I’m a Congressman and don’t believe in caste politics: Shivakumar

News Network
October 17, 2020
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DKS

Bengaluru, Oct 17: Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee President D.K. Shivakumar said on Friday that he would always be looked upon as a Congressman, and not a caste leader.

Speaking to reporters here, Shivakumar said that he is a Vokkaliga because he is an agriculturist and was born to Vokkaliga parents.

“No doubt I am proud of my caste Vokkaliga. But that doesn’t mean that I would indulge in caste or religion-based politics. Being a Congress member and KPCC President, I have only one caste and that is Congress. Why should I speak about other castes,” he shot back to his rivals in general and JD(S) leader H.D. Kumarswamy in particular.

He said that there is no politics involved in attracting people into the party fold and all these things generally happen during every election.

“In every election, our rivals BJP and JD(S) do the same by visiting our party leaders and we also do it, which is just fair and square. Why should anyone be worried about it,” he asked.

Categorically ruling out any race between him and Kumaraswamy for the Vokkaliga leadership, a dominant community in the south Karnataka region to which both leaders belong, Shivakumar said that he has never indulged in caste politics and for him Congress is his only caste.

On Thursday, Kumaraswamy had alleged that the Congress, which lacks a worker base in Rajarajeshwari Nagar (R.R. Nagara) Assembly constituency, was trying to lure his party workers ahead of the by-elections.

R.R. Nagara, along with the Sira Assembly segment in Tumakuru, will go to bypolls on November 3.

With both seats having considerable presence of the Vokkaliga community, winning them is crucial for both the leaders to consolidate their position in the community.

With the community seen as a strong vote base of JD(S), Kumaraswamy is looking at keeping it intact. Shivakumar, who is the top leader in the Congress from the community, is looking at consolidating his position within the party by winning the bypolls.

Winning R.R. Nagar is even more crucial for him as it comes under the Bangalore Rural Lok Sabha constituency, represented by his brother D.K. Suresh.

In this constituency, Congress has pitted political greenhorn Kusuma H against battle hardened N. Munirathna of the BJP.

In Sira, Congress has fielded party veteran and former minister T.B. Jayachandra against Ammajamma of the JD(S), the widow of late party MLA Sathyanarayana, and Rajesh Gowda of the BJP.

The Sira by-elections were necessitated following the death of JD(S) legislator B. Sathyanarayana in August, while the R.R. Nagar seat fell vacant after the disqualification of Congress MLA N. Munirathna under the anti-defection law last year.

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News Network
December 15,2025

Mangaluru, Dec 15: Air India Express has announced that it will resume direct flight services between Mangaluru and Muscat from March 2026, restoring an important international air link for passengers from the coastal region.

Airport authorities said the service will operate twice a week—on Sundays and Tuesdays—from March 1. The initial flights are scheduled on March 3, 8 and 10, followed by March 15 and 17, with the same operating pattern to continue thereafter. The flight duration is approximately three hours and 25 minutes.

The Mangaluru–Muscat route was earlier operated under the 2025 summer schedule, with services beginning on July 14. At that time, Air India Express had operated four flights a week before suspending the service.

Officials said the summer schedule will come into effect from March 29, after which changes in flight timings and departure schedules from Mangaluru are expected. Passengers have been advised to check the latest schedules while planning their travel.

The resumption of direct flights to Muscat is expected to significantly benefit expatriates, business travellers and others, further strengthening Mangaluru’s air connectivity with the Gulf region.

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  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
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News Network
December 15,2025

Mangaluru, Dec 15: Air India Express has announced that it will resume direct flight services between Mangaluru and Muscat from March 2026, restoring an important international air link for passengers from the coastal region.

Airport authorities said the service will operate twice a week—on Sundays and Tuesdays—from March 1. The initial flights are scheduled on March 3, 8 and 10, followed by March 15 and 17, with the same operating pattern to continue thereafter. The flight duration is approximately three hours and 25 minutes.

The Mangaluru–Muscat route was earlier operated under the 2025 summer schedule, with services beginning on July 14. At that time, Air India Express had operated four flights a week before suspending the service.

Officials said the summer schedule will come into effect from March 29, after which changes in flight timings and departure schedules from Mangaluru are expected. Passengers have been advised to check the latest schedules while planning their travel.

The resumption of direct flights to Muscat is expected to significantly benefit expatriates, business travellers and others, further strengthening Mangaluru’s air connectivity with the Gulf region.

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  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
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News Network
December 5,2025

Mangaluru: In a significant step to curb online hate and intimidation, Mangaluru City Police have registered a suo motu case against multiple Instagram accounts accused of circulating alleged provocative and threatening content.

While monitoring social media activity on Tuesday, Kankanady Town PSI Anitha Nikkam identified the Instagram handle ‘team_targetttt_900’ for posting a hate message alongside images of lethal weapons. Another account, ‘team_nagara_900’, allegedly shared a threatening post targeting activist Bharath Kumdelu, tagging additional pages such as KARAVALI-OFFICIAL.

Several other accounts — including ‘immu_bhai.fan’, ‘target_boy_900’, ‘kings_of_manglore’, ‘team_target_boys.900’, ‘arshad_mangalore’, ‘target_ka19_ullal’, ‘team_target__’, ‘troll_tigersz_900’, ‘tr_group_900’, and ‘team_target_900’ — are also under scrutiny for spreading similar inflammatory material, police said.

Authorities have urged citizens, especially young social media users, to report suspicious pages and avoid engaging with groups that glorify violence or threaten individuals. Online hate can quickly escalate into real-world harm, and police stress that sharing or promoting such content can attract legal consequences.

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