Mangaluru : “The bomb scare at Mangaluru international airport is nothing but an intelligence failure,” said MLA U T Khader.

Addressing media here on Wednesday, January 22, Khader said, “The first instance of intelligence failure was when the accused planted bomb at Mangaluru International Airport with such ease and second failure was when the accused easily landed in Bengaluru and then he surrendered to police. Where was police despite having CCTV footage and pictures of the accused? How come the accused reach Bengaluru so easily? Planting bomb at the airport is a serious issue and such ant-social elements exist in all religions.

“BJP leaders came to conclusion before the culprit was apprehended. We need to understand what made him to carry out this crime. If he was mentally not stable, then how it was possible for him to know to fix the bomb and escape from the airport and reach Bengaluru without any problem and then surrender to police? He alone cannot do this. I suspect there is a conspiracy behind the incident. The conspirator needs to be identified first.

“Home minister Basavaraj Bommai and union minister Prahlad Joshi need to apologise for their statements made with regards to the bomb scare,” he said.

When asked about H D Kumaraswamy’s statement that it was a mock show, Khader said, “Kumaraswamy is a former chief minister, who has handled the Home department. He has his own sources based upon which he has expressed suspicion about the incident.”

Khader said, “The Cabinet has approved the construction of bridge-cum-barrage across Netravati river connecting Harekala Kadav to Adyar, worth Rs 194 crore.

“The work of the bridge will commence soon and tender is given to G Shankar from our district. Bridge will have a length of 520 meter with 1.25 meter of pathway on both sides and also a 7.5 meter carriage way. Two and half years would be the time fixed for completion,” he said.