Karnataka polls last opportunity to end politics of hate: Shashi Tharoor

DHNS
May 6, 2018

Bengaluru, May 6: Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Saturday termed the May 12 Assembly elections the last opportunity to end the politics of hatred even as he slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for spreading ‘unpleasant propaganda’ about Bengaluru.

“Calling Bengaluru with names like garbage city and sin city is an insult to people. The city and its people must be above petty politics. People deserve support of the central government, not insult,” Tharoor told a press conference here.

The Thiruvananthapuram MP gave full marks to the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government. “There’s clearly a positive spirit, and it’s time to reward the government for its performance. For the first time in decades, a government has completed its full term and has delivered on its promises.”

Tharoor targeted Modi over the ‘recklessly irresponsible demonetisation’ which he said was a bad idea, badly implemented. He added that the GST was a good idea, but badly implemented. “The Karnataka government is a lodestar of good economic management.”

He said the Karnataka elections is the last opportunity to help continue the momentum of ‘forces of freedom and progress.’

AICC spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said there was not a single achievement of the BJP that Modi could showcase in Karnataka.

Singhvi laid out statistics to claim that Karnataka topped in terms of investments, manufacturing, IT exports and that the state was ahead of BJP-ruled states in key health, education indicators. “On every single important criterion, BJP-ruled states perform the worst, yet Modi has the sheer audacity to spew lies and say that BJP states perform better than Congress-ruled Karnataka.”

'Tipu must be praised'

Shashi Tharoor hailed erstwhile Mysuru ruler Tipu Sultan, when asked about the Government of Pakistan’s tweet on Friday to mark his death anniversary.  “Tipu is a hero to some and villain to some. He fought the British and also raided other kingdoms. The Congress’ stand is that Tipu did things that should be recognized and praised,” he told reporters. Tipu is a controversial figure with historians divided on his image. The BJP had opposed the Congress government’s decision to celebrate Tipu Jayanti. “Let the BJP dwell in the past. The Congress wants to focus on the future.”

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
May 22,2020
Bengaluru, May 22: Evacuation planes from Male in Maldives and Doha in Qatar landed in Bengaluru with returnees from Karnataka after they were stranded for two months due to suspension of international flights since March 23 and the extended lockdown, an official said on Friday.
 
"An Air-India flight (#0266) with 152 passengers from Male and its subsidiary Express flight (IX-0822) with 177 returnees and 5 infants from Doha landed here safely at 6.50 pm. and 9.05 pm respectively," an airline official told media persons in Bengaluru.
 
Both the flights are first from their respective countries to Bengaluru, bringing in returnees to the southern state in the second phase of the Vande Bharat mission, being carried out to evacuate Indians stranded the world over.
 
"As per the standard operating procedure and guidelines of the state health department, all the passengers were screened with thermal device and tested to ensure they were asymptomatic before leaving the airport," a nodal officer said.
 
The returnees were given a spare mask to wear all the time and a sanitiser to wash their hands.
 
"The luggage of all passengers was screened and disinfected before handing over to them after they completed formalities such as filling the self-declaration form and downloading of the Quarantine App for contact tracing later,” said the official.
 
The passengers were ferried from the airport in state-run buses in batches for 14-day institutional quarantine in hotels and resorts across the city.
 
The flights were the 6th and 7th flights to Karnataka, of the national carrier and its Express arm, which are operating the service to repatriate thousands of Indians, including distressed workers, migrants, students, senior citizens and tourists, stranded overseas.
 
Five flights have flown about 650 returnees till date from May 18-21 under the mission's second phase to Bengaluru and Mangaluru on the west coast. The passengers have been brought from Dubai in the UAE, Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, Muscat in Oman, Dammam in Saudi Arabia and San Francisco in the US.
 
The remaining flights to Karnataka will land in Bengaluru and Mangaluru over the next 12 days till June 3 from 9-10 more destinations the world over.
 
In the first phase of the mission from May 7-17, the airline and its arm flew 6 flights to the state from May 11-15, bringing in 800 passengers, including 623 to Bengaluru and 177 to Mangaluru from London, Singapore, San Francisco and Dubai.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
March 28,2020

Mangaluru, Mar 28: Dakshina Kannada District observed a total shutdown on Saturday with closure of all shops, barring milk booths and pharmacy, to prevent spread of deadly Coronavirus.

The Central Market, a hub of activities where vegetables, groceries, flowers are sold, remained closed. Despite the milk booths and pharmacies being exempted from the purview of bandh, only a few milk booths remained open here.

The administration decided to go far bandh ion the wake of people failing to follow the lockdown guidelines of maintaining social distance and some wandering on the streets without valid reason. Moreover, there was increase in the number of corona cases despite measures taken, Deputy Commissioner Sindhu B Rupesh said.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
March 18,2020

Bhopal, Mar 18: Congress leader Digvijay Singh's detention by police in Bengaluru is display of "dictatorship and Hitlarshahi" by the BJP, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath said here on Wednesday.

Singh staged a protest near a Bengaluru resort this morning where rebel MLAs of Madhya Pradesh Congress are staying, and demanded that he be allowed to meet them.

Singh, who has been detained by the police, accused the BJP of holding the MLAs captive and said that he would go on a "hunger strike".

Reacting to this, Nath said if the need arises he would also go to the Karnataka capital.

"Preventing Congress Rajya Sabha candidate and other ministers from meeting MLAs, misbehave with them, forcibly taken them into custody is totally a dictatorship and hitlershahi (sic)," Nath said in a tweet.

"Entire country is watching how an elected government is being made unstable and how BJP is murdering democratic values," Nath said.

"Why they are not allowing them to meet MLAs. What BJP is afraid of. BJP is playing a dirty political game in the state," the chief minister tweeted.

Demanding immediate release of detained Congress leaders, Nath said that democratic norms and Constitutional values are being stifled.

Later speaking to reporters, the CM said, "Why the BJP is afraid of presenting 16 MLAs here (Bhopal)? What is the problem in one person (Singh) meeting with 16 legislators?"

Nath reiterated that his government had proven majority on floor of the House in the last 15 months since coming to power.

Amid political uncertainty in Madhya Pradesh, the state Congress Legislature Party on Tuesday moved the Supreme Court seeking direction to the Centre and the BJP-led Karnataka government to grant it access to communicate with its rebel MLAs staying in Bengaluru.

The apex court had also directed the Kamal Nath government to respond by Wednesday to a plea by senior BJP leader Shivraj Singh Chouhan seeking immediate floor test in the Assembly.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.