A war of words has broken out between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress ahead of the crucial Karnataka Assembly elections on 12 May. A day after Chief Minister Siddaramaiah trained guns at the BJP, even taking pot shots at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah, his chief opponent BS Yeddyurappa came up with scathing counters.

Yeddyurappa is confident of his party gaining an absolute majority and forming a government in the state. Putting to rest all predictions, speculations and opinion polls projecting a comeback for the Congress party, the BJP’s chief ministerial candidate claimed that people are fed up with the current government and want a change of power. Reminding voters of the unpredictable victory of the BJP in Uttar Pradesh in 2017, Yeddyurappa said that he is confident of recreating that magic in Karnataka.

(PTI)

IN A complaint to the Karnataka police on Thursday, Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s office said a New Delhi-Hubli special flight (VT-AVH) carrying him and four others suffered “unexplained technical failures” midair, and the matter should be probed as “intentional tampering” could not be ruled out.

According to the complaint filed by Rahul’s aide, Kaushal Vidyarthee, the flight took off around 9.20 am. Besides Rahul and Vidyarthee, an SPG officer was also on board the flight. “At around 10:45 am, the aircraft suddenly tilted heavily on the left side and the altitude dipped steeply, combined with violent shuddering of the aircraft body… The weather outside was sunny, normal and not windy… A clanking noise was clearly audible from one side of the plane throughout the shuddering of the aircraft body. It was also learnt that the autopilot of the aircraft was not functioning,” said the complaint, addressed to Karnataka Director General and Inspector General of Police Neelmani N Raju.

Vidyarthee said the aircraft landed in Hubli on the third attempt. “The plane landed at Hubli at around 11:25 am while continuously shaking and making unusual audible sounds. The whole flight experience left the passengers with a lot of anxiety and distress and positively fearing for the lives. The crew was also apparently petrified and admitted that the flight was particularly frightening and uncommon,” he said in his complaint.

“It was apparent from the suspicious and faulty performance of the aircraft that the incidents of shuddering and altitude dipping were not natural or weather related, but were due to some technical snags. Serious questions related to intentional tampering with the aircraft cannot also be brushed aside and are required to be addressed and investigated… The multiple unexplained technical snags during the flight coupled with the failure of the autopilot system raises serious issues of aviation safety and possible and intentional tampering with aircraft which endangered the life of its occupants,” he said.

Seeking a “thorough examination of the structural and mechanical elements of the aircraft” and “the persons attached with the maintenance of the aircraft”, the complaint urged the Karnataka police to ground the aircraft at Hubli and not allow it to fly till the investigation was over.”

According to the DGCA website, the aircraft VT-AVH, is a Dassault Falcon 2000 owned by Religare Aviation Ltd, which registered the aircraft in India on February 4, 2011.

Sources in the Directorate General of Civil Aviation said the regulator would investigate the incident. “The operator has reported the incident to us. As per operator’s report, it was a snag of autopilot mode, and the pilot shifted to manual mode and landed safely. Shutdown of autopilot incidents are not uncommon. For any VIP flight, the DGCA conducts a detailed examination. We shall do so here also,” said a source in the DGCA.

Meanwhile, DCP (Law and Order), Hubli-Dharwad Police, Renuka Sukumar confirmed that an FIR had been filed against the pilots. “An FIR is being taken up in the Gokul Road Police Station against the pilots on the complaint of Sri Shakir Sannadhi, general secretary, KPCC, under Indian Penal Code Sections 287 and 336, read with Section 11 of the Aircraft Act 1934,’’ said Sukumar.

Section 287 of the IPC pertains to “negligent conduct with respect to machinery’’, Section 336 pertains to “endangering life or personal safety of others’’, and Section 11 of the Aircraft Act 1934 prescribes a penalty of two years imprisonment or a fine of up to Rs 10 lakh for flying an aircraft in a dangerous manner.

(PTI)

The Congress on Thursday complained to the Karnataka Police that the aircraft in which its party President Rahul Gandhi flew to Hubballi in the state earlier in the day suffered a snag mid-air.

“The aircraft on a special flight (VT-AVH) from New Delhi to Hubballi suffered serious malfunction and tilted heavily to one side during the course of the flight,” a party official and Gandhi’s aide Kaushal Vidyarthee said in the complaint.

The complaint, addressed to the state’s Director General Neelamani N. Raju, requested the state police chief to “ground” the aircraft at Hubballi and investigate its malfunction.

However, a Hubballi Police official told IANS over phone that no complaint has been received by the local police station on the issue so far.

The complaint letter, also shared by the Congress through its official Twitter handle, however, does not mention the exact make of the aircraft the Congress President flew in and whose it was.

According to the letter, there were a total of three other passengers in the aircraft besides Gandhi and the complainant Vidyarthee — Rampreet, Rahul Ravi and Special Protection Group officer Rahul Gautam.

Alleging the aircraft’s auto-pilot mode was not functional and the aircraft could be landed only after two unsuccessful tries as it was “shaking and making unusual audible sounds”, the letter pointed to a possible “intentional tampering” with the aircraft’s functioning.

