Siddaramaiah hands over gifted watch to Assembly Speaker

March 2, 2016

Bengaluru, Mar 2: Mired in a controversy over a luxury watch gifted to him, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah today handed it over to the Speaker amid uproar in the state Assembly, declaring it a state asset.

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As the Assembly was rocked by the controversy for the second consecutive day, an angry Siddaramaiah gave the watch and a letter to Speaker Kagodu Thimappa as BJP and JDS members continued to stage a dharna in the well of the House.

Siddaramaiah's dramatic gesture came when the House reassembled after two adjournments with BJP and JDS persisting with their demand for a discussion on the issue.

The Chief Minister said in the letter to the Speaker, who read it out, that he had paid "advance tax" for the watch.

"I, being the Chief Minister of Karnataka, by following the precedents set by my predecessors in Office, declare that the gifted watch HUBLOT BIG BANG.301-M as government asset...," Siddaramaiah said.

He requested the Speaker to forward the watch to the Chief Secretary to place it in the Cabinet Hall at Vidhana Soudha, the state secretariat, today.

"I, being a law abiding citizen, have paid the tax on the said gifted watch as advance tax on this day of 2nd March 2016," the letter said.

He said the pre-owned "HUBLOT BIG BANG-301-M" wrist watch was presented to him by his Dubai-based NRI friend Dr Girish Chandra Varma in July last at Bengaluru as a personal gift.

Siddaramiah also said Varma has no official dealings with Government of Karnataka or its organisations.

Opposition BJP leader Jagadish Shettar dismissed Siddaramaiah's action as "high drama" and said he was doing so thinking that the controversy would end.

A high-level probe by a central agency should be conducted, he said.

The Chief Minister is in the eye of a storm over the diamond-studded watch.

As controversy erupted, he declared last week that the watch, claimed to be worth Rs 70 lakh, would be declared as state asset and handed over to the government.

As the Assembly met for the day, BJP members entered the well of the House and demanded that a discussion on the issue be allowed and Speaker should reconsider his decision on not allowing an adjournment motion on the issue.

However, Thimmappa, who yesterday rejected BJP's appeal to allow adjournment motion, stuck to his decision.

Following this, BJP continued its protest, stating that affidavit, documents and receipt relating to the watch had to be made public by Verma, who is said to have gifted it.

As both opposition and treasury benches were involved in war of words, the House was adjourned by the Speaker who called the floor leaders for a meeting.

When the House reassembled, opposition members again entered the well and demanded a discussion.

Amidst sloganeering and protest by opposition, the Speaker even allowed introduction and passage of Karnataka Legislature Salaries, Pension and Allowances (Second Amendment) Bill, 2015, aimed at making provision to provide family pension to family members of the member deceased before December 26, 1978 operative from February 22, 2014.

As the protest continued, the Speaker once gain adjourned the House till afternoon.

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Comments

Rikaz
 - 
Thursday, 3 Mar 2016

He should have kept it with him....who cares....why the hell kumarswami cares...if you go and dig KS home...you will find crores of corrupt money in his home....

suleman
 - 
Wednesday, 2 Mar 2016

If that is the Genuine Hublot Bigbang, I bet that is worth Rs. 30 Lakhs.
Any way for Reddy brothers and Kumaraswamy that is peanut.

Rikaz
 - 
Wednesday, 2 Mar 2016

Why did he give it to State...it was a gift for him...strange...opposition do do not have any other issue to screw him....common guy its a watch...why on the hell you guys stopping proceedings...wasting tax payers money...

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News Network
January 14,2020

Bengaluru, Jan 14: Days after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) capped to Rs 35,000 the withdrawal limit of Sri Guru Raghavendra Co-operative Bank, BJP MP Tejasvi Surya on Monday reassured account holders and said Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was personally monitoring the issue.

Taking to Twitter, Surya said, "I want to assure all depositors of Sri Guru Raghavendra Co-operative Bank to not panic. Hon'ble Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is appraised of matter and is personally monitoring the issue. She has assured the government will protect interests of depositors. Grateful for her concern."

The Bengaluru South MP also attached a letter in his tweet where he had appraised Sitharaman of the situation.

"Finance Minister, after speaking with the RBI governor and other authorities concerned, assured Surya that the government will do everything in its capacity to protect the interests of the depositors and the long term interests of the bank," the letter read.

