Belagavi, Dec 18: Transport Minister DC Thammanna said that the court has given stay order for the Ola and Uber companies to start taxi service in Mangaluru and Udupi.

Raising the issue during the Zero Hour in the Assembly, BJP member Raghupathi Bhat said that Ola and Uber companies have got permission by depositing Rs 50,000 on June 20, 2016 to start their services in Bengaluru. They have to get permission from local authorities to start their services in any cities. But in Mangaluru and Udupi cities, the companies have decided to begin their services without getting permission, he said.  

Responding to it, the Minister said that the permission taken for Bengaluru was being extended to other cities. But in Mangaluru and Udupi, local taxi drivers have been protesting against Ola and Uber service. Even the court has also given stay order to start the service. Till the dispute is solved in the court, the government would not allow the companies to start their services in Mangaluru and Udupi, the Minister promised.

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Kolkata (PTI): Trinamool Congress MLA Humayun Kabir has apologised to the party's leadership for his recent comment that a "coterie" was influencing Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's key decisions.

Kabir, the MLA of Bharatpur in West Bengal's Murshidabad district, expressed his apology on Friday in reply to a show cause notice issued by the party's disciplinary committee.

"Yes, I have sent a reply. I will certainly follow party discipline. But I think being a person from the rural belt, not conversant with the ways of the city, I faced this situation for speaking my mind. However, I had not said anything against my party or its leadership," he told reporters.

"Our CM epitomises the spirit of 'Maa-Mati-Manush' and being a person of the grassroots level, I always stay rooted to the ground. Maybe I should have been more careful about my way of expressing," he said.

A senior member of the TMC's legislative disciplinary committee said the reply to the show cause letter was received, and a decision on it will be communicated soon.

Kabir, however, said some other TMC MPs had on earlier occasions made comments against party colleagues but were not censured.

On Thursday, he met the CM in the assembly's lobby where she had asked him to reply to the show-cause notice first.

On November 26, Kabir had said a coterie within the party was taking certain decisions to cement their position and was influencing the CM's key decisions for their short-term gains.

He had said this a day after the TMC national executive meeting where the party had categorically asked its leaders not to make comments in public against any internal decision and formed disciplinary committees at different levels.

Kabir had earlier advocated for giving more responsibility to TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, reiterating that the Diamond Harbour MP was undoubtedly the number two in the party's hierarchy and those trying to undermine his influence would not succeed.