Here are the big stories from Karnataka today

Karnataka Today newsletter: BJP sounds poll bugle as BSY calls on workers to bring party to power on its own in 2028

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) veteran B. S. Yediyurappa, who was felicitated for completing 50 years in politics at the party’s State executive meeting in Bengaluru on February 19, called upon party workers to ensure that the party comes to power ‘independently’ in Karnataka in the 2028 Assembly polls and to ‘dislodge the corrupt Congress government ruling the State’. Significantly, he did not touch upon the BJP’s alliance with the Janata Dal (Secular). 

Though BJP was in power for two terms in Karnataka, it has never won a simple majority on its own. Both times, Mr. Yediyurappa became chief minister with the support of either independents or defectors, through a process that is now infamous as ‘Operation Kamala’. The 82-year-old leader said that he is fit and healthy. “God willing, I can tour the State for another five to six years. I am ready to come wherever you want me to work for the party,” he said. 

Employees of the state-run Road Transport Corporations staged an agitation on February 19, 2026, demanding salary revision and clearance of pending arrears, among other issues. However, the RTCs maintained that services remained largely unaffected, reporting normal operations with overall fleet utilisation exceeding 96%.

According to official data, a total of 12,458 scheduled departures were planned across KSRTC, BMTC, NWKRTC and KKRTC. Of these, 11,987 services were operated, achieving an overall operation rate of 96.22%. With the addition of 663 extra services, total operated services touched 12,650, taking the effective operation percentage to 101.54%, as of 10 a.m. on the day.

Close on the heels of Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announcing introduction of a coastal Vande Bharat Express service, the Railway Ministry has proposed a service between Yesvantpur in Bengaluru and Madgaon in Goa via Mangaluru railway region. According to the proposal, the service will skip Mangaluru Junction and Mangaluru Central stations, and will run via Padil.

The running time in each direction would be about 13 hours. The South Western Railway (SWR), in a note, stated that if the VB has to run via Mangaluru Junction, running time has to be increased. Two VB rakes would have to be deployed for the service, one each starting from Yesvantpur and Madgaon in the morning to reach their destinations in the evening.