DKMA hands over Rs 2 lakh to Ullal attack victim's kin

Bengaluru, Jan 23: Expressing shock over the blast which left him and his supporters injured yesterday, Shantinagar MLA NA Haris today said that the incident cannot be brushed aside as a firecracker blast and appealed to the state government to inquire into the incident.

Recovering from the injuries sustained on his leg, Haris was discharged from St Philomena's Hospital on Thursday afternoon. 

Interacting with mediapersons outside his residence in Shantinagar, Haris said, “It wasn’t a cracker but a ball-like object that was hurled at me. Since my childhood, I have been seeing crackers and the object that was thrown at me was certainly not a cracker. It had splinters and hard objects.”

He said, “I have been representing the constituency for over 12-years and had no rivalry with anyone. Barring political ideology during elections, all the leaders in our constituency have been cooperative with each other. Yet, we do not know what the intention was or who was behind the incident.”

Revealing that home minister Basavaraj Bommai had called him to enquire about his condition at the hospital Haris said, “I have also briefed the home minister and explained to him what exactly happened. I have full faith in the police and will cooperate with the police during the investigation.” Haris said that doctors have advised him three to four-days of rest.

Bengaluru, May 13: Former chief minister and senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah on Wednesday called the measures announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman as 'disastrous' and said it is 'non-existent' in terms of benefits to poor migrants, labourers, contract employees and farmers.

"The first set of measures announced by @FinMinIndia @nsitharaman, after 8 PM speech by @narendramodi, is disastrous & non-existent in terms of benefits to poor migrants, labourers, contract employees, farmers, etc," Siddaramaiah said in a tweet.

The Congress leader said most of the intended benefits may not reach the end recipient.

This comes a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a Rs 20 lakh crore special economic package to revive the COVID-19 hit economy.

"The contribution by the government for the schemes announced are mostly notional and less of actuals and the devil lies in the detail," the Congress leader said in another tweet.

After Sitharaman announced support measures for MSMEs, Siddaramaiah said, "The credit infusion to MSMEs may help them clear dues to vendors but it is doubtful if they shall utilise the credit available to pay their labourers & to prevent job cuts. @FinMinIndia should have taken measures to pay part of the salaries to the employees in MSMEs."

Further questioning the Centre on 'ignoring the spending for boosting consumption', Siddaramaiah said, "The government is interested in capital infusion in the form of credits but totally ignorant of the actual spending that needs to be done to boost consumption. How can credit be considered as government spending?"

Siddaramaiah said the next set of measures should benefit the marginalised sections.

"Will be looking forward to next set of measures & I hope it will be something to benefit the marginalised sections. Direct benefits to the poorest sections will help them survive this pandemic. COVID-19 fight should not be another perception battle but a real one," he added in another tweet.

Sitharaman earlier announced Rs 3 lakh crore collateral-free automatic loans for businesses, including MSMEs.

Besides this, she also stated that to provide stressed MSMEs with equity support, the government will facilitate the provision of Rs 20,000 crore as subordinate debt.

Bengaluru, April 3: One new positive case of COVID-19 was reported in the state on Friday.

The patient is a 75-year-old man from Bagalkot and has been isolated at a designated hospital in Bagalkot, the State government said.

"Till date, 125 COVID-19 cases have been confirmed in the state, this includes three deaths and 11 discharges," it added.

The total number of coronavirus positive cases rose to 2301 in India on Friday, including 156 cured/discharged, 56 deaths and 1 migrated, as per the data provided by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.