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
March 14,2020

Kalaburagi, Mar 14: Delivering its judgment within a period of three and half months, a court here on Friday awarded death sentence to a man, who was a convict in the rape and murder case of a minor girl.

The Second Additional District and Sessions court in Kalaburagi sentenced Yallappa to death in the matter.

"The convict, had on December 2, 2019, taken the minor victim behind an Angwanwadi centre in Yakapur village. He raped the girl, murdered her and ran away," special public prosecutor LV Chutnalakar told media.
He said that the body of the girl was recovered around 10 pm on the same night.

"The investigation in the matter was taken up after a complaint was filed by the parents of the victim. The police conducted a speedy probe and filed a chargesheet, after which the conviction and sentence were pronounced," Chutnalakar said.

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News Network
March 25,2020

Thiruvananthapuram, Mar 25: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday said that strict action will be taken against overpricing and hoarding of essential items during lockdown period in the state.
Speaking to media persons here, he said: "Today 14 new cases of COVID-19 have been reported taking the total number of cases to 105 (excluding four discharged) in the state."
"Out of this, six are from Kasaragod district, two from Kozhikode, eight have returned from Dubai, one each from Qatar and UK; and three have got infected from a mutual contact. One health worker is also suspected to be on the list," he said.
A total of 72,460 people are under observation in the state out of which 71,994 are in isolation in their homes and 466 in hospitals. Today 164 people were hospitalised. 4,516 samples were sent for testing out of which 3,331 have tested negative.
Chief Minister Vijayan said that people should take the lockdown seriously and strictly adhere to government instructions.
"All personal vehicles should strictly be off the road. Taxis and autos can only be used for emergency purposes. People using personal vehicles should give self-declaration giving details about the purpose of the journey. Police action will be taken against those giving false information or found misusing personal vehicles," he said.
The Chief Minister today interacted with the MLAs from Kasargod through audio conferencing and asked them to co-ordinate the activities there along with the Panchayat president.
"Special attention should be given to the elderly, homeless, specially-abled in the state and local self-government institutions should take effort to arrange food and shelter for the needy. Apart from medicines, those in isolation would also be given counselling if required," he said.
He also urged the youth to come forward in volunteering during this difficult time. They can volunteer as bystanders in hospitals and help in other places too.
The Chief Minister also informed that the testing facilities at Central Universities in Kerala, IISER in Trivandrum and MIMS, Kozhikode can be used.
"All MLAs are working in their respective constituencies and they should make the effort to identify places that can be used as regional isolation centres, as and when required," said Vijayan.

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News Network
February 11,2020

Belagavi, Feb 11: Tension prevailed for sometime here after a few villagers spotted four country-made pistols disposed in the garbage site by the road between Markandey Nagar – Waghavade village on Sunday. Police rushed to the spot and seized the arms which are believed to be of Portugal era.

Sources said some villagers noticed a pistol lying along with heaps of refuse. They informed Bhavakanna Patil, the owner of the agricultural field adjacent to the garbage site. Patil and the villagers checked the garbage and found three more pistols totalling four.

Police said the pistols are about 50 to 60 years old. Going by their condition, all rusted, it is believed that they were left unused for a long time. The Belagavi rural police who have filed a suo motu case related to the incident are getting into the skin of case to trace the owners and those who disposed them in the garbage pit. 

According to preliminary investigation, it is learnt that such pistols were in vogue during Portugal rule in Goa. There are chances that those who inherited the arms may have disposed it for the fear of possessing weapon illegally. The chances of some notorious people who reside in the vicinity near Waghavade and surrounding areas, where burglaries and dacoity are frequently reported, disposing the arms due to the fear of police also cannot be ignored. Police Commissioner Lokesh Kumar was not available for comments.

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