It said that Surya also reached out to Sitharaman "three times on January 13" after which she reassured him that the "depositors need not panic".

RBI had, on January 10, imposed certain restrictions on Sri Gururaghavendra Sahakara Bank Niyamitha.

"In particular, a sum not exceeding Rs 35,000 of the total balance in every savings bank or current account or any other deposit account may be allowed to be withdrawn subject to conditions stated in the above RBI directions," the notification said.

The regulatory body said that the bank will continue to undertake banking business with restrictions until its financial position improves.

"These directions shall remain in force for a period of six months from the close of business of January 10 and are subject to review," it said.

The bank has been restricted from granting or renewing any loans and advances, make any investment, incur any liability including borrowal of funds and acceptance of fresh deposits, disburse or agree to disburse any payment whether in discharge of its liabilities and obligations or otherwise, enter into any compromise or arrangement and sell, transfer or otherwise dispose of any of its properties or assets except.

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News Network
July 5,2020

Bengaluru, Jul 6: With a record 1,925 new cases across the state during the last 24 hours, Karnataka's Covid-19 tally rose to 23,474 including 13,251 active after 9,847 were discharged till date, an official said on Sunday.

"Of the total cases across the state on a single day, Bengaluru accounted for 1,235, taking its positive tally to 9,580, including 8,167 active," said the health official in a statement.

With 37 succumbing to the disease in the state, including 16 from Bengaluru, the state's death toll increased to 372, with 145 from this tech city since March 9.

Of the 603 discharged from across the state during the day, 302 were from Bengaluru, taking its total number of cured to 1,267 so far.

Of the 243 cases in the intensive care unit (ICU) across the state, 132 are in Bengaluru, 15 at Dharwad, 12 at Kalaburagi and 10 each at Ballari and Raichur.

Of the 16,899 samples tested in the day, 14,649 were negative and 1,925 positive. Of the total 7,06,425 samples tested so far, 6,65,525 were negative and 23,474 positive.

After Bengaluru, Dakshina Kannada reported 142 positive cases followed by Ballari 90, Vijayapura 57, Kalaburagi 49 and Udupi and Dharwad 45 each.

Of the total 603 discharged, 52 were from Kalaburagi, 37 from Ballari, 36 from Dakshina Kannada and 22 each from Udupi and Dharwad.

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News Network
April 28,2020

Bengaluru, Apr 28: Providing respite, Karnataka has decided to ‘conditionally’ allow economic activities to restart in green zones.

The green zones of Chamarajanagar, Koppal, Chikkamagaluru, Raichur, Chitradurga, Ramanagara, Hassan, Shivamogga, Haveri, Yadgir, Kolar, Davangere, Udupi and Kodagu will now see shops and industrial activities starting operations, according to an order issued by Chief Secretary TM Vijay Bhaskar on Tuesday.

Lockdown restrictions in the wake of COVID-19 will continue in Bengaluru Urban, Belagavi, Mysuru, Vijayapura, Bagalkot, Kalaburagi, Bidar and Dakshina Kannada. Here, only essential services and supplies will be allowed.

In green zones, all shops that include neighbourhood shops, standalone shops, shops in residential complexes within the limits of municipal corporations and municipalities can open with 50 per cent manpower but with masks and social distancing mandatory.

Shops in residential and marketing complexes are allowed to open in areas located outside municipal limits, the order states.

Multi-brand and single-brand malls will remain shut across Karnataka.

Industries operating in rural areas of these green zones (except Ramanagara) have been allowed to start. Also, manufacturing and other industrial establishments with access control in special economic zones and export-oriented units, industrial estates and industrial townships will be allowed to operate.

“These establishments shall make arrangements for stay of workers within their premises as far as possible and/ or adjacent buildings. The transportation of workers to workplace shall be arranged by the employers in dedicated transport by ensuring social distancing (sic),” Bhaskar said in the order.

This order comes a day after Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa participated in a video conference with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and with all deputy commissioners.

No decision on relaxing lockdown restrictions has been taken for Ballari, Mandya, Bengaluru Rural, Gadag, Tumakuru, Chikkaballapur, Uttara Kannada and Dharwad. “The decision regarding opening of shops and industries in taluks where there are no active COVID-19 cases will be taken by the concerned district in-charge minister,” Bhaskar said.

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