Bengaluru, December 20: Former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and few other Indian National Congress leaders were stopped from flying to Mangalore on Friday. This development was confirmed by Byatarayanapura MLA and former minister Krishna Byre Gowda who called this move as "defacto emergency". "Defacto Emergency-Sri Siddaramaiah, myself & few others were scheduled to fly to Mangalore. Govt cancelled the flight permission. Leaders like Ramesh Kumar have been arrested in MLR. Total lockdown on freedom! So much for BJP which did politics on 1975 Emergency, only to beat it," he said.

The Congress leaders were going to Mangaluru to meet the families of two people, who died during the police firing on Thursday. Several Congress leaders from Karnataka are detained at Mangaluru Airport in Bajpe. Karnataka: Two Anti-CAA Protesters Killed in Mangaluru in Alleged 'Police Firing', Curfew Imposed, Internet Suspended.

Krishna Byre Gowda Tweet:

Former Karnataka speaker KR Ramesh, Basavaraj Rayareddy, MB Patil, Nazeer Ahmed, SR Patil and VS Ugrappa were detained by the Mangaluru police. The cops allegedly asked the Congress leaders to go back and didn't allow them to step outside the airport.

Attacking Karanataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa-led state government, Siddaramaiah tweeted, "Two youths have been killed in Mangaluru due to the conspiracy of BJP, its objective of divide and rule and the lack of capability of the government. My condolences to the families of the deceased. I also request the protestors to maintain peace."

Two people died in a police firing on Thursday during the protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act 2019. Through there was protest across the state, it turned ugly in Mangaluru.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 20, 2019 04:33 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).