Plane blame: Coalition parties, BJP trade charges on funding flights

TNN
July 9, 2019

Bengaluru, Jul 9: As resort politics and private jets grabbed the headlines amid the political crisis in Karnataka, coalition parties and the BJP on Monday traded charges over who “sponsored” the flight of the rebel MLAs to Mumbai on Saturday and the aircraft that brought chief minister HD Kumaraswamy to Bengaluru from Delhi a day later.

After a Saturday evening special flight ferried the rebel Congress and JD(S) MLAs to Mumbai, another flight took minister H Nagesh to join them on Monday morning. The fact that the independent MLA was met at the airport by BJP state president BS Yeddyurappa’s personal assistant NH Santosh provided the ruling coalition with more ammunition to attack the opposition party.

The coalition government accused the BJP of “hypocrisy” for distancing itself from the resignations after a chartered aircraft owned by BJP Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar was used to fly the 10 rebel MLAs to Mumbai.

Deputy chief minister G Parameshwara immediately hit out at Chandrasekhar on social media. “Traces of BJP’s role in destabilising the govt are all over the place. It is disgraceful that the party is attempting to topple a democratically elected govt & grab power through the backdoor, when the state is reeling under one of the worst droughts,” Parameshwara tweeted, tagging a report on Chandrasekhar’s plane being used to ferry the rebels to the financial capital.

Chandrasekhar responded by asking Parameshwara not to blame him or the aircraft, stating that the plane was listed for commercial use and had been used by Congress ministers too.

“Dear @DrParameshwara — this ‘aircraft’ is a commercial charter - tht has been chartered by many ppl incldg ur own ministers in past! So don’t blame me or an ‘aircraft’ or @BJP4India for the problems in yr crooked corrupt opprtunistic ‘alliance’ [sic],” he tweeted.

BJP sympathisers even took the opportunity to charge chief minister HD Kumaraswamy with hiring a chartered plane of a company “allied” to the JSW Group to return to Bengaluru from New Delhi on Sunday night.

Kumaraswamy did use the plane, registered to Monnet, a joint venture company between JSW and AION, to fly from New Delhi to Bengaluru, CMO officials confirmed, but said the CM did not “specifically” seek the use of that aircraft.

“The plane was taken on rent, when the CM was leaving New York. There was no intent to pick a JSW plane,” a CMO spokesperson said. “The CMO used a contractor to hire the chartered plane.”

According to officials, Kumaraswamy was billed Rs 12 lakh for the special plane, which will be personally paid for by the chief minister.

The BJP reportedly has kept on a couple of special flights on standby to take more ruling party MLAs from Bengaluru to Mumbai.

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News Network
December 15,2025

Udupi, Dec 15: What was meant to be a post-pilgrimage gathering turned tragic in Padukere village of Brahmavar taluk, Udupi district, late Sunday night, when a clash among youths escalated into a fatal assault, leaving one man dead.

The victim has been identified as 30-year-old Santosh Mogaveera, a resident of Padukere.

According to preliminary information, the incident took place during a late-night drinking party involving a group of local youths who had recently returned after completing their pilgrimage to the Sabarimala shrine. An argument reportedly broke out among the group and soon escalated into a violent confrontation.

During the ensuing brawl, Santosh Mogaveera was allegedly assaulted and collapsed at the spot after sustaining serious injuries. He was rushed by local residents to a private hospital in Brahmavar, where doctors declared him dead.

On receiving information, senior police officials, including Brahmavar Circle Inspector Gopikrishna, Kota Police Sub-Inspector Praveen Kumar T, Station ASI Manthesh Jabagoudar, and head constables Pradeep and Ashok, visited the spot and conducted an inspection.

Police have taken four youths into custody in connection with the incident. A case has been registered at the Kota police station, and further investigation is underway to ascertain the exact sequence of events leading to the death.

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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
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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