Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan is new President of UAE

Kalaburgi, Mar 7: Former Karnataka chief minister B S Yediyurappa on Tuesday said that four to six BJP MLAs will not get the party ticket in the Assembly elections in the State. 

Addressing a press conference before Vijay Sankalp Yathra here, he said that the rest of the MLAs will enter the poll field. Responding to a question on the chief ministerial candidate, he said that the legislative party meeting will decide on it after obtaining a clear majority in the election.

Expressing confidence that the party will retain power in the State by winning at least 140 seats, he said that the first list of candidates will be announced soon after a discussion with the BJP top brass leaders. 

Reacting to the Opposition charges that the absence of leadership in State BJP has prompted the ruling party to invite national leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, he questioned, ‘who is the leader of Congress, and why Rahul Gandhi is not coming for campaigning in Karnataka’.

Pointing out that Rahul Gandhi is talking very lightly about India in foreign countries, he said that the Congress leader should tender an apology for his remarks. 

He also lambasted Opposition leader Siddaramaiah and KPCC president D K Shivakumar. “Congress leaders in the State are behaving as if they are CM now itself -- before the Assembly polls. It is only a beggar’s dream,” he added.

Former chief minister Jagadish Shettar, Union Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers Bhagwanth Khuba, and KKRDB chairman Dattatreya Patil Revoor were present at the press conference.

Bengaluru, Mar 8: The Karnataka unit of the Congress has decided to call off the two-hour-long bandh called on March 9 as part of its fight against alleged Bharatiya Janata Party corruption in the wake of the state's second-year Pre-University (Class 12) and other school and college exams.

The Congress has decided to cancel tomorrow's symbolic Karnataka bandh due to pressure from students and parents following school and college examinations, including the second PUC examination, said the party's state unit President D K Shivakumar, in its statement.

He said that this decision was made after consulting with senior Congress leaders. The Congress had decided to hold a symbolic bandh from 9:00 am to 11:00 am on March 9 to protest the BJP government's alleged rampant corruption and demand the Chief Minister's resignation.

Congress leader Shivakumar says, "However, students and parents have expressed concern that bandh will cause them inconvenience as there are exams. Their well-being is our top priority. Therefore, to respect their feelings, we have decided to withdraw the bandh call."

The Congress had called for a two-hour bandh on Thursday to fight against alleged BJP corruption, following the Lokayukta's recovery of over Rs 8 crore cash from its MLA Madal Virupakshappa's son Prashanth Kumar M V in an apparent bribery case.

The party had said that during the bandh, schools, colleges, transportation, and health services would not be disrupted while appealing to all traders and shopkeepers to cooperate by closing their shops and establishments for two hours.

Mangaluru, May 12: The Air India Express (AIE) has reduced the frequency of flights between Kuwait and Mangaluru in its summer schedule much to the disappointment of the tens of thousands of expatriates from the coastal belt of Karnataka working in the oil rich gulf nation.

The AIE used to operate thrice a week between Kuwait and Mangaluru. In January, 2023, the frequency was reduced two days a week. However, the summer schedule shows that it will operate only one flight a week, which will be every Sunday.

According to estimates, there are no less than fifty thousand non-resident Indians from two coastal districts of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi working in Kuwait.  Data from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation shows that on an average every year close to 20,000 passengers fly between Mangaluru and Kuwait sector.

Thanks to the reduction in frequency of direct flight service, a large number of expatriates from Mangaluru region now have reach home after flying to Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kannur or Goa airport. This has also resulted in additional travel time and extra expense for many.