Unearth invisible hands that ended Siddhartha's life: Congress
Bengaluru: The Congress's Karnataka unit on Wednesday sought an impartial and fair investigation into the death of Coffee Day Enterprises founder V G Siddhartha, saying "the invisible hands that ended his life" should be uncovered.
The party said the matter "is very unfortunate".
Former Karnataka Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah said Siddhartha's death was "both disturbing and mysterious".
"The reasons and the invisible hands that ended his life in this tragic way should be unearthed through impartial and fair investigation," he said.
"Result of harassment by IT officials & decline of India's entrepreneurial position turning virulent by the day, with Tax Terror & collapse of economy. Companies which flourished under UPA have been shut down with many people being jobless (sic)," the state unit posted in its official handle.
The Congress was referring to the letter purportedly written by Siddhartha, the son-in-law of former Karnataka Chief Minister and BJP leader S M Krishna, alleging harassment by the Income Tax Department, which has denied the charges.
Siddaramaiah said the letter supposed to have been written by Siddhartha talked about "tax terrorism", which is the "ugly face of politically motivated institutions".
"What signals are we sending to budding entrepreneurs without even an attempt to reform?" he asked.
Congress spokesperson Brijesh Kalappa said, "He was killed mercilessly by tax terrorists who are now seeking to besmirch his memory by selectively leaking material against him."
The body of Siddhartha, who went missing on Monday, was found on the banks of Nethravathi river near the coastal city of Mangaluru on Wednesday, with the investigation so far pointing to suicide.
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US VP JD Vance says Lebanon not part of ceasefire, calls it ‘misunderstanding’
Budapest/Washington: US Vice President J D Vance has said that Lebanon was never included in the ceasefire understanding with Iran, describing the confusion as a “legitimate misunderstanding”.
Speaking to reporters before departing from Hungary, Vance said, “I think the Iranians thought that the ceasefire included Lebanon and it just didn’t. We never made that promise.”
He stressed that the United States had not included Lebanon in the scope of the ceasefire at any stage.
His remarks come amid continued Israeli strikes in Lebanon, where more than 200 people were reported killed, even as ceasefire talks between Iran and the US move forward.
Vance said Israel had “offered … to check themselves a little bit in Lebanon because they want to make sure that our negotiation is successful”.
He warned that if Iran allows the situation in Lebanon to affect the negotiations, it could derail the talks.
“If Iran wants to let this negotiation fall apart in a conflict where they were getting hammered over Lebanon, which has nothing to do with them and which the United States never once said was part of the ceasefire, that’s ultimately their choice,” he said.
