'BJP on drought study to cover up feud'

May 20, 2017

Bengaluru, May 20: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday mocked the ongoing drought tour of the state BJP leaders, saying “they are going round the state holding umbrellas.”

siddaramaiah

“BJP leaders have begun drought study tour at a time when the monsoon is about to begin. They should have done it much before. Maybe it was too hot for them to tour all these days... They are now going around the state holding umbrellas,” he said sardonically during an interaction with mediapersons in Bengaluru.

BJP leaders have taken up the drought tour in order to “cover up their infighting”. They do not have any concern for the farming community. They should have gone to Delhi and urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to waive farm loans if they had any concern for the farmers, he added.

He pooh-poohed the BJP’s Mission 150 (target to win 150 seats in the next Assembly elections). “Where is Mission 150? Is it in their pocket?... They (BJP leaders) are under an illusion of coming to power. But people of the state will take an appropriate decision,” he added.

Siddaramaiah accused the Modi government of failing to fulfil promises the BJP had made before coming to power at the Centre, and patted his own back for what is said ‘walking the talk.’ He strongly denied charges that he was pro-Ahinda (Kannada acronym for minorities, backward classes and Dalits) and anti-Jilebi (Kannada acronym for Vokkaligas, Lingayats and Brahmins).

“I may talk more in favour of Ahinda, but that does not mean that I am against the poor in other communities. Whether it is Anna Bhagya or Ksheera Bhagya or interest-free farm loans, the poor across all the communities are benefiting from the government schemes. My government is for social justice and for providing opportunities to the oppressed classes,” he stated.

Siddaramaiah claimed that there is no anti-incumbency feeling among people on his government despite it being in power for four years. People are not against the government. They have complete faith in my government. The recent byelections from Nanjangud and Gundlupet Assembly constituencies have proved it, he added.

Siddaramaiah claimed that none of the state Congress leaders brought him to the party, hitting back at his friend-turned-foe and former MP A H Vishwanath.

“I knew Ahmed Patel (political secretary to the Congress president Sonia Gandhi). He directly took me to Madam (Sonia Gandhi)... None of the state Congress leaders brought me to the party,” he added.

He refuted former external affairs minister S M Krishna’s claim that he had introduced Siddaramaiah to Sonia.

The chief minister instead claimed that he had already met the Congress president before meeting Krishna who was the then Maharashtra Governor.

He also refused to comment on Vishwanath’s move to join the JD(S). He admitted that there is intense competition among the leaders for the post of chief minister if the Congress returns to power in the next polls. Siddaramaiah reiterated that he will lead the party in the 2018 Assembly elections and said that the Congress legislature party and the party high command will pick the leader after the elections.

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News Network
March 19,2024

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Mangaluru: The Mangalore International Airport (MIA) will connect to a new domestic destination with the introduction of a non-stop flight to Tiruchirappalli International Airport in Tamil Nadu. 

The non-stop service, once-a-week, will operate on Wednesday (from TIA) and Thursday (from MIA), starting April 3. Air India Express will operate the flight.

The flight is expected to help those taking up a pilgrimage to Vailankani shrine.

Sources from the AIE said that the airline carrier decided to fly non-stop between the two southern Indian cities as a flight to Jeddah, which will start from April 3, arrives from Tiruchirappalli International Airport. 

“It is a ferry or positional flight from TIA to MIA. Instead of flying empty, the management has decided to run it as a commercial flight. This will help both passengers and the airline. The airline will deploy Boeing 737-800 aircraft with a 186-seater all-economy configuration on this route. 

The same flight, after landing in MIA, will further fly to Jeddah,” a source said. 

The flight IX 1498 will depart every Thursday at 5am from MIA to TIA. The TIA-MIA flight IX 1499 departs at 12.50pm. It is a one-hour nonstop flight. The same flights will also operate nonstop between Jeddah and MIA. 

The non-stop flight IX 499 will depart MIA at 2.50pm and reach King Abdulaziz International Airport, Jeddah at 6.25pm. The IX498, will depart from Jeddah at 7.25pm and reach MIA early at 3.40am.

