Has Congress adopted the Muslims, asks Deve Gowda

Bengaluru, Jul 23: The opposition party Congress on Thursday demanded a judicial enquiry in the alleged scam in coronavirus related medical equipment procurement by Karnataka government.

However, Deputy chief minister Ashwathnarayan and Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai denied all the allegations.

Leader of Opposition (LoP) and former Chief Minister of Karnataka Siddaramaiah and Karnataka Congress president DK Shivakumar addressed a press conference here and demanded a judiciary enquiry under a sitting High Court judge to investigate "BJP's Corona Scams."

"I made allegations on July 3. Nobody has denied it officially. On July 20, Karnataka Health Minister B Sriramulu and Deputy Chief Minister Ashwathnarayan in a press conference denied my allegations. Today, I furnished 14 documents. If you go through it, you will find corruption and misappropriation in medical equipment purchase," Siddaramaiah said.

"The documents are available with the government, how can they deny their own documents. They are telling that they have spent only Rs 324 crore but according to me the government has spent more than Rs 4,000 crore and nearly Rs 2,000 crore went in the minister and bureaucrats' pockets," he said.

He further said, "Centre has procured 50,000 ventilators under PM Cares at a cost of Rs 4, lakh per unit. Tamil Nadu has procured at Rs 4.78 lakh. But in our state, the price is between Rs 5.6 lakh to Rs 18.2 lakh. Is this not corruption?"

Siddaramaiah also dared the government to step up for an enquiry if they are "honest and transparent".

"I am demanding, constitute a judicial committee headed by sitting high court judge, let there be an enquiry in detail," he said.

DK Shivakumar said that his party has made the allegations based on government documents and media reports showing corruption.

"Karnataka government is purchasing equipment at high rates. We have exposed BJP's Rs 2,000 crore scams today. The government's main focus is to loot. They have paralysed the state administration," he said.
Denying the Congress' allegations, Deputy Chief Minister, Ashwathnarayan said that the government is ready to discuss this in the Assembly house.

"They have alleged Rs 700 crore misappropriation by health department but we have shown we have spent only Rs 290 crore," he said.

Giving details of the SDRF expenditure towards COVID-19 containment he said, "We have released Rs. 23,220.01 lakh in SDRF accounts and they have spent Rs Rs. 15, 918.99 lakh in various activities like migrant relief measures, measures for quarantine, sample collection, screening from March 14 to July 16."

Karnataka Home Minister, Basavaraj Bommai, said, "Karnataka government has spent Rs 506 crores for medical equipment and Rs 1,611 crores for other activities related to combatting COVID-19. So, we have spent Rs 2,117 crores as of now and there is no corruption in it."

Belagavi, Feb 22: A madrasa in Karnataka’s Belagavi district hosted a Hindu-Muslim mass marriage on its premises on Friday, sending a strong message of communal amity. As many as 76 Muslim couples and 25 Hindu couples entered marital life on the occasion.

Madarsa Al Arabia Anwarul Ulooma, an Islamic religious institute in Bailhongal, 50km from Belagavi district headquarters, played host to the event that was organised by Jamia Faizan-ul-Quran and Issa Foundation, which has conducted mass marriages on a bigger scale in Gujarat.

The mass marriage comes a month after the 100-year-old Cheravally Jamaat Masjid in Kerala’s Kayamkulam in Alappuzha hosted a Hindu wedding, complete with a vegetarian feast for 4,000 people. A Hindu priest led the rituals, and the couple sought the blessings of chief imam Riyasudeen Faizy of the mosque.

At Bailhongal, moulvis and pontiffs led the marriage proceedings and asked the couples to read passages from Quran and Bhagvad Gita.

The Hindu couples were gifted a copy of the Gita, and newly-married Muslim couples received a copy of Quran. The organisers provided each Hindu bride a mangalsutra. Bailhongal MLA Mahantesh Koujalagi blessed the couples at the event, which was attended by more than 4,000 people.

Mohammad Rafique A Naik, a member of Jamia Faizan-ul-Quran, said they have gifted each couple a refrigerator, an almirah and a tailoring machine. Ranjita Kalala, a bride who married a daily-wage labourer, said her family couldn’t afford the cost of a wedding, adding, “When we learnt about the Bailhongal madrassa’s plan, we agreed to sign up because it also sends out a message of communal harmony.”

Bengaluru, May 22: Karnataka reported 138 fresh cases of coronavirus on Friday, taking the state tally to 1743.

26 patients have been discharged on Friday and in total, 597 people have been discharged in Karnataka while total number of active cases in the state is 1,100. 41 people have succumbed to the virus, informed the state health department.

Out of the 138 cases, 111 are returnees from Maharashtra.Out of the 138 cases, 47 are from Chikkaballapura alone, 10 cases from Raichur eight cases each from Bidar and Mandya, five cases each from Bengaluru Rural and Bengaluru Urban, and 14 are from Hassan.

From Bengaluru Rural, three patients are returnees from Maharashtra. A fifty-five year old female from Bengaluru Rural, has contracted the virus and has been diagnosed with a history of SARI. She is currently under observation at a designated city hospital.

Five patients have tested positive from Bengaluru Urban. A 42-year-old woman tested positive in Bengaluru Urban and has been diagnosed with a history of Influenza-like Illness (ILI). She is currently under observation at a designated city hospital.

Two men, who have tested positive from Dharwad are returnees from Delhi. Both of them are currently under observation at a designated hospital in Hubli. A seventy-five year old male who has contracted the coronavirus has returned from Jharkhand.