Three injured in head-on collision between car, goods transport van in Moodbidri
Moodbidri: Three persons, including a boy, were injured in a head-on collision between a car and a goods transport vehicle on the Nellikaru–Karkala road on Monday morning.
According to reports, the car was travelling from Hosamaru towards Karkala, while the goods vehicle was moving in the opposite direction. The accident occurred when the two vehicles collided head-on.
The injured have been identified as Krishnaraj, the driver of the goods transport vehicle, Lalithesh Gowda, who was driving the car, and a boy named Praveen. All three were rushed to a private hospital in Udupi, where they are undergoing treatment.
Police said the goods vehicle was carrying household articles, as a family from Karkala was in the process of shifting houses. The family members were also travelling in the vehicle at the time of the accident.
Both vehicles sustained severe damage due to the impact of the collision.
Moodbidri Police visited the spot, conducted an inspection and registered a case.
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Only Mamata truly countering BJP in India, saffron camp aiming 'respectable defeat' in WB: Akhilesh
Kolkata (PTI): Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday hailed West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as the only opposition leader in the entire India who is "effectively countering the BJP", and said that the saffron camp is now aiming for a "respectable defeat" in the upcoming state elections.
Yadav, accompanied by his party's senior leader Kiranmoy Nanda, met Banerjee at the state secretariat Nabanna amid a charged political atmosphere in the poll-bound state over the controversial SIR exercise, and lauded the TMC supremo for her "courage in countering the BJP's onslaughts".
"If in the entire country, someone is effectively countering the BJP, it is West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. And the BJP can only be truly opposed by the way she is doing it," the former Uttar Pradesh CM told reporters after the meeting, which lasted for about 40 minutes, with Banerjee standing next to him.
Yadav's statement assumes significance in the wake of several regional parties, that are partners in the anti-BJP nation-wide INDIA alliance, having in the past alleged "big-brotherly attitude" against the platform's biggest constituent, the Congress.
Yadav's comment on Tuesday, political observers said, was not only an applause for Banerjee's political stance but also an indirect barb against the Congress which has failed to post notable poll victories against the saffron camp since the 2024 general elections.
The former UP CM alleged that the BJP was in cahoots with the EC in conducting the SIR exercise which aimed at destroying the secular fabric of India.
"The BJP's fight here is a fight for defeat, they only want to embrace defeat with a bit of respect," he said.
Asserting that Banerjee would continue to receive people's support in her fight against the BJP, Yadav extended his party's aid to the TMC's endeavour in Bengal.
"I believe that the secular forces, the brotherhood we share that forms the identity of this nation, will come out on top. The BJP is playing with secularism, and that too in cahoots with the EC which is a constitutional body. We are happy that Didi defeated the ED and she will emerge victorious against the BJP as well. She has our full support," he said.
Referring to the EC's roll revision exercise in Uttar Pradesh where nearly 2.89 crore voters were deleted from the draft rolls, the SP leader alleged that attempts are being to implement the NRC in the garb of SIR, and harass people.
"The SIR is devised to inflict maximum suffering on people ahead of the polls. It's a different matter whether SIR was truly implemented in Bihar. But the fact is SIR was created for West Bengal," Yadav claimed.
"It is the responsibility of the EC to ensure that votes are increased and encourage more and more voters to exercise their franchise. But for the first time, we observe that the Commission and the BJP are trying to implement NRC in the garb of SIR and are harassing the common people with the express goal of reducing votes," he added.
Akhilesh, along with his wife and party's Lok Sabha MP Dimple Yadav, arrived in Kolkata on Monday to attend a family function, and referred to Banerjee recently storming the Enforcement Directorate's raid venues of I-PAC office and its director Pratik Jain's residence on January 8 to hit out at the BJP.
"Didi has defeated the ED. We are certain that she will now defeat the BJP again," he said.
"The BJP has not yet been able to forget the pains of losing the pen drive," Yadav added at Nabanna, in a purported reference to the electronic devices the chief minister had come out with from the agency's search operation premises during the raids alleging that the agency was trying to access sensitive TMC information connected to the upcoming polls.
He maintained that Banerjee saved the state from a "digital dacoity the agency was trying to commit".
"Mamata Banerjee speaks of love and brotherhood while BJP speaks of divisiveness. The BJP, through SIR, is not trying to enhance its votes; it is trying to slash the votes of its opponents. We expected a Constitutional body like the EC to remain neutral while conducting this exercise. But our experiences in states like Bengal, Bihar and UP are telling us that this is just a means to reduce the number of voters," Yadav said.
What the BJP forgets is that Bengal is not just a political unit; it is more a cultural unit from where messages of universal humanism and unity were spread, he said, adding that hate mongers will not succeed here.
Earlier in the day, the SP chief, accompanied by his wife and SP's Rajya Sabha MP Jaya Bachchan, offered prayers at the Kalighat Temple.
