Karnataka: 17-yr-old girl stabs fiance on pretext of making reels

Mangaluru, May 25: Major tragedy was averted at the Mangaluru International Airport in Karnataka’s Dakshina Kannada district when a Dubai-bound Indigo flight suffered a bird hit while taking off on Thursday.

According to sources at the airport, the incident happened at 8.30 a.m. and caused panic among the passengers. The flight was going from Mangaluru to Dubai.

One of the wings got hit by a bird when the flight had crossed the taxiway and was all set to take off. The pilot immediately informed the Air Traffic Control (ATC) about the incident and cancelled the take off, sources said.

The authorities made alternate arrangements for the passengers to fly to Dubai. The flight is being inspected by the technicians, according to sources.

More details are yet to emerge regarding the incident.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi Saturday, reacting to the party’s victory in Karnataka Assembly elections, said that he did not fight a divisive battle, and that “the strength of crony-capitalism was defeated by the power of poor.”

Addressing a press conference in party headquarters in New Delhi, Gandhi said, “the markets of hatred have closed down, and shops of love have opened in Karnataka.”

The BJP lost its only bastion in the south today, with Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai conceding defeat shortly after the Congress leads moved past 130 seats. The BJP is ahead on 60-plus seats and HD Kumaraswamy's JD(S) in over 20 seats.

Conceding defeat, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai told reporters: "In spite of a lot of efforts put in by the Prime Minister and the BJP workers, we have not been able to make the mark. Once the full results come, we will do a detailed analysis... We take this result in our stride to come back in Lok Sabha elections."

In the 2018 elections, the BJP had won 104 seats, the Congress 80 and the JDS 37 in Karnataka. The BJP's BS Yediyurappa formed government but resigned before a majority test. Then, the Congress and the JDS formed a coalition government. The coalition government lasted 14 months after which 16 MLAs switched to the BJP, toppling the government and bringing the BJP back in power.

The Karnataka results is expected to boost the Congress ahead of next year's general elections and the assembly polls in three states later this year. The party is hoping to make a comeback in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. It is also hoping to win back Madhya Pradesh, where its government crashed in 2020 with the defection of Jyotiraditya Scindia and his loyalists.

The results will be crucial for the BJP in terms of next year's national elections. The state accounts for 28 Lok Sabha seats. While the BJP vote share in the assembly polls has not dropped in comparison to 2018, the elections indicate that the party has not been able to make its much-needed breakthrough into the Vokkaliga and the Scheduled Castes and Tribes votes.

The Congress gains have hugely cheered the opposition. "The message from Karnataka is that the 'end' of BJP's negative, communal, corrupt, rich-oriented, anti-women-youth, social-divisive, false propaganda, individualistic politics has begun," tweeted Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav.

India is likely to receive normal monsoon rains in 2023 despite the likely emergence of the El Nino weather phenomenon, India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on 26 May.

“Southwest monsoon season from June to September over the country as a whole is most likely to be normal i.e. 96 to 104 percent of Long period average (LPA)."

As per IMD, “Once the monsoon will get established strong, we are expecting the monsoon to arrive in Kerala around 4th June. Before 1st June, we are not expecting monsoon to arrive."

Hence, the coastal region of Karnataka including Mangaluru is expected to receive monsoon rains by June 7

As per regions, IMD has predicted below normal rainfall in Northwest India i.e. less than 92 percent of LPA whereas normal rainfall has been predicted in North east India, Central India, South Peninsular India.

It also added that Monsoon core zone which consist of most of the rainfed agriculture areas in the country will most likely see normal monsoon i.e. 94-106 percent of LPA.

Speaking of June rainfall predictions, IMD said that average rainfall over the country in this month is most likely to be below normal. It added that some areas of south peninsular India, northwest India, extreme north India and some isolated of northeast India could likely see above normal rainfall.

The weather office further added that there is no cyclone probability in the Arabian sea for next week. 

"If rainfall distribution is almost similar everywhere, then it will be an ideal situation. There won't be any problem. If we get equal distribution everywhere, there won't be much impact on agriculture. In northwest India, as of now, below-normal rainfall will be there," it said.