Here are the big stories from Karnataka today

1. Priyank Kharge says he received threat calls for seeking ban on RSS activities on government premises

Karnataka’s IT-BT and Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Priyank Kharge has said that for the past two days he has been “receiving calls filled with threats, intimidation, and filthiest abuse” directed at him and his family. The harassment, he alleged, followed his letter to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah seeking a ban on Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) activities on the premises of government properties.

Taking to X on October 14, 2025, he said, “For the past two days, my phone hasn’t stopped ringing. Calls filled with threats, intimidation and the filthiest abuse directed at me and my family, simply because I dared to question and restrain RSS activities in government schools, colleges and public institutions. But I’m neither shaken nor surprised. When the RSS didn’t spare Mahatma Gandhi or Babasaheb Ambedkar, why would they spare me?”

2. Unions allege discrepancy in TCS employee numbers, hold protest in Bengaluru

Following the second quarter results of Tata Consultancy Services that showed a significant reduction in the number of its employees, multiple unions have come out alleging ‘illegal retrenchment’ practices by the company and lack of transparency. The IT & ITES Democratic Employees’ Association (IIDEA) held a demonstration in front of TCS’s campus at Whitefield in Bengaluru, protesting mass layoffs by the company. 

The protesters registered their objection to the layoffs, which reportedly target mid- and senior-level professionals, and demanded that the company immediately halt illegal retrenchments. They also termed TCS’s new deployment policy, which requires employees to maintain 225 billable days annually, ‘exploitative’.

3. Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy slams Mohandas Pai and Tejasvi Surya’s call to privatise BMTC

Karnataka Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy has criticised calls by Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya and former Infosys CFO T.V. Mohandas Pai to end the monopoly of BMTC on city bus services. The Minister said that public transport is a welfare service and must remain under government control to serve the interests of the common people rather than profit-driven private operators.

Responding to remarks made during a symposium organised by MoveInSync, where Mr. Surya, Mr. Pai, and Yulu co-founder R.K. Misra suggested privatisation of city bus services, Mr. Reddy held a press conference on October 14 and said those proposing such ideas ‘have never travelled by public transport’ and ‘lack basic understanding of how it functions’.

4. Minister gets into crowd management as more than 6.4 lakh persons visit Hasanamba temple since October 10

More than 6.4 lakh persons have visited the Hasanamba temple in Hassan in Karnataka since October 10, according to Revenue Minister Krishna Byregowda, who is also the minister in-charge of the district. Hundreds of people from different parts of Karnataka and outside have been visiting the temple, opened for devotees only during the festival, to have a darshan of the deity.

“More than 2.29 lakh devotees visited the temple in the 24 hours that ended at 5 a.m. on October 14,” the Minister announced. “We are happy to welcome so many common people to the temple. We are happy to see so many farmers and common working families,” he said. The temple will be closed on October 23.

5. Bengaluru police bust cybercrime extortion racket where BPO employees threatened Americans, Canadians

HSR Layout police busted a ‘reverse digital arrest’ racket after raiding a BPO company in Bengaluru where 16 trained staff allegedly threatened citizens of US and Canada with drug and money laundering cases before taking money from them on the pretext of helping them. The BPO had been operating for over one year.

Bengaluru Police Commissioner Seemant Kumar Singh said that the accused were posing as U.S. enforcement agency officials. The accused, under the pretext of ‘helping’ their victims, would demand money online to ‘settle’ the matter, illegally obtaining large sums of money through cyber crime.