Moideen Bava Getting Jittery due to my contest: Muneer Katipalla
Muneer Katipalla State president of DYFI is contesting the Mangalore North constituency as CPI(M) candidate. Mangalore north is considered as one of the communally sensitive constituency and it has garnered unusual attention due to the contest of Muneer Katipalla. Apart from CPM workers several supporters and sympathizers of Muneer are campaigning for him briskly. Muneer shot to fame due to his involvement with several struggles and agitations. Vartha bharathi spoke to him on his busy campaign trail.
VB: How is it going?
MK: Moving briskly. I am out by 7 am and return by 11 pm. till noon it is door to door visit and consultations with party workers. In the afternoon, I participate in Public rallies. In between I make a call to voters whom I know. By the way, we had covered the entire constituency even before the announcement of the elections. Now we are in to second round. We have already covered around 60% voters and we are confident that in the next one week we will reach the rest.
VB: How is the response of the voters?
MK: Much more than pour expectations. Wherever I go people are saying that I should be their representative; not only that they are contributing voluntarily to my election expenses. Most of them are unknown to Me.!!
VB: What do you think are the positive things?
MK: My struggle against MRPL has given me a kick start. Moreover the way I questioned the functioning of the present MLA, has caught the imagination of the people
VB: Who will find it easy due to your presence?
MK: Till now it was always a straight fight between Congress and BJP. Now it is triangular! Moideen Bava, the Congress candidate is getting jittery. On the other hand BJP candidate too is forced to pace its campaign. Both Congress and BJP were complacent till now, as they were sure of certain vote share due to communal polarization. Congress was sure that minorities will vote for it and BJP was sure of Hindutva votes. My contest has turned this calculation on its head. Instead of communal polarization, it is now a contest between 90% poor and 10% rich. So both these parties are spending huge money. And sweating it out day and night
VB: But there is a brisk campaign against you too:
MK: Yes, plenty. They are trying to confuse the voters by spreading canard like, Muneer has retired from the fray, voting for Muneer will make it easy for the victory of BJP . But I am not worried about that. Struggles and agitations have taught me a lot of lessons. I am just using it in my campaign.
VB: Is it likely that NOTA will be used here ...
MK: Initially there were some whispers about that possibility. ‘We want neither congress nor BJP’ was the refrain of the voters. They were talking of using NOTA. But Voters are no more talking about that. ‘You are the best alternative we found and we won’t use NOTA,’ voters are saying upfront. This has doubled my confidence and enthusiasm.
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Dense fog disrupts operations at Delhi airport; 228 flights cancelled, 5 diverted
New Delhi (PTI): Dense fog disrupted flight operations at Delhi Airport on Monday, with various airlines cancelling 228 flights and diverting five to nearby airports due to low visibility, an official said.
However, except for Air India, which had in an X post in the morning announced the cancellation of some 40 flights, no other airlines, including crisis-hit IndiGo, shared the numbers of their cancelled or delayed flights.
"As many as 228 flights -- 131 departures and 97 arrivals-- have been cancelled due to low visibility, so far," the airport official said.
In addition to this, five flights have been diverted so far, he said.
Earlier, the Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL), in a statement, said, "Our on-ground officials are working closely with all stakeholders to assist passengers and provide necessary support across Terminals.
"Low visibility (below minima), due to dense fog, has severely impacted operations at Delhi and other airports across northern India, which is unfortunately beyond our control," IndiGo said in a statement.
As operations are adjusted to prevailing weather conditions, some flights may experience delays, while a few others may be proactively cancelled during the day to prioritise safety and minimise extended waiting at the airport, the airline said in a statement.
IndiGo, however, did not say how many of its flights were cancelled or delayed.
The airline said its teams are "closely monitoring" the situation and coordinating with Delhi airport.
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IndiGo also said it issued advisories to its customers and "proactively" informing them, to minimise inconvenience.
“Poor visibility due to dense fog in Delhi this morning has impacted flight operations for all airlines. We are closely monitoring conditions and will resume operations as soon as it is safe to do so,” Air India said in a post on X in the morning.
It also said that some flights have been cancelled In the interest of safety, and to avoid prolonged uncertainty for the guests, while listing out some 40 arrivals and departures that it had cancelled for the day.
Delhi airport is the country's busiest, handling around 1,300 flight movements daily.