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News Network
March 17,2024

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Bengaluru: The Vokkaliga heartland of the old Mysuru region consisting of several southern districts will be the testing ground for the recently forged BJP-JD(S) alliance in Karnataka in the Lok Sabha polls.

The ruling Congress will now look to consolidate its gains that it made in the assembly elections in May last year when it made inroads into the strongholds of the regional party headed by former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda in these districts.

In the 2019 Pariamentary elections, the Congress and JD(S) fought together but secured only one seat each in the state. The BJP bagged 25 out of the total 28 Lok Sabha seats.

The Congress and JD(S) win, in fact, came in the old Mysuru region -- Bangalore Rural and Hassan, respectively, while Mandya seat went to an independent backed by the BJP.

This time, the JD(S) has an alliance with BJP. According to sources, the JD(S) is likely to be alloted Hassan, Mandya and Kolar seats in the region, from where Deve Gowda's party draws its strength from in Karnataka.

The JD(S) is now looking to bounce back after the drubbing it received in the May assembly polls.

The Congress and JD(S) are considered to be traditional rivals in the region, where the BJP has also been improving its vote-share.

The BJP-JD(S) alliance hopes to counter the Congress' surge in the region, determined to consolidate Vokkaliga votes in their favour and banking on the Modi charisma. Both parties also hope to gain from each other with this alliance.

The Congress is hoping to further its prospects and continue its dominance in the region, with the help of its strong local leadership and riding on its five guarantee schemes.

Both Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Congress state President D K Shivakumar, who is also the Deputy Chief Minister come from this region, and so does JD(S) patriarch Deve Gowda and his son H D Kumaraswamy, a former CM and that party's state President.

According to a political analyst, 'coordination among local leaders and transfer of votes between the parties are going to be key for the BJP-JD(S) alliance to click.' Lack of trust between sizeable workers and leaders of both parties on the ground had proved to be counterproductive for Congress and JD(S) combine in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, resulting in their rout and helping the BJP.

Both Congress and BJP have announced candidates for some seats in the region for the 2024 polls.

The Congress has re-nominated D K Suresh, brother of Shivakumar, from Bangalore Rural.

Interestingly, the BJP has fielded the scion of the erstwhile Mysuru royal family Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar from Mysore and noted cardiac surgeon and Deve Gowda's son-in-law, Dr C N Manjunath, from Bangalore Rural.

In Karnataka, the Lok Sabha elections will be held in two phases on April 26 and May 7.

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News Network
March 27,2024

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Gokarna (Uttara Kannada): Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Wednesday said the Congress will decide about making him the Chief Minister in future, bringing to the fore again the issue of leadership change.

There was stiff competition between Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar for the Chief Minister's post after the Assembly election results in May last year, and the Congress had managed to convince the latter and made him the Deputy Chief Minister.

There were some reports at the time that a compromise had been reached based on a "rotational Chief Minister formula," according to which Shivakumar will become CM after two-and-half years but they have not been officially confirmed by the party.

During a temple visit here, a priest prayed that God's blessings may be showered on Shivakumar, and he became the Chief Minister.

Speaking to reporters here in Uttara Kannada district, Shivakumar, who has in the past made no secret of his ambition to become Chief Minister, amid speculations of change in guard mid-way of the Assembly term, responded to talk in some political circles about the leadership issue.

"What's wrong if a priest expresses his desire before God while praying? The priest has expressed his desire. Now Siddaramaiah is the Chief Minister, I'm working as Deputy Chief Minister under him, also as party's state President. People speak about it and desiring it (Shivakumar should become CM) is a different matter, it will be decided by our party," Shivakumar said.

"Now we are all working under the leadership of Siddaramaiah, and our desire is that the state should progress further under his leadership," he said.

"There will be people including supporters and priests, who pray for us, they will express their opinion. Can we stop them from doing it? At the temple it is between God and his disciple, they have expressed their feelings to God," Shivakumar added. 

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