The Congress expressed its 'whole-hearted' support to the 'Bharat bandh' called by farmer unions against the new agri-marketing laws and announced that it will hold protests that day at all district and state headquarters in solidarity with the demands of the farmers. TRS president and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said the party rank and file would actively participate in the bandh to ensure it was a success.
Thursday's Opposition-sponsored bandh did not bring Tamil Nadu to a standstill.
A joint forum of central trade unions has given a call for a nationwide strike on March 28 and 29 to protest against the government policies affecting workers, farmers, and people.
Rail and road blockade, demonstrations, and impromptu rallies by the Opposition marked the shutdown in the state affecting normal life to some extent.
The Left Front and the Bharatiya Janata Party have joined hands to call for a nationwide 12-hour strike on Monday to protest the astronomical rise in prices of essential commodities and fuel.
The Shiv Sena has spurned Congress' request to participate in the bandh.
Normal life was hit in National Democratic Alliance and Left-ruled states on Monday as rail, air and bus services were disrupted during a bandh called against fuel price hike
With almost all opposition parties and several trade unions backing the 'Bharat Bandh' and many announcing parallel protests in support of the farmers, the Centre has issued an advisory directing all the states and Union Territories to tighten security and ensure COVID guidelines are followed.
Attendance in commercial organisations is very thin.
Business establishments and markets remained closed as BJP, Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad activists took to the streets shouting anti-Congress slogans and burning effigies Sonia Gandhi.
Big players like Wal-Mart will kill the Indian retail sector," Prakash Javadekar, member of BJP in Rajya Sabha said.
Supporters of former Karnataka minister G Janardhana Reddy have called for Bellary district bandh on Tuesday to protest his arrest under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
'What has taken the government so long to understand what the people of this country are going through?'
10 central trade unions have called a nationwide shutdown against 'anti-worker policies' of the central government. Apart from being successful in Bengal, Kerala and NE states, the bandh has also got support from Cong leader Rahul Gandhi and Shiv Sena in Maharashtra.
Police are probing various angles, including the assailants coming from neighbouring Kerala.
Demonstrations and attempts to block roads by burning tires were reported from Ramanagara, Chennapattana and few neighbouring towns, where a bandh has been called by Shivakumar's supporters.
The bandh call given by the Sri Ram Sene in Karnataka has received mixed response so far, with parts of the state bearing the brunt of the strike.
The protests, which erupted after the Supreme Court refused to interfere with orders of the Cauvery Water Management Authority and the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee directing the state to release 5,000 cusecs of water to neighbouring Tamil Nadu, have intensified.
Tipu was a ruler of the erstwhile kingdom of Mysore and considered an implacable enemy of the British East India Company.
If the Cauvery water-sharing dispute between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu -- dating back to 1892 between the erstwhile Madras Presidency under the British Raj and the princely Mysore state -- has exploded again into a war, the discord between Karnataka and Goa over dividing the water of the Mahadayi river simmers under the surface.
The apex court directed the two states to ensure there is no violence, agitation, destruction and damage to properties following its order on Cauvery water sharing and asked them to maintain peace, calm and dignity for law.
The Karnataka police have arrested six members of the youth wing of the Sri Ram Sene in connection with the hoisting of a Pakistani flag at the Sindgi town in Bijapur.
"Despite severe hardships faced by the government of Karnataka, the state will release water as directed by the Supreme Court," Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said.
The resignation letter states he is resigning as MLA of Mandya constituency, without assigning any reason.
Siddaramaiah seems overwhelmed by problems coming at him from every direction, reports Aditi Phadnis.
Farmers and pro-Kannada outfit activists protested in various parts of Karnataka against the Supreme Court direction to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu.
Siddaramaiah added that all efforts would be made to provide drinking water to Bengaluru and other places as also for crops.
Security was beefed up on Monday a day after a row broke out over the removal of a saffron Hanuman flag from Keragodu village in Mandya, with protests demanding its restoration and the incident sparking a political confrontation between the Congress government and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party-Janata Dal (Secular).
Defying prohibitory orders, protests were held in Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and several other cities. Protesters, mostly students and activists, were detained on a large scale in national capital and other places.
Initially, banners were placed during the annual Kaup Marigudi festival in Udupi district, stating that non-Hindu vendors and traders should not be allowed entry.
Mallikarjun Kharge, meanwhile, came to the defence of his son, saying he never made those comments.
The Maari Gudi temple management at Kapu town in Udupi district of coastal Karnataka has decided not to allow 'people from other faith' to do business on its land during the annual temple festival on the request of certain pro-Hindu organisations.
The six Muslim girl students of the Government Pre University Girls College in the coastal town of Udupi did not turn up for classes on Wednesday, a day after their petition seeking permission to wear hijab inside classrooms was dismissed by the Karnataka high court.
Elaborate security arrangements have been made in districts like Kodagu and Chitradurga, coastal regions among others, where local communities are opposed to the celebrations.
Suspected pro-Tamil protesters attacked and damaged a hotel run by a native of Karnataka in Chennai.
Thousands of police personnel have been deployed across the state to maintain law and order.
Addressing a party rally in Mysuru, Shah accused the Congress of behaving like as it did during the Emergency.
In Bihar, where a bandh had been called, a railway station and a police vehicle were torched, an ambulance attacked and security personnel injured in stone-pelting incidents on the fourth consecutive day of the agitation, while protesters vandalised Ludhiana railway station in Punjab and blocked roads and rail tracks in West Bengal, Haryana, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh.
Maintaining that the situation is peaceful, police said stringent action would be taken against miscreants or vandals.
