Congress eyes Lingayat vote bank in Karnataka with Shettar’s unexpected entry

News Network
April 17, 2023

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Bengaluru, Apr 17: The Congress in Karnataka has got a shot in the arm with senior BJP leader and former Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar switching over to it.

Buoyed by the development, the party has clearly set its eyes on drawing the Lingayat vote bank to its side.

Lingayat vote bank is standing firmly with BJP so far. With the joining of former D.C.M. Laxman Savadi and Shettar, both senior Lingayat leaders from the saffron party, the Congress has already started working towards it. The party is projecting that the exit of Shettar is a setback to the community.

Karnataka Congress President D.K. Shivakumar has announced that following the joining of Shettar, his followers, leaders across the state are joining the party. "I am authorising the district committees to complete the formalities of their joining at the respective places," he said.

Opposition leader Siddaramaiah stated, in BJP, Yediyurappa was the top leader and second to him is Shettar. Yediyurappa was insulted by the BJP. He was thrown out of CM's post. "He (Yediyurappa) wept at the time of his resignation.

After Yediyurappa, Shettar is the Lingayat community leader. Denial of ticket to Shettar is ill conceived. It has threatened his self respect, his community and his followers. "Jagadish Shettar is not confined to the north Karnataka region. He is a state-wide leader. Denial of ticket to a person like him, who does not have any allegations is a big crime by BJP," he said.

The BJP party which was upbeat about its chances after the release of first and second list of candidates is in utter shock and surprise with the unfolding of events. BJP National General Secretary C.T. Ravi, reacting to Shettar's exit stated that though it is a temporary setback for the party, they will face it.

Shettar had also stated that there is an attempt to finish off Lingayat leadership within BJP. Sources in Congress revealed that the party has already started projecting Shettar and Laxman Savadi as Lingayat faces of the party. Till date, Congress did not have similar mass leaders from the Lingayat community.

The Lingayat vote bank had abandoned Congress after late CM Veerendra Patil's unceremonious dethroning in 1990. Under the leadership of Patil, a Lingayat strongman, Congress had won 178 seats out of 224 MLA seats in 1989, which is its largest victory till date.

The grand-old party is seeing the development as a golden opportunity to draw the Lingayat vote bank to its side. BJP insiders maintain that with Yediyurappa retired from electoral politics, the saffron party will face an uphill task to keep the Lingayat vote bank intact, from which it derives its core strength ahead of Assembly polls. 

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News Network
December 2,2025

Mangaluru, Dec 2: Mangaluru International Airport responded to a medical emergency late on Monday night. Air India Express flight IX 522, travelling from Riyadh to Thiruvananthapuram, was diverted to Mangaluru Airport after a passenger in his late 30s experienced a medical emergency on board.

The Airport’s Operations Control Centre received an alert regarding the passenger’s health condition. The airport activated its emergency response protocol, mobilising the airport medical team and coordinating with stakeholders including CISF, immigration, and customs. 

Upon landing, airport medical personnel attended to the passenger, assessed his condition, and arranged to shift him to a local tertiary-care hospital for further treatment. The passenger’s relatives accompanied the passenger, who incidentally received necessary medical care on board, which helped stabilise the situation.

Following the handling of the emergency, the flight departed for Thiruvananthapuram at 2:05 am on Tuesday.

"We appreciate the cooperation of all parties involved, and this incident reaffirms our ongoing commitment to prioritising passenger safety and readiness to respond to unforeseen emergencies with professionalism and care," the Airport spokesperson said. 

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News Network
November 22,2025

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The Israeli regime’s forces have killed two Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip every day since the ceasefire began in early October, UNICEF has warned.

The UN children’s agency said on Friday that Israeli forces continue to attack Palestinians in Gaza even though the agreement was meant to stop the killing.

“Since 11 October, while the ceasefire has been in effect, at least 67 children have been killed in conflict-related incidents in the Gaza Strip. Dozens more have been injured. That is an average of almost two children killed every day since the ceasefire took effect,” UNICEF spokesperson Ricardo Pires said in Geneva, reminding that each number in the statistics represents a child whose life had ended violently.

“These are not statistics,” he said. “Each child had a story, a family, and a future that was stolen from them.”

Data from Palestinian factions, human rights groups, and government bodies recorded since the US-brokered ceasefire deal went into effect on October 10 show that Israeli forces have carried out numerous attacks, each constituting a separate ceasefire violation.

UNICEF teams say they repeatedly continue to witness heart-wrenching scenes of fearful Palestinian children sleeping outdoors with amputated limbs, while others live as orphans in flooded, makeshift shelters.

“I saw this myself in August. There is no safe place for them. The world cannot normalize their suffering,” Pires said, lamenting that the UN could “do a lot more if the aid that is really needed was entering faster.”

The UNICEF spokesperson warned that with the advent of winter, the risks for hundreds of thousands of displaced children will increase.

He warned, “The stakes are incredibly high” for children as winter acts as a threat multiplier, where children have no heating, no insulation, and few blankets. He said respiratory infections rise.

“Too many children have already paid the highest price,” Pires said. “Too many are still paying it, even under a ceasefire. The world promised them it would stop and that we would protect them.”

“Now we must act like it,” the UNICEF spokesperson added.

Since the Israeli regime launched its genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza in October 2023, it has killed nearly 70,000 people in the territory, most of them women and children, and injured over 170,000 more, while reducing most of the structures in the enclave to rubble.

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News Network
December 2,2025

Mangaluru, Dec 2: Mangaluru International Airport responded to a medical emergency late on Monday night. Air India Express flight IX 522, travelling from Riyadh to Thiruvananthapuram, was diverted to Mangaluru Airport after a passenger in his late 30s experienced a medical emergency on board.

The Airport’s Operations Control Centre received an alert regarding the passenger’s health condition. The airport activated its emergency response protocol, mobilising the airport medical team and coordinating with stakeholders including CISF, immigration, and customs. 

Upon landing, airport medical personnel attended to the passenger, assessed his condition, and arranged to shift him to a local tertiary-care hospital for further treatment. The passenger’s relatives accompanied the passenger, who incidentally received necessary medical care on board, which helped stabilise the situation.

Following the handling of the emergency, the flight departed for Thiruvananthapuram at 2:05 am on Tuesday.

"We appreciate the cooperation of all parties involved, and this incident reaffirms our ongoing commitment to prioritising passenger safety and readiness to respond to unforeseen emergencies with professionalism and care," the Airport spokesperson said. 

Comments

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  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
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