Minister Byrathi Basavaraj goes off radar after landing in Mangaluru

MANGALURU: Urban Development minister Byrathi Basavaraj, who along with five other ministers, got a temporary injunction from broadcasting and circulating any defamatory news against them from a local court in Bengaluru, has gone incommunicado after he landed in Mangaluru Airport on Saturday.

As per his tour schedule, the minister was to visit Kukke Subramanya Temple and then to Sri Manjunatheshwara Temple in Dharmasthala to offer puja and stay overnight in Dharmasthala on Saturday. On Sunday, he is scheduled to visit Sri Kateel Durgaparameshwari Temple before returning to Bengaluru.

But till 9 pm on Saturday, the minister’s whereabouts were not known to any officials or BJP leaders in the district. He did not even visit Kukke Subramanya and Dharmasthala temples. Karnataka Fisheries Development Corporation chairman Nithin Kumar, who along with MUDA chairman Ravishankar Mijar and others, received the minister at airport at 1.30 pm, said they just returned from the airport after the minister got into his car.

Kumar said the minister, besides visiting the temples, also had plans to attend a Kambala event near Mangaluru. But sources said he did not go there too. When TNSE tried to contact the minister over phone, both his numbers were switched off. 

Earlier, speaking to reporters at Mangaluru airport, Basavaraj said they sought a court injunction as they had information about a conspiracy being hatched against them. “We’re being targeted as we switched from Congress. Hence, we approached the court. There’s nothing more to it,” he said.

Asked about the need to approach court and whether ‘something’ had taken place in Mumbai, as claimed by opponents, he said, “If there is anything, let them release documents’. He further said that they are being targeted for doing a ‘good job’. He did not give a direct reply when asked whether Congress is hatching a conspiracy against them.  Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr K Sudhakar, who was to visit Mangaluru and hold a review meeting, also cancelled his visit.