Karnataka: CM Siddaramaiah announces Rs 10 lakh each to families of three men died in terror strike, blames intelligence failure

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday announced a compensation of Rs 10 lakh each to the families of victims of the terrorist attack in Pahalgam in Kashmir. Three tourists from Karnataka were among the 26 persons died in the terror strike. All three men had gone to the valley along with their wives and children. Manjunath Rao was a real estate businessman in Shivamogga, while Madhusudan was a software engineer living in Ramamurthynagar in Bengaluru. Bharath Bhushan had recently quit his software job to run a family business in Mathikere in Bengaluru.

State labour minister Santosh Lad along with a team of officials was in Kashmir on Wednesday coordinating the efforts to transport the bodies to Karnataka and hand them to their families. The bodies were being brought back by a special flight, the minister said.

Rao’s body will arrive in Shivamogga on Thursday.


Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya, who is in Kashmir, said Madhusudan’s mortal remains would be taken to his native village in Andhra Pradesh. BJP Yuva Morcha would receive mortal remains of victims across airports in the country, Surya, who is its national president, said.

The state government would do its best to provide succour to the families of victims including hospital treatment to injured persons, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah told media persons in Bengaluru.

INTELLIGENCE FAILURE
The CM pinned the blame for the Pahalgam terror strike on the failure of intelligence by the central agencies. Lack of intelligence inputs about the potential strike led to the killing of tourists, he told the media in Bengaluru.

The CM, in a chat with the media, said the Union Government must do its job of providing security effectively to people while eliminating terrorists.

His Cabinet colleague, Priyank Kharge, also joined in attacking the Centre. “When the so-called Chanakya Home Minister is busy toppling governments, breaking parties and rigging elections, this is what happens. Where is the intelligence? Where is the surveillance?” Kharge Jr said in a statement.

“Whether #pulwama or #pahalgam in both cases, security lapses were flagged beforehand. Both ignored. And shockingly the BJP government has cut over 1.8 lakh army personnel since Covid to save money,” the IT/BT Minister added.