Modi fans target Ramya for criticising his indifference towards flood victims

Bengaluru, Jun 9: JD(S) patriarch H D Deve Gowda on Tuesday filed his nomination as party's candidate for June 19 Rajya Sabha elections from Karnataka.

The former Prime Minister was accompanied by his sons former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy and former Minister H D Revanna, state JD(S) chief H K Kumaraswamy and others, as he filed his papers at the office of Legislative Assembly Secretary M K Vishalakshi, who is the returning officer for the polls. JD(S) on Monday had announced that Gowda will be contesting the Rajya Sabha polls.

Announcing the decision, Kumaraswamy had said Gowda decided to contest following the request of Congress President Sonia Gandhi, several national leaders and party legislators, and it was not an easy task to "persuade" him to enter the Rajya Sabha.

The JD(S), which has 34 seats in the assembly, is not in a position to win a seat in Rajya Sabha on its own and will need support from the Congress with its surplus votes. A minimum of 45 votes are required for a candidate to win. If he wins, this will be the second Rajya Sabha entry for 87-year-old Gowda, the first time being in 1996 as the Prime Minister.

Gowda was defeated in Tumkur constituency by BJP's G S Basavaraj by over 13,000 votes in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. As joint candidate of the then ruling Congress-JDS coalition, Gowda had chosen to contest from Tumkur at the last minute after vacating Hassan-his home turf, to grandson Prajwal Revanna (a current MP).

Election is scheduled on June 19 to fill four Rajya Sabha seats from Karnataka, represented by Rajeev Gowda and BK Hariprasad of Congress, Prabhakar Kore of the BJP and D Kupendra Reddy of JD(S) that will fall vacant on June 25, with their retirement. Today is the last date for filing nominations. With BJP not fielding any candidate against Gowda, his election is likely to be unanimous.

Abu Dhabi-based NMC Healthcare has reportedly received bids to sell its distribution unit and will soon be selling it to different parties.

The development comes over three months after NMC Healthcare’s founder and then-chairman B R Shetty stepped down amid allegations of massive fraud. 

The company, which recently laid off hundreds of workers, is offloading stake in the subsidiary as it is considered non-core and requires substantially high working capital to run the operations. In addition, this stake sale will help the company pay off some of its debt

"There are parties who have strong interest in the distribution business. NMC will be offloading the unit soon and that also to different parties," a source said.

"The company is in the process of exploring options for NMC Trading, the group's distribution business, which it has determined to be non-core and requiring substantial levels of working capital. The process should not materially adversely impact distributors' activities, nor NMC Trading's customers," an NMC Healthcare spokeswoman said.

The UK-court has appointed Alvarez & Marsal as administrator to oversee the operations of the debt-ridden hospital operator. The healthcare firm has been caught in a whirlpool of $6.6 billion debt while its senior former high management team is under investigation for financial irregularities.

The UAE Central Bank has direct local banks to freeze all bank accounts of NMC founder BR Shetty and his family members as well as accounts of those companies where he has a stake. The Central Bank move is subsequent to a criminal complaint filed by Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, which has the largest exposure to NMC Healthcare, amounting Dh3 billion.

As the company faces financial difficulties, Reuters reported that NMC Health delayed May staff salaries and now expects to complete making payments by the first week of June.

The spokeswoman said: "The company has been in regular dialogue with its creditor constituencies through various creditor committees, including the direct bank lenders to its NMC Trading businesses."

Bengaluru, Apr 28: Former Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday suggested that the government can allow sale of liquor in green zones. 

“Merely because there is an economic slowdown in the state, I don’t recommend that alcohol should be allowed to be sold. But, wherever there are green districts, they can open (liquor sale) with certain restrictions, I think,” Siddaramaiah, the leader of the Opposition, told reporters. 

There are 14 districts in the state that are categorised as green because they do not have any active COVID-19 cases. The green districts are: Yadgir, Raichur, Koppal, Haveri, Davangere, Shivamogga, Chitradurga, Udupi, Chikmagalur, Hassan, Kodagu, Chamarajanagar, Ramanagara and Kolar.

There is tremendous pressure on the B S Yediyurappa administration to revive the economy as the lockdown has dried up all revenue sources. Excise, alone, accounts for 18 per cent of Karnataka’s own tax revenue. 

The Excise department recently suggested allowing regulated sale of liquor through the state-run MSIL outlets. The government, however, did not approve it fearing crowding and backlash from the Centre.