Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has hit back at the allegations leveled by Home Minister Amit Shah and challenged him to name the CBI officials involved in pressuring him to frame his party colleague and then Gujarat CM Narendra Modi in a fake encounter case.

Gehlot, while speaking to the media, said that if Delhi Police can ask for the details of the alleged sexual assault victims in Jammu and Kashmir from Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, then the police can do the same and ask for the names of the CBI officers who allegedly pressurized Shah to frame Modi.

Gehlot spoke to the media and slammed the Police for reaching the house of Rahul Gandhi, following the notice, even though the Congress leader had said that he will respond to the notice. Rajasthan CM also asked if Delhi Police will treat Amit Shah’s claims the same way it did to Rahul Gandhi’s claims and question Home Minister.

Rajasthan CM was referring to the questioning done by Delhi police on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi after he claimed that during the Bharat Jodo Yatra, he claimed to have met women who were allegedly still getting sexually assaulted in the Union Territory. Following the claims by the Congress leader and more than a month after the conclusion of Bharat Jodo Yatra, Delhi police served notice to the Congress leader and arrived at his residence to question him on it.

CM Ashok Gehlot’s challenge to Union Home Minister Amit Shah comes after he spoke to the media in a Media conclave and leveled that the CBI had pressured him to frame the then Gujarat CM Narendra Modi in a fake encounter case. At the time, UPA was in power, highlighted the home minister.

Home Minister Amit Shah’s claims came as a counter to the Opposition that has alleged misuse of central agencies against the Opposition Parties for political benefits and dubbed it to be vendetta politics.

The Karnataka High Court on Thursday disqualified JD(S) MLA D C Gowrishankar Swamy for electoral malpractice, however, the Tumakuru Rural constituency legislator’s suspension was kept in suspension for one month to allow Swamy to file an appeal in the Supreme Court.

Swamy was disqualified under Section 101 of the The Representation of the People Act by a single-judge bench of the Karnataka High Court which was delivering a verdict on a petition filed by BJP leader B Suresh Gowda, five years ago, accusing the JD(S) legislator of distributing fake insurance bonds to voters during the 2018 Karnataka Assembly election.

Justice S Sunil Dutt Yadav dictated the orders on Thursday from the Kalaburagi bench of the Karnataka High Court. Justice Yadav had earlier reserved the judgment after completion of arguments on February 17.

Advocate Hemanth Raj, who represented Swamy, sought the suspension of the order as per Section 116(B) of the Act to allow him to file an appeal before the Supreme Court, as elections to the Karnataka Assembly had already been announced.

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Advocate Raj told the court that Swamy was planning to contest the upcoming polls and hence must be given time for an appeal. Gowda’s counsel opposed the request, but was turned down by the High Court, who suspended Swamy’s suspension, allowing the lawmaker time to file an appeal in the Supreme Court.

The other accused in the case—Balanetraiah, Arehalli Manjunath, Krishnegowda, Renukamma and Sunanda—were also convicted of election malpractices, however, the suspension of the order was only in respect of Swamy and not the other accused.

In his petition, BJP’s B Suresh Gowda, had claimed that Swamy and his accomplices violated Section 123 of The Representation People Act by allegedly distributed fake insurance bonds to 32,000 adults and 16,000 minors, after the Model Code of Conduct came into force on March 27, 2018.

Gowda, who lost the last election to Swamy, had approached the high court with his plea in July 2018.

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BJP stalwart and former Karnataka chief Minister BS Yediyurappa’s son is likely to contest against veteran Congress leader Siddaramaiah from the Varuna seat in Mysuru in upcoming elections in the state.

Speaking at an emergency presser in Bengaluru, held day after the Election Commission announced elections in Karnataka will be held on May 10,  BS Yediyurappa—the spearhead of BJP’s poll campaign in Karnataka—revealed that high-level discussions by the saffron party’s top brass are being held to decide if his son BY Vijayendra, will be fielded from Varuna—a seat currently represented by former chief minister and Congress veteran Siddaramaiah’s son Yathindra.

Yediyurappa, who is currently in the eye of the storm over the internal reservation issue among Scheduled Castes (SC) stood by the BJP regime’s decision to implement the AJ Sadashiva panel commission’s recommendations, saying that the reservation quota for Lingayats and other communities was justified and no injustice has been done to Muslims either as they will now get reservation in the Economically Weaker Sections quota.

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Yediyurappa also claimed that the Congress will not get more than 70 seats in the 224-seat Karnataka assembly.

On Monday, hundreds of protesters belonging to the Banjara community attacked the home and office of BS Yediyurappa in Shivamogga area of the state during a massive demonstration against a recent reservation decree by the Basavaraj Bommai government in the state.

Karnataka’s Basavaraj Bommai-led BJP regime has decided to implement the AJ Sadashiva panel commission report on internal reservation among SC’s. Based on the commission’s report, the Bommai government has recommended to the Centre a new breakup of the reservation for Scheduled Castes in education and jobs.

The recommendations suggest that out of the 17 percent reservation for the SC community, 6 percent be earmarked for Scheduled Castes (left), 5.5 percent for Scheduled Castes (right), 4.5 percent for “touchables” and one percent to others.

The Banjara community has demanded the Karnataka government to withdraw the proposed amendments as they would stand to lose out if the recommendations are implemented.

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