In break from tradition, Gauri Lankesh was seeking ads for magazine

BENGALURU: Breaking the long-held tradition of her magazine, Gauri Lankesh spent the last week in the corridors of

Vidhana Soudha

seeking advertisements.

In a meeting with a few journalists, she even discussed the options of

Gauri Lankesh Patrike

going completely digital.

Mohan Kondajji, an MLC who had known Gauri and her father

P Lankesh

, said, “I was quite surprised when she told me that she needed advertisements. The magazine had never carried an advertisement in all its years. But I went ahead and helped her in meeting ministers and department heads last week. She even met the chief minister.”

Kondajji said the advertisements were almost in the pipeline, while

Satish

, a staffer at the magazine, said: “The advertisements were not for the main edition. We were planning to bring out a pullout for Diwali and the advertisements were for that.”

Satish said he had last spoken to Gauri at about 7.10pm on Tuesday. “I met her in the office at about 12 noon. We discussed a few things about today’s (Wednesday’s) edition and I left for Vidhana Soudha to seek advertisements at about 4 pm. I returned empty-handed and she told me that we’ll focus on today’s edition first. I left at about 7.15pm and later heard the terrible news.” He added that she had never discussed any threats with him. The magazine, founded by Gauri’s father P Lankesh, had won national recognition by shunning advertisements.