Shivamogga airport to start operations tomorrow; IndiGo flight to be first
Bengaluru, Aug 30: Flight operations at Shivamogga airport in Karnataka would begin on Thursday, according to Infrastructure Development Minister M B Patil.
The first flight (Indigo) will depart from here at 9.50 am and reach Shivamogga at 11.05 am, he said on Tuesday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Shivamogga airport on February 27, coinciding with the 80th birthday of Karnataka BJP strongman B S Yediyurappa.
Shivamogga is the home district of Yediyurappa, a four-time Chief Minister.
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The new airport has been developed at a cost of around Rs 450 crore. The passenger terminal building of the airport can handle 300 passengers per hour, officials said.
The airport is expected to improve connectivity and accessibility from Shivamogga and other neighbouring areas in the Malnad region of Karnataka, they said.
Patil, who is also the Large and Medium Industries Minister, said he would travel in the first flight to Shivamogga with Shivamogga district in-charge Minister Madhu Bangarappa, Yediyurappa and Shivamogga Lok Sabha member B Y Raghavendra, among others.
"Tickets have been booked for the next three weeks in advance. There is good demand", he said.
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We will move court again to resist voter deletions: Mamata
Kolkata (PTI): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday hit out at the BJP and the Election Commission over voter deletions during the SIR exercise and said her party will move a court again to resist the removal of electors from the rolls.
Her comments came after nearly 91 lakh voters' names were deleted from the electoral rolls following the completion of the Special Intensive Revision in the state.
“You will not be able to defeat the TMC by deleting names. We will move a court again to resist the exclusion of names," Banerjee said while attacking her principal challenger BJP over the roll revision exercise.
Banerjee had in February argued in the Supreme Court as she sought an intervention in the SIR process.
The EC figures, which pushed the total deletion to over 90.83 lakh names from the original voter base of 7.66 crore in October 2025, showed that the proportion of removal of electors now remains at over 11.85 per cent.
Criticising the poll panel over the SIR process, she also said, "We will fight legally to get the names included on the list as per the Constitution. If people cannot cast their votes, what is the need to frame the tribunal? And then you are saying that the list has been frozen. What is this? We will challenge it and try to understand it."
Addressing a poll rally at Arambagh in Hooghly district, the TMC supremo accused the saffron party of trying to manipulate the electoral rolls and offering money to woo voters.
Banerjee also charged the Election Commission with intimidating people over the phone.
“It (EC) is working at the behest of the BJP. It is calling people over the telephone to threaten and intimidate them,” she claimed.
Later, while speaking at a rally in Balagarh in the same district, Banerjee warned that voting for the BJP would effectively mean "giving up fish, meat, and speaking in Bengali".
“People are not allowed to eat eggs, fish, or meat in the BJP-ruled states like Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Maharashtra. The same will happen here if the BJP comes to power," Banerjee claimed.
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