Change Shivamogga airport design: Congress tells Karnataka govt

BENGALURU: AICC spokesman Brijesh Kalappa on Monday warned the BJP against going ahead with building Shivamogga airport in the shape of a lotus, which is their party symbol. He said that by doing so, the party could even forfeit its symbol, because rules clearly specify that a party cannot use public funds to build or to to propagate the party symbol. 

He said in a similar issue, the Delhi High Court had issued a judgment in 2016, where the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) had installed statues of elephants, the party symbol, in public spaces across Uttar Pradesh. 

The Election Commission had said in 2016, “It is of the view that utilising public funds or public space for promoting any political party or propagating its election symbol would be antithetical to the concept of free and fair elections, and the principle of level playing field for all stakeholders...” 

Kalappa said the issue of phone-tapping, as alleged by BJP MLA Arvind Bellad, must be investigated by the CBI. Kalappa alleged that he was also summoned by the CBI and questioned by the CBI for about 16 hours, on allegations of phone-tapping.