Mysuru: Dismissing BJP’s allegations that a “declared absconder” had given him an expensive wristwatch as one of the saffron party’s “hundred lies”, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said he had clarified that the Hublot watch had been gifted to him by an NRI friend.

The controversial wristwatch has already been handed over to Vidhana Soudha authorities for display among the gift items received by former Chief Ministers.

Speaking to reporters here on Monday, Mr. Siddaramaiah said his friend Dr. Girish Verma had submitted an affidavit to the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) that he had presented the watch to him. “He has already provided the bills from the shop in Dubai, where the watch was bought. What more evidence is required?”, the Chief Minister said.

In turn, Mr. Siddaramaiah urged the Prime Minister to explain the source of his expensive clothes he wore. “Where did it come from? Who gave it to you? Has income tax been paid?”, the Chief Minister sought to know.

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ISLAMABAD: At least two more cases of poliovirus were reported in Pakistan, taking the number of infections to 52 so far this year, a report said on Friday.

“The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health has confirmed the detection of two more wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases in Pakistan," an official statement said.

The fresh infections — a boy and a girl — were reported from the Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.

“Genetic sequencing of the samples collected from the children is underway," the statement read. Dera Ismail Khan, one of the seven polio-endemic districts of southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has reported five polio cases so far this year.

Of the 52 cases in the country this year, 24 are from Balochistan, 13 from Sindh, 13 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.

There is no cure for polio. Only multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and completion of the routine vaccination schedule for all children under the age of five can keep them protected.