CM Siddarmaiah to declare gifted luxury watch as state asset

February 25, 2016

Bengaluru, Feb 25: Under attack from the Opposition over his luxurious watch, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddarmaiah today said he would declare it as a state asset and hand it over to the government.cmwatch

"About the expensive watch I was wearing, which has been discussed almost everyday and reported in the media, I have this much to say that I will be declaring it as the state asset and deposit it with state secretariat," he told reporters here.

The controversy was fuelled by former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy who had claimed the diamond-studded Hublot watch was worth Rs 70 lakh and had been gifted to Siddaramaiah and that he had proof for his claims.

Siddaramaiah revealed that the expensive watch was gifted to him by his close friend (NRI) Gopal Pillai Girish Chandra Verma who visited India last July.

"The full name of the person who gifted this invaluable watch is Gopal Pillai Girish Chandra Verma. He had come to India in July last year. I know him since 1983 and whenever he visits India, he meets me," the Chief Minister said.

Siddaramaiah further clarified, "Verma gifted me the watch, even though I was not keen on accepting it. However, he insisted that I accept it and I accepted because of our long friendship but I did not know how expensive it was."

The CM said he would furnish relevant documents of the watch to the Lokayukta and Income Tax.

The Chief Minister's decision to declare the watch as a state asset comes in the backdrop of criticism from various quarters.

State BJP President and MP Prahalad Joshi had sought a probe by the Enforcement Directorate to find out the owner of the watch and whether customs duty had been paid for it.

A complaint had been filed by city-based activist S Bhaskaran with the state Lokayukta seeking Siddaramaiah's prosecution under the Prevention of Corruption Act for accepting the expensive gift and not declaring it before appropriate authorities.

Reacting to Siddaramaiah's announcement, Congress MLC V S Ugrappa, who had yesterday suggested three options including declaring the watch as a state asset, welcomed it.

Seeking to turn the tables, he asked Kumaraswamy to declare his "luxurious" assets, including cars and watches, as state asset.

Replying to a query, Ugrappa said the Chief Minister was busy with recent by-election, and Taluk and Zilla Panchayat polls and hence could not find time to come out with facts about the controversy earlier.

Kumaraswamy had argued that the Chief Minister should have come out openly the very next day the watch controversy came out in public.

Comments

Curious
 - 
Friday, 26 Feb 2016

Once During Umer rah ruling he distributed clothes to every one, after couple of days he was found wearing new kurtha and pajaama. One person stood and asked ' from the cloths which you distributed we could stitch only kurtha and was not enough for pajaama' but how it was possible to you? Umer rah replied for this question my son will answer . His son said, I gave my cloths to father to complete the set. A good lesson for every rulers.

Vaman Rai
 - 
Friday, 26 Feb 2016

state assets means his property only fooling public, corrupt politicians must be killed infront of public so that people are scared of taking bride.

Bhavya Shree
 - 
Friday, 26 Feb 2016

so many uncounted worth of crores gifts he got in the name of bribe, bribe can be called easily as a gift.. his friend is mad o what? he dont have family o what to gift him a 75lakh not even fools will gift this costly gift, siddaramaiah must be lieing.. govt should scan his every property. looted so many tax payers money i myself pay every year altogether around 6000 hard earned money to the fake govt, who cares.

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News Network
March 2,2020

Bengaluru, Feb 2: The monthlong budget session beginning on Monday, which will mark BS Yediyurappa’s maiden budget in his fourth term as chief minister, is expected to be a fiery one.

The opposition JD(S) and Congress have already threatened to stall proceeding until BJP legislator Basangouda Patil Yatnal apologises for his controversial remarks against freedom fighter and centenarian HS Doreswamy. Yatnal had called him a fake and a Pakistani agent.

Disruptions are also likely to pose a threat to speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri’s novel idea of having a two-day discussion on the Constitution of India to commemorate 70 years of the country’s Independence.

Both opposition parties have scheduled legislature party meetings early on Monday and they could coordinate on issues on the floor of the house to put the BJP — especially Yediyurappa — on the backfoot.

Yatnal is not known as a “hardliner”, but his attack on Doreswamy has garnered support from several ministers including CT Ravi, KS Eshwarappa and V Somanna. Yediyurappa may have a hard time defending his party’s line.

The BJP is yet to schedule its legislature party meeting, but MLAs suggest the party will allow the issue to be raised and debated in the legislature. “Both have expressed their point of view. Let there be a discussion on the matter, but not allowing the house to function will only be a waste of the state’s time and money,” said deputy chief minister CN Ashwath Narayan.

