BJP’s firebrand national spokesperson trivializes RTI activist Baliga’s murder; snubs victim’s sister

coastaldigest.com news network
April 29, 2018

Mangaluru, Apr 29: Meenakshi Lekhi, the national spokesperson of Bharatiya Janata Party, who held chief minister Siddaramaiah government for all the murders in Karnataka, was taken aback when Harsha Baliga, the sister of RTI activist Vinayak Panduranga Baliga, who was murdered by saffron forces, broke her silence at a programme in the city yesterday.

•Slain RTI activist Vinayak Panduranga Baliga was also a BJP worker
•NaMo Birgade founder Naresh Shenoy is the prime accused in the murder

51-year-old Baliga was hacked to death near his house in Kodialbail on March 21, 2016 by a gang of miscreants belonging to saffron outfit. Naresh Shenoy, a prominent businessman in the city and founder of NaMo brigade is the prime accused in the brutal murder. Ironically Baliga was also a BJP worker.

Ms Lekhi, who is also a Member of Parliament from New Delhi constituency and lawyer of Supreme Court of India, apparently tried to shut the aggrieved woman’s mouth, saying the murder case of Baliga was too local to be discussed. The incident took place at an interaction programme ‘Karunada Mahila Jagrathi Samvada’, organized at an auditorium in PVS Circle.

After Lekhi spoke about women empowerment, safety, reservation, murders in the state and other issues, the Harsha Baliga, who was one among the audience, stood up and posed a question about her brother’s murder.

“I told her (Lekhi), that my brother Vinayak, a grassroots level BJP worker, was murdered for no fault of his. Yet party leaders did not give him justice, but supported the accused. Now they have given ticket to a person who was allegedly part of the murder plan. Why such double standards. The death of my brother has brought mental trauma on women like us, who entirely depended on him. Will you take appropriate action against them?” she questioned.

Harsha said Lekhi categorically denied to answer and said that it’s ‘too local an issue’ and also asked her to give the query in writing. “For an hour she (Lekhi) spoke about daughters of India and their problems, but why did she turn down a question asked by a distressed woman like me,” Harsha told reporters later.

Nalin Kumar, MP, who too was present at the venue, in order to avoid a possible embarrassment, quietly walked away from the stage when Baliga’s sister started her questions.

Comments

MR
 - 
Monday, 30 Apr 2018

Why Baliga  a hindu and BJP  worker eliminated by a hindu Naresh Shenoy a prime accused. Now they have given to a person who was part of elimination plan. Can one of you post the name of the guy who got the ticket? 

Please dont vote for the guy who planned the elimination of Vinayk

Give justice to Vinayk Baliga

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coastaldigest.com news network
August 2,2020

Bengaluru, Aug 2: All the seven Airports in Karnataka have seen poor traffic even after the restoration of domestic flight services post covid-19 lockdown. Interestingly, Mangaluru International Airport, the second biggest in the state, has slipped to third position in number of number of passengers and flights. 

Of all the seven airports in State-- Bengaluru, Mangaluru, Hubballi, Belagavi, Mysuru, Kalaburagi and Vijaynagara (Hosapete)-- it was the Sambra (Belagavi) airport which saw the highest number of passengers and flights after Bengaluru. 

According to Airports Authority of India report released on their website recently, the Sambra airport outperformed the Managluru international airport in June. 

As many 10,224 passengers travelled to or from Belagavi airport in June, whereas Mangaluru airport saw a footfall of only 8,608 passengers including 3,726 international and 4,882 domestic passengers. Belagavi airport handled 391 flights whereas Mangaluru airport handled 190 flights.

Even the Bengaluru international airport saw a decline in the number of passengers and flights in June. Only 3.69 lakh domestic and 10,654 international passengers arrived or departed from Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru in June as against 27.59 lakh total passengers in June 2019. 

Between April-June 2020 the Bengaluru airport saw only 4.54 lakh total passengers (domestic and international) as against 84.11 lakh total passenger during the same period last year. The number of flights to and from Bengaluru also saw a huge dip in June with only 731 international (2,582 in June 2019) and 4290 domestic (16,216 in June 2019) flights.

Though the Mysuru domestic airport handled a higher number of flights compared to last June, the number of passengers either arriving or departing saw a decline. Last year June 4,775 passengers travelled in 96 flights, whereas in June 2020 the airport handled 3,158 passengers and 330 flights.

Hubballi airport saw the least number of passengers or flights among the seven airports in Karnataka in June. It saw only 55 passengers either arriving or departing from the city's airport in 14 flights in the month of June. In the same month last year, Hubballi airport, which was third busiest before the pandemic, had facilitated 45,973 passengers and handled 604 flights.

Since April 2020 to June, the Hubballi airport has handled only 18 flights (as against 1,958 during the same period last year) and 122 passengers (1,50,416 between April-June 2019).

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coastaldigest news network
March 25,2020

Mangaluru, Mar 25: In the wake of coronavirus outbreak, Nalin Kumar Kateel, Member of Parliament today declared that the coastal city of Mangaluru will remain completely shut tomorrow, (March 26) onwards.

"Today the people were given time to go out of their houses to buy essentials today. But from tomorrow, this will not be allowed," the MP said. 

"We are discussing with officials of all departments about ways to manage the situation. Essential things and facilities people need, will be delivered at their doorsteps. We are sorting out how to deliver the items on behalf of the government and mode of delivery of items to apartment complexes," he said.

He said that a large number of patients from Kasaragod had come into the city yesterday. Hence, the district administration has taken a decision, he said.

"Under the present circumstances, the hospitals in the city would not be sufficient for our purpose. So the administration will not allow any vehicles including ambulances into the city. All the ambulances would be blocked from entering Dakshina Kannada district at Talapady border and sent back," he said.

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News Network
February 27,2020

Bengaluru, Feb 27: Famous music composer from Kannada film industry, Arjun Janya suffered a minor heart attack. The music composer was immediately taken to Apollo hospital in Mysore where he is currently undergoing treatment.

According to the doctor, Arjun Janya developed chest pain and was admitted to the hospital. The doctor revealed that he is out of danger now and will be kept under observation for a couple of days.

The 39-year-old composer-singer has scored music for successful Kannada films like Birugaali, Kempegowda, Varadanayaka and others.

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