Shivamogga: A man and a three-year-old child were killed on the spot as a truck collided with a motorbike in Hulikal Ghat of Hosanagara taluk late Thursday night.

The accident was reported from near Lakshmi Narasimha Temple in Hulikal. The victims were identified as Kampana Kaina Ravi of Mastikatte and his brother’s child, said sources.

A woman, who was also traveling with the victims, is learned to have been admitted to a hospital by the locals.

The driver of the truck that hit the two-wheeler is absconding, the sources added.

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Mumbai, Sep 10: BJP leader Kirit Somaiya on Tuesday refused to take up the responsibility as "communication chief with the Election Commission of India for Maharashtra assembly polls", stating that he should have been consulted beforehand.

In a letter to Raosaheb Danve, chairman of the party's state election campaign committee, the former Mumbai MP termed the treatment given to him as 'insulting'.

"It is wrong to appoint me as communication chief with the Election Commission of India for Maharashtra assembly polls without even discussing it with me. I disapprove of it, but you can appoint someone else for that position," read the letter.

"I am not a member of this committee, and I request you and the state president (Chandrashekhar Bawankule) not to treat me such insultingly," Somaiya added.

The letter also touched on a period in the past when the BJP, then in alliance with the Shiv Sena led by Uddhav Thackeray, had to sideline Somaiya as he had targeted the Shiv Sena continually over alleged corruption in the Mumbai civic body. Having won in 2014, he was denied Lok Sabha ticket in 2019, as well as in 2024.

"I have been working as a humble party worker since February 18, 2019, when BJP leaders directed me to leave the joint press conference because of Uddhav Thackeray's insistence. I took the responsibility of exposing various corrupt practices of the then Uddhav Thackeray government and also survived three near-fatal attacks, but I did my duty," he said.

"I am satisfied with the affection I have received from you during these last five and a half years. I will continue to work for the party in the upcoming assembly elections," Somaiya added.

The former Mumbai MP later also posted a message on X, saying, "I thank BJP Maharashtra for appointing me as Member of Campaign Committee and expressed Regrets and inability to do the same. I am still an active and ordinary member of the BJP and will continue to do so, but I will not join the committee."

When asked for comment, state BJP chief Bawankule said, "Somaiya is our senior leader. It is a rule in the BJP that we do not ask anyone, we delegate responsibilities. The party did not discuss with me whether I wanted to become state chief or not. I was made state chief directly."