Kumaraswamy accuses PM of not sharing details of Balakot air strikes
Bengaluru, Apr 19: Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy Friday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of not sharing complete details of Balakot air strikes.
The remarks come a day after Modi's attack on him during the PM's Belagavi and Chikkodi election meetings on Thursday.
Modi took on Kumaraswamy for saying the matter of air strikes on terror camps in Pakistan's Balakot should not be over publicised "fearing the vote bank bank would get angry."
"Now tell me, Where is Congress and the JD(S) vote bank? Is it in Bagalkot or Balakot? This Congress-JD(S) has to decide," the prime minister said.
Talking to reporters in Hubballi, Kumaraswamy said, "We do not know anything about the air strike. We read only in the newspapers. You (Modi) did not give the complete information to the people of India about the air strikes.
"He (Modi) publicises it as if he himself carried out the air strike and nobody had ever crossed the Pakistan border in the past," the chief minister said.
He said the prime minister had been projecting that Pakistan was trembling with fear.
The JD(S) leader added that he found Indira Gandhi a bigger leader than Modi.
"Did Narendra Modi from Bangladesh? It is Indira Gandhi's gift. What have you (Modi) done?" Kumaraswamy said.
On Modi's jibe that the Congress and JD(S) projected the attack inside Balakot in Pakistan as if it was something in Bagalkot in Karnataka as the two parties thought India could not dare to do so, the chief minister said, "We have not seen Balakot.
"You (Modi) must have seen it. You only went there with a shawl to celebrate an event with the (then) prime minister (Nawaz Sharif). What discussions you had there? What harmony you could establish with the Pakistan prime minister whom you gave the shawl?" he said.
Referring to Modi ridiculing his purported remark that people who were unable to get two square meals a day go to the defence services, the JD(S) leader said, "I did say that since Modi does not have the ability to give jobs to the youth, people go to the Army to sustain their families and survive somehow.
"I spoke about the poverty of the families. I told him not to play with the lives of such youths. But they twisted my words and they twisted my statement. BJP is expert in that," he added.
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4 children test HIV positive in MP govt hospital; contaminated blood transfusion suspected
Satna/Bhopal (PTI): Four children suffering from thalassemia have tested HIV positive at Satna District Hospital in Madhya Pradesh allegedly due to contaminated blood transfusions, officials said on Tuesday.
The case is four months old and an investigation is underway into it, an official said.
Officials suspect the use of contaminated needles or blood transfusions for the spread of infection to the children.
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MP Health Minister Rajendra Shukla told reporters in Bhopal that he has ordered a probe into the matter and sought a report.
“It is also being investigated whether the blood transfusion took place in other hospitals also or only in the government hospital,” he said.
The affected children, aged between 12 and 15 years, received blood transfusions from the hospital's blood bank, as per an official.
Devendra Patel, in-charge of the blood bank at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel District Hospital in Satna, said four children have tested HIV positive and an investigation is underway to determine how they got infected.
"Either an infected needle was used or a blood transfusion occurred. These are the two main reasons I believe. Blood transfusion seems to be the most likely cause," he told PTI Videos.
All these children suffer from thalassemia, and some have received 80 or 100 blood transfusions, he said.
A family member of one of the affected children said that their child was found to be HIV positive during a routine checkup about four months back, and he has been receiving medication, but it had proven to be of no use.
After taking the medication for HIV, the child starts vomiting, feels low and becomes ill, he said.
After the four children were detected with HIV infection, their family members were also tested and the results came out negative, he added.
The Opposition Congress targeted the government over the matter and demanded the resignation of Health Minister Shukla.
Speaking to reporters in Bhopal, Congress MLA and former minister Sachin Yadav claimed such incidents were continuously occurring in Madhya Pradesh.
Earlier, a case of toxic cough syrup came to light in Chhindwara, followed by incidents of rat bites at hospitals in Indore and Satna, and now children have been given HIV-infected blood, he said.
"The health minister is unable to manage the department. He should resign. A murder case should be filed against those responsible for the Satna incident," Yadav said.
Senior Congress leader Sajjan Singh Verma termed it a failure of the government. Chief Minister Mohan Yadav's government has no connection with ground realities, he charged.
"Somewhere rats are roaming in hospitals, somewhere children are being given HIV-infected blood. Instead of preventing HIV, you are spreading it. Mohan Yadav should wake up from his slumber. Children are the nation's heritage and should be taken care of," he added.
