Dakshina Kannada district in charge Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao on Wednesday, November 12, took serious objection to not being invited to the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the New Mangalore Port Authority scheduled for Thursday, November 13, here.
In letters to the Union Shipping Minister and other senior officials, Mr. Rao said while everyone was proud about the achievements of the NMPA during the last five decades, it was regrettable to note that the authority chose not to invite the district in charge Minister of the State government to the programme.
Mr. Rao further said, “While breach of protocol can sometimes be attributed to ignorance, in this case, it seems deliberate as the authority has not forgotten to invite all possible past and present representatives connected to the Bharatiya Janata Party of Mangaluru. We should be thankful that the authority stopped short of inviting the heads of right-wing fringe groups in the district as well.”
Refutes the charge
NMPA Chairman A.V. Ramana however refuted the charges and said that the authority wrote to all the dignitaries concerned, including Mr. Rao and Legislative Assembly Speaker U.T. Khader, on November 11 after the Shipping Ministry on November 10 approved holding the celebrations on Thursday. Their names were not included in the initial invitation card as the authority had not received their confirmation, Mr. Ramana said.
The chairman himself wrote the letters to the dignitaries informing them about the Golden Jubilee celebrations and inviting them for the programme. Mr. Ramana said the protocols followed by the State government and the Central government are different and hence there could have been some confusion. However, neither the authority nor the Ministry intended to show disrespect to the State government and had promptly invited them for the programme, he said.
While the initial invitation had the name of Karnataka Ports and Fisheries Minister Mankal S. Vaidya and Union Minister of State Shobha Karandlaje among others, the subsequent invitation bore the names of Mr. Rao and Mr. Khader additionally while omitting Ms. Karandlaje’s name.
Published – November 12, 2025 07:27 pm IST