“The technical snags coupled with the failed auto-pilot system raise issues of aviation safety and intentional tampering which endangered the life of the passengers,” it added.

Gandhi arrived at Hubballi airport at around 11.25 a.m. on Thursday on a two-day visit to the poll-bound state to launch the party’s campaign for the May 12 legislative assembly elections in the coastal region.

In New Delhi, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said that demanded a thorough investigation into the “serious case of aviation mechanics failure”, including the possibility of a “foul play”.

“Today Congress President Rahul Gandhi and other passengers were travelling by special flight from Delhi to Hubli. At about 10:45 am, the auto-pilot was lost off the flight. The flight tilted on one side and took a nosedive.

“For a few minutes, this special flight was off-the-radar. There was a lot of shuddering, although the weather outside was normal and sunny. On the third attempt, the flight finally landed at Hubli,” he said.

“It was then informed that the auto-pilot had failed, also the radars of the flight had partially failed.”

Surjewala also pointed out that usually when an SPG protectee is travelling, the complete details of the pilotsand the aircraft are submitted to the DGCA and the SPG.

“Only when all of these are cleared, then the flight plan is okayed. This is a serious case of aviation mechanics failure.

(IANS)

In a bid to retain power in Karnataka, the ruling Congress on Friday promised to create one crore jobs across the southern state in its manifesto for the May 12 Legislative Assembly elections.

“We aim to create at least 15-20 lakh jobs each year in the state and provide programmes for skill development, encouraging entrepreneurship and increasing youths’ employability quotient,” said the manifesto released by party President Rahul Gandhi in this port city.

Terming its 47-page manifesto a “people’s manifesto”, the party said it wants to create a hut-free Karnataka and would build 50 lakh houses in the rural parts of the state.

“We are committed to address the urban housing challenge and propose to build 15 lakh houses (3 lakh houses per year) for the people of the state,” it said.

Claiming to the first state in the country to roll out the “Arogya Karnataka” universal healthcare scheme, the Congress said it will increase the budget allocation for health from the current 0.9 per cent to at least 1.5 per cent.

On March 2, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had unveiled the state’s public healthcare scheme, that is expected to benefit about 1.43 crore households, by providing free treatment to all below poverty line (BPL) families at government hospitals.

The party also promised to provide free education to all students from grades 1 to 12 across all the state-run schools in the state. Presently, the state gives free elementary education to all children from class 1 to 8 in state-run and government-aided schools.

In a bid to promote girl child education, Siddaramaiah had said on February 16 while announcing the state Budget that all girls will get free education up to post-graduation in state-run institutions.

All college-going students in the state will receive a smartphone, the manifesto added.

Information Technology (IT) will be made an important driver of the state economy by increasing the field’s contribution from the current $60 billion to $300 billion, the ruling party said.

Currently, the state capital Bengaluru alone, which is home to over 750 multinationals and 2,000 IT firms, contributes about 40 per cent of the total IT exports done by the country.

“We will build a talent pool to cater to over 3 million IT jobs in the state by skill upgradation and IT-driven curriculum,” added the manifesto.

The AIADMK has decided to throw its hat into the electoral ring in Karnataka. The party would be fielding two candidates for the Karnataka elections which will be held on May 12. Counting will take place on May 15.

A press release, issued in the name of the party coordinator and Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam, and Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami, stated that the party wanted aspirants for the constituencies of Kolar Gold Field (reserved constituency) and Gandhi Nagar to submit their applications on Wednesday and Thursday.

The party had contested in 5 constituencies in 2013. In all, it polled just 10,208 votes.

Sixty women including eight from India, have received permits to summit Mount Everest this spring, an increase from the total number in 2017, Nepal’s Department of Tourism (DoT) said on Friday.

As many as 59 women received permits last year. Of them, 33 women had succeeded in conquering the world’s tallest peak, reports Xinhua news agency.

“As we have not stopped providing permits for this season, the number of women seeking permits may rise further,” Ram Prasad Sapkota, DoT under secretary told Xinhua.

A total of 346 climbers have received permits from the Nepalese government to climb Everest as of Thursday, according to DoT.

With 15 climbers, Nepal tops the list of women participants followed by the US (nine), India (eight), China (seven) and Britain (four).

According to the Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA), the number of women willing to summit the peak has been rising in recent years.

Since Japanese climber Junko Tabei became the first woman to climb Mt.Everest in May 1975, a total of 356 women have reached the top, according to the DoT.

Giving a ticket to seven members from the Reddy clan, which is embroiled in an alleged Rs 50,000 crore mining scam, seems to have gone against the BJP in Karnataka, leading to a furious debate and embarrassment for several party leaders.
BJP chief Amit Shah has cancelled his scheduled tour of Bellary district on Friday to avoid the embarrassment of sharing the dais with the infamous Reddy brothers in their fiefdom, claim party sources.

Giving a ticket to seven members from the Reddy clan, which is embroiled in an alleged Rs 50,000 crore mining scam, seems to have gone against the BJP in Karnataka, leading to a furious debate and embarrassment for several party leaders.
BJP’s state president and the party’s chief ministerial candidate BS Yeddyurappa has added fuel to fire with his statement that he has pardoned the Reddy brothers “in the interest of the state”.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who has made the return of the Reddys one of the main election issues, has attacked Yeddyurappa for “pardoning” the Reddys.