Besides the Doreswamy issue, Yediyurappa will also deliver his reply — postponed from February 20 — to the debate on the governor’s address. The issue of student Amulya Leona Narona’s arrest on a charge of sedition, the Bidar sedition case involving a parent of a school student, pro-Pakistan writings on walls in places in north Karnataka, introduction of NPR and the anti-CAA stir is also likely to feature during the lengthy session.

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June 30,2020

Mangaluru/Kasaragod, Jun 30: In what appears to be an ego clash between the officers of Karnataka and Kerala, around 150 Mangalureans including 12 pregnant women were evicted from the lodges in Kasaragod in the middle of the night and sent to Mangaluru.

Expressing shock over the incident, Mangaluru MLA U T Khader hit out at the authorities concerned for the lack of concern towards the stranded passengers. “If IAS officers don’t have humanity, what is the use of the IAS tag. Officers in the two states should learn to speak to one another and solve people’s problems,” he said apparently addressing DCs of Kasaragod and Dakshina Kannada. 

The 150 passengers had arrived on Saturday from Dubai in a chartered flight arranged by the Karnataka Cultural Foundation. The flight landed in Kannur after it was denied permission to land in Mangaluru.

But Karnataka’s nodal officer for stranded persons outside India C N Meena Nagaraj, an IAS officer, called up Kerala officials and questioned why the flight was allowed to land in Kannur, Khader said. She reportedly told Kerala officials that the passengers should be quarantined in the cities of arrival and that Karnataka would not take them in.

In the meantime, the Karnataka Cultural Foundation arranged seven buses to take the passengers to Mangaluru. By the time it was conveyed to them that they would not be allowed to enter Mangaluru, the buses had reached Kasaragod district. The representatives of the organisation made frantic calls to several political leaders. Congress leader and district panchayat standing committee chairperson Harshad Vorkady said he got a call for help around 10pm on Saturday. He spoke to owners of three lodges to accommodate them. The lodges were used by the district administration as quarantine centres. 

The lodge owners said they would take the passengers in only if the Kasaragod tahsildar gave permission. “So I called up the tahsildar. He only wanted to know who will pay for the lodging and food. When I told him that the passengers will pay, he gave permission. By midnight, all the passengers were put up in the three lodges,” he said. The police were also at the spot, he said.

According to the Covid protocol, those arriving from abroad should be in institutional quarantine for seven days and in room quarantine for another seven days. But by 4pm on Sunday, the police returned to the lodges and asked the passengers to vacate. They said it was the order of the collector. They produced the order to the lodge owners. The office-bearers of the Karnataka Cultural Foundation said they sought time from the Kasaragod police to arrange rooms in Mangaluru. But Kasaragod police denied it. 

On Sunday, there were Covid deaths in Mangaluru and the Mangaluru deputy commissioner was tied up as residents were objecting to the funeral of one of the victims. “By night, the police started threatening the lodge owners. The members of the Foundation said they would shift the passengers by Monday morning. But the collector would not listen,” said Harshad.

Around 11pm, the Kasaragod district administration brought in four KSRTC buses and sent all the 150 passengers to Mangaluru, he said. By 1am the buses crossed the Thalapdy border and Khader took over from there. But the MLA was livid with how officials treated the people. Collector Sajith Babu in a statement said his enquiry found that the tahsildar did not give permission to accommodate the passengers in Kasaragod lodges.

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News Network
July 2,2020

Bengaluru, Jul 2: Former Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy on Thursday accused BS Yediyurappa-led state government of "failure" to protect the citizens from coronavirus, stating that Karnataka was suffering due to lack of co-ordination in the cabinet.

In a series of tweets, the JD(S) leader slammed the state government for wasting their time in giving out contradictory statements regarding COVID-19 figures instead of learning lessons from the Kerala government.

"It is shocking to see COVID-19 patients being turned down by the hospitals due to lack of beds. The government has failed in its duty to protect the citizens. The CM and his cabinet colleagues wasted precious time in mere talking for the last three months. As the escalated Covid numbers stare them in the face, they are now helpless," Kumaraswamy wrote.

"Even when you have a proven model in Kerala government's success in Covid management, the ministers waste time in issuing contradictory statements and doing nothing. Karnataka suffers due to lack of co-ordination in the cabinet," he said.

Urging the government to act together, he said that if the government does not get its act together, the day is not far when Covid patients would be "condemned to die on the streets."

We are already seeing heart-wrenching stories of patients denied treatment," he added.

Kumaraswamy also appealed to the Karnataka government to consider the suggestions he had made earlier and not to indulge in party politics in these testing times.

"I appeal to the government to consider the suggestions I made earlier and act accordingly. This is not the time for party politics."

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