DK BJP condemns JDS workers' attack on BJP MLA Preetam Gowda
Mangaluru: Dakshina Kannada District BJP on Thursday staged protest outside Deputy Commissioner’s office and condemned the attack on the party’s Hassan MLA Pradeep J Gowda by JDS workers.
Local party leaders, members and workers gathered outside Dakshina Kannada DC office and protested while also shouting slogans against CM HD Kumaraswamy and former Prime Minister HD Devegowda, alleging that the father son duo was the perpetrator of the attack.
“Kumaraswamy, claims that he did not had any interference in the whole episode, but he himself along with his father and brother Revanna perpetrated the whole attack. As Preetam won from a constituency which was dominated by this Gowda family, out of jealousy this attack was done” Ravi Shankar Mijar, Dakshina Kannada’s Vice President said during the protest.
Sanjay Prabhu, Dakshina Kannada Treasurer of BJP, termed the Kumaraswamy led government as the ‘Goondagiri government’. He said “Kumaraswamy ordered this rioting by his party workers. He wants everyone from his family to either be a MLA or an MP, now that his son and Revanna’s son are in-line they are looking for a constituency from where they can field them, and hence they have targeted Hassan, and to instill fear in our MLAs mind this attack was done”.
“This is nothing new, the father and sons have done, they have a factual history of doing such things in the past, so we are not really surprised, but then again, we are not going to back away, we will fight them and defeat them”.
“If he says he had no knowledge about the incident or he hadn’t ordered it, then he should immediately resign from his post, accepting the moral responsibility for the actions of his party workers” Sanjay said.
He further added “If the state has to progress, then this government has to go, and for the betterment of this state, this government will be toppling soon”.
Ex-MLC Monappa Gonda, while addressing the protest, expressed the district BJP’s solidarity with Preetam Gowda and the party worker Rahul who sustained injuries during the JDS workers’ attack on the MLA home, and has been hospitalized since.
“The police are hand-in-glove with the CM and his family, no action can be taken against the party workers, no case will be registered and no arrests will be made in this regard, we know this. Preetam’s family was inside the house, the workers posed threat to their life, yet nobody cares” he said.
About the incident:
JDS workers who planned a protest outside the MLA Preetam’s house, after his audio speaking ill of HD Deve Gowda and his family including Kumaraswamy, was made public.
The workers, who had staged dharna outside MLAs house, anguished over the incident, stormed towards his house and started pelting stones which resulted in one BJP worker sustaining injuries who was later hospitalized.
BS Yeddiyurappa and other leaders rushed to Hassan to meet the injured worker, party has since organized protests in various parts of the state.
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India harbouring big and bold dreams in space sector: Shubhanshu Shukla
Kolkata (PTI): Air Force Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, the first Indian astronaut to go to the International Space Station, on Wednesday said the country is harbouring “big and bold dreams”, foraying into human spaceflight after a hiatus of 41 years.
Shukla was the first Indian to visit the International Space Station as part of the Axiom-4 mission. He returned to India from the US on August 17, 2025, after the 18-day mission.
The space is a “great place to be”, marked by deep peace and an “amazing view” that becomes more captivating with time, he said, interacting with schoolchildren at an event organised by the Indian Centre for Space Physics here.
“The longer you stay, the more you enjoy it,” Shukla said, adding on a lighter note that he “actually kind of did not want to come back”.
Shukla said the hands-on experience in space was very different from what he had learnt during training.
He said the future of India’s space science was “very bright”, with the country harbouring “very big and bold dreams”.
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Shukla described his ISS flight, undertaken with support from the US, as a crucial “stepping stone” towards realising India’s ‘Vision Gaganyaan’.
“The experience gained is a national asset. It is already being used by internal committees and design teams to ensure ongoing missions are on the right track,” he said.
Shukla said the country’s space ambitions include the Gaganyaan human spaceflight programme, the Bharatiya Station (India’s own space station), and eventually a human landing on the Moon.
While the Moon mission is targeted for 2040, he said these projects are already in the pipeline, and the field will evolve at a “very rapid pace” over the next 10-20 years.
He told the students that though these targets are challenging, they are “achievable by people like you”, urging them to take ownership of India’s aspirations.
The sector will generate “a lot of employment opportunities” as India expands its human spaceflight capabilities, he noted.
Echoing the iconic words of India’s first astronaut Rakesh Sharma, Shukla said that from orbit, “India is still the best in the world”.
Shukla also asserted that the achievement was not his alone, but that of the entire country.
“The youth of India are extremely talented. They must stay focused, remain curious and work hard. It is their responsibility to help build a developed India by 2047,” he said.
Highlighting a shift from Sharma’s era, Shukla said India is now developing a full-fledged astronaut ecosystem.
With Gaganyaan and future missions, children in India will be able to not only dream of becoming astronauts, but also achieving it within the country, he said.
“Space missions help a village kid believe he can go to space someday. When you send one person to space, you lift million hopes. That is why such programmes must continue... The sky is not the limit,” Shukla said.
“Scientists must prepare for systems that will last 20-30 years, while ensuring they can integrate technologies that will emerge a decade from now,” he said.
Shukla added that he looked forward to more space missions, and was keen to undertake a space walk, which will require him to "train for another two years".
