CM Siddarmaiah to declare gifted luxury watch as state asset

February 25, 2016

Bengaluru, Feb 25: Under attack from the Opposition over his luxurious watch, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddarmaiah today said he would declare it as a state asset and hand it over to the government.cmwatch

"About the expensive watch I was wearing, which has been discussed almost everyday and reported in the media, I have this much to say that I will be declaring it as the state asset and deposit it with state secretariat," he told reporters here.

The controversy was fuelled by former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy who had claimed the diamond-studded Hublot watch was worth Rs 70 lakh and had been gifted to Siddaramaiah and that he had proof for his claims.

Siddaramaiah revealed that the expensive watch was gifted to him by his close friend (NRI) Gopal Pillai Girish Chandra Verma who visited India last July.

"The full name of the person who gifted this invaluable watch is Gopal Pillai Girish Chandra Verma. He had come to India in July last year. I know him since 1983 and whenever he visits India, he meets me," the Chief Minister said.

Siddaramaiah further clarified, "Verma gifted me the watch, even though I was not keen on accepting it. However, he insisted that I accept it and I accepted because of our long friendship but I did not know how expensive it was."

The CM said he would furnish relevant documents of the watch to the Lokayukta and Income Tax.

The Chief Minister's decision to declare the watch as a state asset comes in the backdrop of criticism from various quarters.

State BJP President and MP Prahalad Joshi had sought a probe by the Enforcement Directorate to find out the owner of the watch and whether customs duty had been paid for it.

A complaint had been filed by city-based activist S Bhaskaran with the state Lokayukta seeking Siddaramaiah's prosecution under the Prevention of Corruption Act for accepting the expensive gift and not declaring it before appropriate authorities.

Reacting to Siddaramaiah's announcement, Congress MLC V S Ugrappa, who had yesterday suggested three options including declaring the watch as a state asset, welcomed it.

Seeking to turn the tables, he asked Kumaraswamy to declare his "luxurious" assets, including cars and watches, as state asset.

Replying to a query, Ugrappa said the Chief Minister was busy with recent by-election, and Taluk and Zilla Panchayat polls and hence could not find time to come out with facts about the controversy earlier.

Kumaraswamy had argued that the Chief Minister should have come out openly the very next day the watch controversy came out in public.

Comments

Curious
 - 
Friday, 26 Feb 2016

Once During Umer rah ruling he distributed clothes to every one, after couple of days he was found wearing new kurtha and pajaama. One person stood and asked ' from the cloths which you distributed we could stitch only kurtha and was not enough for pajaama' but how it was possible to you? Umer rah replied for this question my son will answer . His son said, I gave my cloths to father to complete the set. A good lesson for every rulers.

Vaman Rai
 - 
Friday, 26 Feb 2016

state assets means his property only fooling public, corrupt politicians must be killed infront of public so that people are scared of taking bride.

Bhavya Shree
 - 
Friday, 26 Feb 2016

so many uncounted worth of crores gifts he got in the name of bribe, bribe can be called easily as a gift.. his friend is mad o what? he dont have family o what to gift him a 75lakh not even fools will gift this costly gift, siddaramaiah must be lieing.. govt should scan his every property. looted so many tax payers money i myself pay every year altogether around 6000 hard earned money to the fake govt, who cares.

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News Network
March 25,2020

Bengaluru, Mar 25: In what is suspected to be the second COVID-19 death in Karnataka, a 70-year-old woman from Gouribidanuru, who was under house quarantine for the last one week has died at Rajiv Gandhi Hospital for Chest Diseases.

The woman, who had recently returned from the Mecca pilgrimage developed fever on Tuesday afternoon. She was rushed to hospital, where she died on Wednesday morning.

Health and Family Welfare officials said that the throat swab sample of the woman had been sent to the laboratory for testing and the result was expected to come by afternoon.

Since last week, at least three cases of COVID-19 positive had been reported in Gouribidanuru in Chikkaballpura district, about 80 kms from Bengaluru.

Most of the suspects and confirmed cases had returned from Makkah pilgrimage. Even the deceased woman was one of them and had been advised house quarantine.

On Tuesday morning, she developed fever and was shifted to Gouribidanur hospital and later to Chikkaballapura hospital. By evening, she was moved to Rajiv Gandhi hospital, where she died on Wednesday morning.

The Chikkaballapura district administration has proclaimed prohibitory orders in the locality. They have also taken the woman's family members for testing.

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coastaldigest.com news network
May 24,2020

Mangaluru, May 24: Muslims across coastal Karnataka today observed Eid Al-Fitr by offering Eid prayers at home instead of mosques and Eidgahs.

For the first time the cities of Mangaluru and Udupi wore a deserted look on the day of Eid. Strict implementation of the lockdown was seen in the both cities. All vehicles except those transporting essentials remained off the roads.

Following the orders of orders of the deputy commissioners of the Dakshina Kannada and Udupi and guidance of religious scholars and Qadhis, Muslims preferred not to venture out of homes on the day of Eid. The 36 hours of complete lockdown which came into force yesterday at 7 p.m. will relaxed tomorrow morning at 7 a.m.

The Eidgah at Light House Hill area of the city and other prominent mosques, where thousands used to gather to offer namaz during festivals, were empty today.

Photos of simple Eid celebrations were share on social media to keep the spirit of festival alive in times of pandemic.

This time Muslims in the region had also decided not to buy any new clothes for Eid. Campaigns were run in the moth of Ramadan to encourage the Muslims to donate the amount of new clothes to the needy instead.

Throughout the month of Ramadan Muslim organisations were distributing food among the stranded migrant labourers in the region.

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coastaldigest.com news network
February 18,2020

Mangaluru, Feb 18: Within days after Kambala racer Srinivasa Gowda emerged a national hero, another Kambala racer Nishant Shetty has grabbed headlines. 

Nishant Shetty from Bajagoli Jogibettu reportedly broke Gowda’s record at the Venoor Kambala on Sunday. Shetty recorded 143m in 13.68 seconds. If calculated for 100m he clocks it in 9.51 seconds. His speed is faster than Gowda who clocked 9.55 seconds.

According to Kambala organisers, with Shetty’s feat, four participants have joined the elite club of racers who have completed the 100 metres in less than ten seconds.

They are Iruvathur Anand (9.57 secs), Akkeri Suresh Shetty (9.57 secs), Srinivas Gowda (9.55 secs) and Nishant Shetty (9.51 secs). Anand and Suresh Shetty had participated in the same Venoor Kambala where Nishant emerged first.

Kambala is an annual race held in Karnataka where people sprint 143m through paddy fields with the buffaloes. During the race, the racers try to bring the buffaloes under control by holding their reins tight and beating them, making it amply clear that the animal plays an equally important role in achieving the timing. Traditionally, it is sponsored by local Tuluva landlords and households in the coastal districts of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi.

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