Siddhu (Vidyut Jammwal) from Mumbai loves doing stunts. He aspires to go to an extreme sports tournament which is held in Europe called Maidaan. His brother Nihal (Ankit Mohan), who attended the same tournament, got killed there but Siddhu doesn’t want to go there for revenge. In his mind, his brother, who was an extreme sports enthusiast, knew the risks associated with the tournament. It’s only when he learns the truth about his brother’s death that he totally cracks and starts hunting those who had wronged him. 

In a setback for the Congress-led government in Karnataka, a bill that mandated a 10 per cent tax on the income of temples that have revenues of more than Rs 1 crore was defeated in the state legislative council late this evening. This comes two days after the bill was passed in the state assembly.

The bill sparked a huge controversy in Karnataka with the opposition BJP accusing the Congress of implementing ‘Anti-Hindu’ policies.

The National Democratic Alliance led by the BJP has more numbers than the ruling government in the legislative council or Upper House in Karnataka. The Congress has 30 MLCs, BJP has 35, eight MLCs are from the JD(S) and there is one independent candidate. One seat is vacant in the council.

The Karnataka government passed ‘Karnataka Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowment Amendment Bill 2024’ that mandates the state to collect 10 per cent tax from temples that have revenues exceeding Rs 1 crore and 5 pe rcent from those with revenues ranging between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 1 crore.

After flak regarding the government’s amendments to the bill, state ministers Ramalinga Reddy and Dinesh Gundu Rao defended the move and criticised the BJP for its opposition to it.

Minister for Transport, Ramalinga Reddy alleging that BJP is “anti-Hindu” claimed that the party which was in power in 2011 had made the amendments to the bill.

“We are not anti-Hindu. Actually, the BJP is anti-Hindu. This Act came into existence in 2003. In 2011, they made some amendments. At that time, up to Rs 5 lakh, there were about 34,000 temples – they did not give any money for Dharmika Parishad. From Rs 5 Lakhs to Rs 10 Lakhs, there are about 193 ‘B grade’ temples – they have to give 5 per cent. More than Rs 10 Lakhs, there are about 205 temples – they have to give 10 per cent. They approved this amendment in 2011 in the Assembly. Who is anti-Hindu? BJP,” he said.

Minister for Health Dinesh Gundu Rao said that the BJP should realise the bill is for the benefit of the temples, alleging that when the government is trying to help smaller temples, the BJP is trying to mislead.

After the bill was cleared in the lower house of the state, former Chief Minister and BJP veteran BS Yediyurappa questioned why only Hindu temples are being scrutinized and not the incomes of other religions.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said that the allegations regarding the amendments to the bill “appear to be misrepresented”, “aiming only at misleading the public” and “polarizing people along communal lines for political leverage.”

Aam Aadmi Party leader Dilip Pandey has alleged that pressure is being put on his party and on Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal to walk out of the INDIA bloc.

Mr Pandey also claimed that after the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the Bharatiya Janata Party government is trying to put Mr Kejriwal behind bars through the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

However, BJP has denied these allegations, stating that AAP is playing ‘victimhood’.

AAP leader Dilip Pandey said that the party is not afraid and will fight democratically.

“BJP is not able to get Kejriwal arrested from the ED so now they are trying to put Arvind Kejriwal behind bars through CBI. Until BJP felt that an alliance between AAP and Congress would not be possible, they went into waiting mode. As the alliance took a concrete shape, the BJP started attacking AAP. Even if they (BJP) are using ED and CBI as their political frontal organisations, AAP will not be afraid of them. We will democratically face them,” he said.

“BJP is so scared of INDIA bloc that now CBI pressure is being put on us so that we come out of the alliance,” he alleged.

BJP leader Shehzad Poonawalla said that the guarantee of Chinese products are more than the statements given by the Aam Aadmi Party.

“The allegations made by AAP are less credible than the things we get in the ‘chor bazaar’. The guarantee of Chinese products is more than the statement of Aam Aadmi Party. This is because whenever they made allegations be it on Arun Jaitley or Nitin Gadkari, they had to apologise. First they alleged that BJP wants to break their MLAs, till date no proof of this has come. When the police reached them, they ran away from there. They have left Anna Hazare and have joined Lalu and Sonia Gandhi whom they cursed for corruption. He (Arvind Kejriwal) knows that he won’t get any relaxation in the liquor scam and thus he is playing victimhood,” he said.

Meanwhile, Delhi Minister and Aam Aadmi Party leader Saurabh Bharadwaj on Friday claimed that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will be arrested in the next 2-3 days.

Mr Bharadwaj claims that people from the BJP have been telling them that if AAP forms a multi state alliance with Congress, Arvind Kejriwal will be jailed and that there is only one way to keep Mr Kejriwal safe, and that is not to form any alliance with Congress.

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