Two Leftists injured as suspected RSS activists hurl bomb

Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 7: Making a scathing attack on the Central government, Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Issac on Friday said the BJP-led NDA government was "strangulating" the southern state by denying funds.

Presenting the 2020-21 budget of the Pinarayi Vijayan led-LDF government, he alleged the centre has been "helping" corporates rather that the common man.

"The Centre has been strangulating Kerala by denying funds for the state and has been moving on a self-destructive path by corporate-friendly policies and privatisation. The GST implementation has not been beneficial for the state," he said.

"The government proposes 2.5 lakh water connections in the upcoming financial year. We will also construct one lakh houses under Life Mission," the finance minister said.

The budget has allocated Rs 90 crore for Pravasi Welfare Fund and the government proposes power projects with a capacity of 500 MW.

"The government proposes Kochi development plan with a fund of Rs 6,000 crore. The city will get an unified travel card and Metro project will be extended," Issac said.

The state government has increased all welfare pension funds by Rs 100, allotted Rs 40 crore to paddy farmers and Rs 10 crore for startups in the state.

The local self-governments have been allotted Rs five crore for waste management, Rs 20 crore has been set apart for 1,000 food stalls under hunger-free Kerala, where meals will be made available at Rs 25. 

Bengaluru, Mar 30: Coffee Day Enterprises Ltd (CDEL) has received the first tranche of Rs 2,000 crore following disinvestment of Global Village Techparks to repay debts following the death of its founder V G Siddhartha.
In August last year, CDEL executed definitive agreements with entities belonging to Blackstone Group and Salarpuria Sattva Group for investment in GV Techparks, a wholly-owned subsidiary of group company Tanglin Development Ltd (TDL), at an enterprise value of Rs 2,700 crore.
The balance amount is expected to be received after the receipt of few statutory approvals, CDEL said in a statement.
"Out of the money received in first tranche, the company has paid off its debts in full including principal and interest amounting to Rs 1,644 crore to the lenders despite difficult economic conditions," it said.
Post this payment, the consolidated debt of the company and its subsidiaries stands at Rs 3,200 crore as on March 27. This includes debt of Rs 1,400 crore of its subsidiary Sical Logistics Ltd where disinvestment process is in progress.
"The company and subsidiaries have repaid around Rs 4,000 crore to the lenders since the beginning of this financial year," CDEL said.
"With the continuous support of stakeholders of the company, the current management is working to ensure better liquidity and operational efficiency. The company is confident of the future ahead despite various challenges," it added.
The company has been in rough waters after its founder V G Siddhartha took his own life as debt strains began to emerge in his company. Since his death in July last year, CDEL has been trying to divest its assets to pare debts.
On July 30, 2019, CDEL informed stock exchanges about Siddhartha's disappearance. In a letter that was purportedly written by him, the Cafe Coffee Day founder said: "I could not take any more pressure from one of the private equity partners forcing me to buy back shares."

Bengaluru, Mar 19: Karnataka High Court on Wednesday rejected the plea by Congress leader Digvijay Singh seeking directions to the police to allow him to meet rebel Madhya Pradesh Congress MLAs who are lodged in Bengaluru.

Earlier in the day, Singh said at a press conference, "I have filed a plea in the Karnataka High Court, seeking permission to meet Madhya Pradesh Congress MLAs who are putting up at Bengaluru. I have decided to be on fast and shall take a call on that after the decision of the Supreme Court and the High Court," Singh said at a press conference here earlier.

Singh said, "The BJP is busy in toppling duly-elected governments. We had successfully thwarted their plans to destabilise the MP government but we were let down by Jyotiraditya Scindia who had a very successful career in Congress."

"We never expected that he would ditch us and join hands with the BJP," he added.

The Congress leader also said that the BJP government had become insecure since the Kamal Nath-led government started tightening the laws on mining.

"Chief Minister Kamal Nath drafted a new mining policy for the sand under which the mines were allotted through auction. All this was unpalatable to the BJP and from Day 1 they started offering money to our Congress legislators," he said.

"In BJP, the Atal Bihari Vajpayee's kind of leadership no longer exists. The leadership which controls the BJP now includes people who have joined hands to do all kinds of unscrupulous things which has led to a stage in India where the banks are collapsing, non-performing assets and unemployment are growing," he added.

Earlier today, he was put under preventive arrest after he sat on a dharna near Ramada Hotel here allegedly for not being allowed to meet the 21 rebel Congress MLAs lodged in the hotel.