Udupi | 70-year-old woman dies of covid; PFI helps to shift body

Bengaluru: Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Wednesday did not rule out the possibility of contesting the Channapatna Assembly bypoll, as he maintained that he will have to abide by the "decision" of the party and voters of the segment.

"Channapatna is in my heart. Channapatna is also the place that gave me political birth," Shivakumar, also the state Congress chief, told reporters ahead of his visit to the town in the neighbouring Ramanagara district.

Channapatna bypoll is necessitated as the seat fell vacant following the election of its representative -- JD(S) leader and now Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy - to Lok Sabha in the recent elections.

The byelection schedule for this Assembly seat is yet to be announced by the Election Commission.

"Channapatna was also part of Sathanur earlier (the erstwhile segment represented by Shivakumar). I love Channapatna, I want to help Channapatna. I want to change Channapatna," Shivakumar said.

Asked whether his brother and former MP D K Suresh will be contesting from Channapatna, he said, "That is not decided. More or less, I'm asking the votes for myself."

Though there were talks earlier that Suresh, who lost from Bangalore Rural Lok Sabha segment in the recent elections, may be fielded in Channapatna, speculations are now rife in political circles, especially the grand old party, that Shivakumar may enter the fray to avenge his brother's defeat and to re-establish his clout in the region.

According to sources, if Shivakumar contests and wins from Channapatna, he may vacate the Kanakapura Assembly seat that he currently represents for Suresh.

Both Channapatna and Kanakapura are part of the Vokkaliga dominated Ramanagara district, which comes under the Bangalore Rural Lok Sabha segment from where Kumaraswamy's brother-in-law and eminent cardiologist C N Manjunath won as a BJP candidate as part of arrangement between alliance partners BJP and JD(S), by defeating Suresh.

"Channapatana gave me political birth. For four times I have won in a hobli from Channapatna that came under my Assembly constituency. People there have blessed me," Shivakumar said.

"Even during the difficult times people (of Channapatna) have given us about 80,000 votes (in the recent Lok Sabha elections)," he said. "I have to repay the debt I owe to the people there by bringing in a change there. There is an opportunity to do more development there than what I have done in Kanakapura."

Stating that he is visiting temples in Channapatna to offer prayers to the gods who have blessed him, Shivakumar said he will then speak to the voters there, and listen to what voters and leaders there say. "Based on that I will decide."

On what he will do, if people want him to contest, he said: "there is no other way. I will have to listen to what my party and voters say." BJP MLC C P Yogeeshwara is said to be one of the probable candidates for Channapatna bypoll from BJP-JD(S) alliance.

Kumaraswamy's actor-turned-politician son Nikhil Kumaraswamy's name is also doing the rounds. Nikhil had lost the 2023 Assembly polls from neighbouring Ramanagara.

Kumaraswamy of JD(S) had won Channapatna in 2018 and 2023. Before that Yogeeshwara had represented the seat from BJP and Samajwadi Party. He had earlier also represented the seat both as an independent and from the Congress party.

Shivakumar has been representing the Kanakapura segment since 2008.

Mangaluru: The Air India Express is all set to increase the frequency of its flights from Mangaluru to Abu Dhabi to a daily flight from July 22. 

At present, Air India Express operates four flights in a week to Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.

This will also result in an uptick in daily flights to Bengaluru to eight, with AIE and IndiGo restarting flights and AIE routing aircraft for enhanced Abu Dhabi operations.

At present, IndiGo and AIE operate a total of five flights daily on the Bengaluru-Mangaluru sector. From July 8, the daily flights on this sector will go up to six, with AIE restarting its second daily flight. 

This number will further increase to seven from July 22, on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. AIE will operate this additional flight onwards to Abu Dhabi from Mangaluru.

The Bengaluru-Mangaluru leg will operate purely as a domestic flight, and Abu Dhabi passengers will board at Mangaluru.

From August 1, flights on the Bengaluru-Mangaluru sector will go up to eight on three days in a week – Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, respectively. AIE will operate the third flight on these days to go with its two daily flights.

IndiGo will operate five daily flights, including the fifth flight which it announced in the summer schedule starting March 31. For operations on this sector that sees high passenger footfalls, AIE uses the Boeing-737 Max and IndiGo uses the Airbus series aircraft.

On the Mumbai-Mangaluru sector, AIE will operate the afternoon flight from July 16 in place of Air India, which will continue to operate the morning flight.

Currently, airlines from Mangaluru International Airport, operate five daily flights to Mumbai and Bengaluru, two daily flights to Chennai and Hyderabad, respectively, one daily flight to Delhi, three weekly flights to Pune and one weekly flight to Tiruchirappalli.

International flights operation includes two daily flights to Dubai by AIE, and four weekly flights by IndiGo, four weekly to Dammam, three weekly to Muscat, two weekly to Doha and Bahrain, and one weekly flight each to Kuwait and Jeddah – all by AIE.

Mangaluru, June 16: Muslims in Mangaluru observed Eid al-Adha today by offering prayers in mosques and Eidgahs, exchanging greetings, and sacrificing animals, as the monsoon rain took a break in the region.

Congregational Eid prayers were held in dozens of mosques across the city. Thousands of Muslims gathered at the Masjids and Eidgahs early in the day. Hundreds of women and children also participated in prayers at some of the Masjids. Special 'dua' was offered for peace in the country and around the world, including Gaza.

Dressed in new clothes, Muslims visited their relatives' houses, where they were treated with special sweet dishes. Platters of a variety of delicious cuisines were prepared in Muslim households.

Children in festival attire added color to the celebrations. People wished each other Eid Mubarak and hugged as a large number of photographers captured the poignant scenes of the festival prayers and greetings.

In their Eid sermons, Khateebs exhorted the believers to follow the ideals of Prophet Ibraheem (pbuh), who had decided to sacrifice his son Prophet Ismaeel (pbuh) as ordained by Allah.

Eid al-Adha is an occasion of joy and peace, where people celebrate with their families, let go of past grudges, and make meaningful connections with one another. It commemorates Prophet Ibraheem’s willingness to sacrifice everything for God.