Ramanath Rai has entered into a ‘nikah’ with SDPI after paying huge ‘mahr’: BJP

Newsroom, Jun 2: The government of India has announced operation of another 20 special flights to repatriate stranded NRIs from Kingdom of Saudi Arabia under Vande Bharat Mission.

All the repatriation flights will take off from three major airports – Dammam, Riyadh and Jeddah – between June 10 and June 16. Most of the flights will land in Kerala.

The first flight from Saudi Arabia to Karnataka in the new schedule will be operated on June 11. It will take off from Jeddah with passengers from both Kerala and Karnataka. After landing in Kozhikode it will continue its journey to Bengaluru. 

The next three flights  –  Dammam to Bengaluru on June 12, Jeddah to Bengaluru on June 13 and Riyadh to Bengaluru on June 15 – will directly fly to Karnataka. 

Even though thousands of Mangalureans are stranded in Saudi Arabian cities due to lockdown, the government has not announced any flight to Mangaluru International Airport.

The following are the newly announced flights from Saudi Arabia to India:

Bengaluru, Jul 19: Three legislators of the opposition Congress in Karnataka, including 2 MLAs and 1 MLC tested positive for coronavirus and are under treatment, a party official said on Saturday.

"Our Bailhongal MLA Mahantesh Koujalgi in Belagavi district and Humnabad MLA Rajashekhar Patil and his MLC brother Chandrashekhar Patil in Bidar district tested positive for the infection and are under treatment at designated hospitals," party spokesman Ravi Gowda told media persons in Bangaluru.

Koujalgi's swab sample was taken on Friday after he showed signs of illness and its result turned positive earlier in the day.

"As Koujalgi attended a review meeting at Bailhongal, about 20 officials who participated in the meeting have been home quarantined," said Gowda.

Koujalgi is the second lawmaker in the state's northwest region to test positive after BJP's Belagavi North assembly segment MLA Anik Benake tested positive for the virus on July 15.

"Patil brothers were in self quarantine after meeting BJP's Bidar Lok Sabha member Bhagwanth Khuba, who tested positive on Wednesday. Their tests also showed they were infected with the virus," Gowda said.

Congress MLC Sandesh Nagaraj, who tested positive on Friday, is under treatment at a private hospital in Mysuru.

Dakshina Kannada district Youth Congress president Mithun Rai is in institutional quarantine in Bengaluru after he tested positive for the infection.

Bengaluru, Apr 18: Karnataka Health Minister B Sriramulu drew flak from his own party the BJP as well as the Congress for allegedly letting hundreds of people throng the Rupangudi Road in Ballari to collect food packets from him.

Visuals showed that the people came in hordes and fell on each other to collect the packets Sriramulu was distributing to the poor and needy as relief measure in the wake of lockdown.

The videos showed the minister standing with his team by the roadside and spreading out tables all along to distribute the food kit to the poor people.

Those in the queue had elderly people too.

A majority of people who rushed to grab the food packets did not bother to protect themselves with a mask.

"Whoever has done he has committed a blunder whether it is Sriramulu in Ballari or Anand Singh in Hospet.

All these elected representatives want to show that they are serviing the people in their constitutuency," said Karnataka BJP spokesperson Go Madhusudana.

Flaying the leaders of all political parties for defying norms, Madhusudana sad this has become fashionable for the leaders to perform 'cheap shows'.

He advised Sriramulu that it should have been done with door-to-door delivery of food packets instead of arranging it at the public place.

Congress spokesperson K E Radhakrishna said a case should be registered for defying regulations.

"I am all appreciation for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Karnataka chief minister B S Yediyurappa who were the first to wake up and do something good for the people.

Now I feel sorry for them.

I wonder why they cannot control their own partymen.

People should file FIR against him (Sriramulu)," Congress spokesperson Prof K E Radhakrishna said

Slamming the alleged VVIP culture in the country, Radhakrishna said when the nation is facing a crisis, lavish marriages and grand birthday parties were organised. In the midst of all this health minister organises a food distribution mela, he added.

Attempts to reach the minister went in vain.

However, speaking to reporters at Ballari, Sriramulu admitted that the cases suddenly shot up in the state because of disregard to social distancing.

"People's support to lockdown is essential.

People have to maintain social distancing, without which we cannot control it," the minister said.