Cong made sacrifice by forming govt with JDS: Gundu Rao

Agencies
July 11, 2018

Bengaluru, Jul 11: The newly appointed KPCC president Dinesh Gundu Rao on Wednesday said that the Congress had made a "sacrifice" by forming a government with the JD(S) to preserve secularism and democracy.

He said though Congress secured 80 assembly seats as against 37 of JDS, it decided to help the latter form the government, "not because we are weak, but because our objectives are different." "We made a sacrifice by forming a coalition government to send across a message as to how we strive to preserve social justice,secularism and democracy,"he said in his first address to party workers after donning the mantle as the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee head.

The May 12 assembly polls had thrown up a hung verdict with BJP emerging as the single largest party with 104 seats in the 224-member assembly, but falling short of numbers.

Sewing up a post-poll alliance, Congress supported the JDS to form the government. Rao said Prime Minister Narendra Modi would not come to power again as the BJP had no base in the South, except for Karnataka.

In the North too things were changing very rapidly against the BJP. "There is a 100 per cent chance of a Congress-led government coming to power at the Centre and Rahul Gandhi will lead it as the prime minister. In Karnataka we will strive to win all the 28 Lok Sabha seats to strengthen Rahul Gandhi," said Rao. Calling on party cadres to "uproot" BJP from the country, he said democracy seemed to be in peril.

"Today whoever speaks against the BJP is threatened by the Income Tax Department, Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation. We are forced to think whether democracy will survive in this country," said Rao.

He also warned the cadres not to work against the party as he underlined the need to follow the 'Maitri Dharma' (ethics of coalition). "I assure you that I will work sincerely for the party.

As party president, I will not belong to any individual but will strive for the party. Whoever damages the party, whatever he/she may be, I will not spare them," said Rao. Former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah claimed that the Lok Sabha polls would take place in November and not in April next year. He said he was sure that Modi would not come back to power as he had 'failed' to fulfil his election promises. He also foresaw Rahul Gandhi becoming the next prime minister.

On the Congress-JD(S) coalition government, he said he has written to Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy to restore the seven kg rice given to an individual from BPL families each month under the 'Anna Bhagya scheme' and roll back the hike in petrol and diesel.

In the coalition government's maiden budget presented last week, the government had reduced the rice quota by two kg and decided to give only five kg per month to an individual from BPL families. It had also hiked the price on petrol and diesel by Rs 1.14 and Rs 1.12 per litre respectively, as part of resource mobilisation efforts following the farm loan waiver, which is expected to cost Rs 34,000 crore to the exchequer.

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Khasai Khane
 - 
Thursday, 12 Jul 2018

Congress had no choice... JDs is the real regional party, all area real kannadigas in it. Unlike BJP/Congress, these shoudl be kicked out of Kannada lands! Then we will be inpeace.

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News Network
July 1,2020

Bengaluru, Jul 1: Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) chief DK Shivakumar on Wednesday said that the state Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa should apologise to the nation for the Ballari incident.

"It is shocking to see the Ballari incident. The way the dead bodies of the corona victims have been treated is very unfortunate. The entire country witnessed it. I request the Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa to apologise to the nation. India is known for its values and traditions," Shivakumar told reporters here.

Earlier, Shivakumar had posted a video which allegedly showed officials 'inhumanly' dumping bodies of those patients who die of COVID into a pit in Ballari, the district administration confirmed it and said that the entire field team involved in the incident has been disbanded.

"It's disturbing to see bodies of COVID patients who have died being dumped inhumanly into a pit in Ballari. Is this civility? This is a reflection of how the government has handled this Corona crisis. I urge the govt to take immediate action and ensure that this doesn't happen again," Shivakumar's tweet, which also had a video of the incident embedded, read.

The Deputy Commissioner, Ballari issued a press note which stated that it had conducted an enquiry after the video surfaced and it was found that the video belonged to the district and "comprises of burial of eight people who passed away after succumbing to COVID-19."

Although, according to the DC, all protocols and SOPs were followed by the team during the burial process, however, the "disrespectful handling of the bodies while being lowered on to the ground by the field staff" led to the entire field team involved being disbanded and will be replaced by a new team trained by the HOD, Forensic, VIMS.

The district administration also issued an unconditional apology to the families of the deceased and to others who were hurt by the incident.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa also termed the behaviour of the staff "very inhuman and very painful" and urged the staff to tread cautiously with humanity in handling the funeral of those affected by the disease, and added, "Let's walk with humanity, and realize that there is no greater religion than humanity." 

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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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News Network
February 19,2020

Bengaluru, Feb 19: Playing down the simmering discontent among the disgruntled legislators who missed a cabinet berth again, Karnataka BJP on Tuesday denied any revolt brewing against Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa.

"An unsigned letter in Kannada circulating in the social media is bogus, as it was fabricated in the name of Santosh, a private secretary to Yediyurappa. No revolt is brewing against the Chief Minister," party spokesman G. Madhusudhana told news agency here.

In the second cabinet expansion on February 6, only 10 newly-elected legislators, who defected from the Congress and the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) in July, were inducted, leaving the party's many aspiring lawmakers miffed.

"The talk of about 20 loyal MLAs ganging up against Yediyurappa is a speculation as rumour mills are working overtime. No rebellion is brewing against the Chief Minister," asserted the official.

On the charge that Yediyurappa's younger son B.Y. Vijayandra was acting like a 'super or de facto CM' and medalling in the state administration, Madhusudhana said the latter was only assisting his father in party activities as he was also a party worker.

"As Yediyurappa is 76 years old and ageing, Vijayandra is helping his father in party affairs so that he (Chief Minister) could be free to attend to administration," Madhusudhana said.

Yediyurappa's elder son B.Y. Raghavendra is a three-time BJP Lok Sabha member from Shimoga in the state's Malnad area.

With six cabinet posts vacant in the 34-member ministry, many legislators, including eight-time MLA Umesh Katti, are upset that they have not been rewarded for their loyalty to the party even six months after the BJP returned to power again in the southern state.

On the purported meeting of about 20 BJP MLAs at the residence of state Industries Minister Jagadish Shettar here on Monday, Madhusudhana said it was a "get-together" as they were all in Bengaluru again to attend the budget session of the state legislature which began on Monday.

"There is no crisis in the party. Our government is stable and will complete the remaining three-year term in office till May 2023," he added.

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