the centre denied it, he said. “We trusted them, but the centre denied us rice. Is the BJP pro-poor? They are not. We did not ask for rice for free. We were ready to pay for it. We were ready to pay 36 rupees (per kg) for the rice. When we asked for rice, they agreed and then backtracked. All of you must decide how despicable they are. They are anti-poor. They are inhumane,” he said.

“Before the election, when I was the CM in my previous government, I was giving you more than 5 kg of rice, but the BJP had reduced free rice to just 5 kg. We wrote to the Food Corporation of India to purchase rice from them. They replied to us, saying they had plenty of rice to sell. They assured us that they were ready to provide the rice. But the BJP denied it,” he added.  

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)