Karnataka is a trending state all over India ahead of the crucial assembly polls which is due on May 12. Every party is trading charges against the opponents especially on social media in order to win the election at any cost.

The entertainment factor in the elections has now gone a notch higher with a song mocking the BJP’s selection of B S Yeddyurappa as the chief ministerial candidate going viral. The satirical yet hilarious song describes everything from Yeddyurappa’s tenure as CM, corruption allegations against him, imprisonment, quitting BJP and the fact that the BJP during its tenure in the state saw three chief ministers.

The Congress manifesto will have “something in the digital space” for voters in Karnataka, which is likely to be similar to the freebies that parties in Tamil Nadu routinely give out to voters, a Congress leader said. The party will release its manifesto on Friday, and Congress president Rahul Gandhi will be in Mangalore to unveil it on the last day of his two-day tour.

Before he unveils the manifesto, Gandhi will visit voters in Bantwal district and the Dharamsthala Manjunatheshwara temple in the morning.

Sources from the Congress said that the manifesto will also have something for everyone in the family. “It has been designed in such a way that every family in the state will get one or the other benefit,” a party leader said. “Apart from that, we have stuck to what can be delivered.”

The manifesto will also have a detailed three-tier list, reaching out to address state, district and block level issues. In addition to that, there will be 34 manifestos, one for each of the state’s 30 districts apart from the detailed three-tier list.

Gandhi had earlier stressed on a “people’s manifesto” and this two-day visit will be his seventh visit to the state.

Party leaders said that the Congress’s manifesto in the last elections has been fulfilled to a great extent. “Over 90 per cent of the manifesto has been fulfilled and that’s a record within the party itself,” said a senior party leader.

Apart from Bantwal, Dharamsthala and Mangalore, the Congress president will also travel to several parts of Uttara Kanada district, including Ankola, Kumta, Honawar and Bhatkal. He will spend the night at Murdeshwar.

Congress Tamil Nadu Karnataka Mangalore Rahul Gandhi manifesto Bantwal

They are the star campaigners of their parties but obviously both have widely different style and approach. While the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi is no doubt an incisive and intelligent communicator, his political rival, the chief minister of Karnataka Siddaramaiah is a shrewd and astute strategist.

If Modi is unmatched in reaching out to the people through his speeches and oratory, Siddaramaiah is confident that his stratagem would sway the voters away from the BJP.
There is a general perception in the urban middle class and especially among the BJP cadres and state level leaders that once Modi picks up the thread and starts talking to the people through his rallies, the situation would make a dramatic shift in favour of the party.

Some senior leaders feel that the bickering surrounding denial of ticket to son of party’s chief ministerial candidate B S Yedurappa would not have any impact what so ever at the ground level. In a damage control move party has made him the general secretary of its youth organisation, Yuva Morcha of the state unit.

Nevertheless, Siddaramaiah is also ready to face the BJP challenges. For some time he appeared to be losing its grip on the people of the state and the political spectrum getting split on the lines of south and north Karnataka. The people, particularly the intellectuals nursed the feeling that Siddaramaiah was ignoring the north to the benefit of the south.

In contrast to Yedurappa the corruption charges against Siddaramaiah failed to inflict damage and catch the imagination of the people. But the people accuse him of ignoring the development interest of Karnataka. He was sitting over the development fund. Twenty year old image of chaos and mismanagement has been revived in the minds of the local people.

Only three days before, he turned this bitter criticism to his advantage. Before the elections were formally announced, Siddaramaiah was to contest from two seats. But under public scrutiny and attack from the party leaders he chose to contest from one seat. But in a sudden shift of strategy he decided to contest from Badami a north Karnataka constituency.

But this time he cited to do away with the regional imbalance he is contesting from north Karnataka. He said, “my candidature is an extension of the concern of my party for resolving the regional imbalance.”

While talking to his legislators from Karnataka Narendra Modi emphasised on the need for their close interaction and relation with their electorate at the booth level, the Congress chief minister tried to project himself as the icon of development.

People hold that during his tenure no significant development work has been undertaken. Though funds are not a problem, he is not keen to bring the development on ground. A decade back the intellectuals and business men had charged the then government of ignoring the interest of the people and the state. The situation is no better today. Long traffic snarls and jams have made the life hell. No serious effort is made to ease the crisis.

However the people feel notwithstanding their annoyance with Siddaramaiah, he cannot be written off. One thing is quite significant that BJP has not succeeded in making a strong of corruption against him. Intriguingly the corruption charges still haunt Yedurappa. This was the reason that the was little bit reluctant to field his son.

Siddaramaiah has beaten back the anti-incumbency. His SC-backward-minority alliance remains intact. What is really bad for BJP is party’s CM candidate B S Yeddyurappa has not succeeded in placing himself as his rival. People of Karnataka view the current election as a battle between Modi and Siddaramaiah

Hindusthan Samachar/Arun/Shri Ram Shaw