Mangaluru: Dakshina Kannada district BJP president Sathish Kumpala on Wednesday questioned the Karnataka Congress govt’s silence over Kerala’s opposition to the proposed transfer of the Mangaluru railway area from the Southern Railway’s Palakkad division to the South Western Railway’s Mysuru division. Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Kumpala welcomed the Railway Board’s decision and said PM Narendra Modi, railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union minister V Somanna and Dakshina Kannada MP Captain Brijesh Chowta for facilitating the two-decade-old demand. Kumpala said the demand to bring Mangaluru under the Mysuru division had been pending for nearly 25 years, with successive MPs, railway activists and residents campaigning for it since 2003. Responding to objections raised by Kerala’s Congress MPs and other functionaries, who have described the move as a setback to the state’s railway interests, Kumpala said Kerala would not suffer any significant loss. He questioned why the Congress govt in Karnataka had not publicly supported a decision that, he said, was beneficial to the state.
