20 special flights from Saudi to India announced; 3 and a half to Bengaluru; Sorry Mangaluru

Bengaluru, Jan 15: The on-going process to select a new Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president is likely to drag on for few more days with former CM and opposition leader Siddaramaiah making a strong pitch for former minister MB Patil over DK Shivakumar for the post.

Siddaramaiah, who met AICC president Sonia Gandhi and other senior Congress leaders in New Delhi on Tuesday, reportedly argued in favour of Patil, saying his elevation would help the party win Lingayats to the fold.

“Yediyurappa, the undisputed leader of the Lingayat community, is almost at the end of his career and it is an opportunity for the Congress to gain the confidence of the community. Being a leader from North Karnataka, Patil fits the bill perfectly,” Siddaramaiah reportedly told Sonia.

Siddaramaiah is said to be backing Patil over Shivakumar as he is worried about losing his hold over the state unit, given Shivakumar’s popularity. While Sonia did give the former CM a patient hearing, she is said to have told him that he should obey and cooperate with whatever decision high command takes.

The high command is looking to evolve consensus on the new state president. “Sonia’s meeting with Siddaramaiah is part of this exercise. She wants to keep everybody in the loop,” said a functionary.

Siddaramaiah also met senior leaders Ahmed Patel and AK Anthony. He is expected to meet former AICC president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday.

However, some including Mallikarjun Kharge and Shamanur Shivashankarappa have expressed reservations against Patil’s elevation, pointing to his role in the controversial separate Lingayat religion issue which dented the Congress’ prospects in the 2018 assembly polls.

“He has a very bad name among Lingayats and making him president would prove counter-productive. Moreover, it is difficult to win back Lingayats as long as Yediyurappa is active in politics,” said a senior Congress leader.

Another functionary said a majority of state functionaries — and even some in the high command — favour Shivakumar as he is not only “resourceful”, but also has momentum. “With HD Deve Gowda and HD Kumaraswamy losing popularity among Vokkaligas, the possibility of the community backing Shivakumar is high. This may land him the top job,” the functionary said.

Hassan, Feb 19: A 19-year-old boy, in a bid to impress his girlfriend, stole a sports bike from an OLX seller but cops managed to reach him through her on Tuesday.

The accused, Pramod, who works at a bakery, had been involved in a bike-lifting case two years ago too.

On February 9, Pramod saw an advertisement on online marketing platform OLX from Puneeth, a farmer from Shravanabelagola town, who wanted to sell his sports bike for Rs 1.4 lakh. Pramod called him up and the two agreed to meet around 6pm that evening at Shravanabelagola town bus stand.

Once there, Pramod, a college dropout, assured Puneeth that he would buy the bike but wanted to take it for a test drive. The seller agreed. A few minutes passed and when there was no sign of the bike or Pramod, Puneeth tried calling him. The phone was switched off and could not be contacted since. Puneeth immediately filed a cheating case with the Shravanabelagola police.

SP R Srinivas Gowda and ASP BN Nandini put together a team and began tracing Pramod's call detail records. Maximum calls were made to a single number and it turned out to be his girlfriend's.

Cops called the girlfriend and on Tuesday, asked her to contact him and ascertain his location. They traced him near Hassan city's railway station and nabbed him along with the bike. On interrogation, Pramod confessed that he wanted to impress his girlfriend and take her on long drives on the sports bike.

Police said Pramod, who belongs to Bandithimmanahalli village of Alur taluk, dropped out of college two years ago and has been working at a bakery in Sahyadri Circle.

While working, he has been involved in several incidents of bike-lifting. Cops said he appeared to have strained relations with his family and had taken to crime to make a quick buck.

Mangaluru, Feb 5: The New Mangalore Port implemented the Centre's Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) by screening the crew of cargo ships and passengers of Cruise Vessel for the highly contagious and deadly disease Coronavirus.

Sources in the port said that screening was being carried out at the harbour since the past few days, as a precautionary measure. All the 1,800 passengers and 786 crew of Cruise Vessel 'Costa Victoria,' which stopped at the port, were screened.

Arrangements were also made for screening foreign nationals arriving at the Mangalore International Airport (MIA). 

Besides screening, passengers were also made aware of the Coronavirus and the precautionary steps to be taken.