Karnataka: BJP takes serious note of 3 legislators attending Cong dinner, to seek explanation

News Network

December 14, 2023

Belagavi, Dec 14: Karnataka BJP President B Y Vijayendra on Thursday termed as a 'serious matter' three of his party legislators attending a dinner hosted by the Congress after its Legislature Party meeting here and said he would seek explanation from them.

State Congress President and Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar said the legislators did not participate in any meeting, but only attended the dinner on Wednesday night, on his invitation.

The three are: MLAs -- S T Somashekar and Shivaram Hebbar -- and MLC H Vishwanath.

The three legislators, who are former Ministers, attending the dinner raised eyebrows and added to speculations that they might be contemplating to join the ruling Congress ahead of 2024 Lok Sabha polls. They had made no secret of their disenchantment with the BJP and its internal affairs, ever since the party lost the May Assembly polls.

The three were among the 17 Congress-JD(S) legislators who defected to BJP in 2019, which had led to the collapse of the H D Kumaraswamy-led government and paved the way for BJP to come to power. Somashekar and Hebbar were Ministers in the previous BJP government.

While Somashekar and Hebbar had jumped ship to BJP from Congress. Vishwanath, originally a Congressman, was in JD(S) as its state chief, when he defected to BJP in 2019.

"Morning I got information about it. I will talk to them today itself, I will discuss what their intention is....it is a serious matter, I will discuss with them today itself," Vijayendra told reporters here.

Shivakumar said: "I had separately hosted a dinner, for which certain other party leaders were also invited, so they (Somashekar, Hebbar), also Vishwanath, and others, about ten people had come."

Speaking to reporters here, he said: "why will they come to the Congress legislature party meeting ? They are not our party legislators. They did not come to the legislature party meeting, they had only come for dinner."

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Why Mangaluru Could Become India’s Next Offshore Wind Energy Hub

News Network

February 3,2026

Dakshina Kannada MP Capt Brijesh Chowta has urged the Centre to give high priority to offshore wind energy generation along the Mangaluru coast, citing its strategic importance to India’s green energy and port-led development goals.

Raising the issue in the Lok Sabha under Rule 377, Chowta said studies by the National Institute of Oceanography have identified the Mangaluru coastline as part of India’s promising offshore wind ‘Zone-2’, covering nearly 6,490 sq km. He noted that the region’s relatively low exposure to cyclones and earthquakes makes it suitable for long-term offshore wind projects and called for its development as a dedicated offshore wind energy zone.

Highlighting the role of New Mangalore Port, Chowta said its modern infrastructure, multiple berths and heavy cargo-handling capacity position it well as a logistics hub for transporting and assembling large wind energy equipment.

He also pointed to the presence of major industrial units such as MRPL, OMPL, UPCL and the Mangaluru SEZ, which could serve as direct buyers of green power through power purchase agreements, improving project viability and speeding up execution.

With Karnataka’s peak power demand crossing 18,000 MW in early 2025, Chowta stressed the need to diversify renewable energy sources. He added that offshore wind projects in the Arabian Sea are strategically safer compared to the cyclone-prone Bay of Bengal.

Calling the project vital to India’s target of 500 GW of renewable energy by 2030, Chowta urged the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy to initiate resource assessments, pilot projects and stakeholder consultations at the earliest.

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