Congress' promise to ban Bajrang Dal taken to appease Muslims: Minister Sunil Kumar
Mangaluru (PTI): Decrying the promise in the Congress election manifesto that Bajrang Dal will be banned if they are voted to power, Karnataka Energy Minister V Sunil Kumar said the move is to appease the Muslims.
In a series of tweets, the minister said Bajrang Dal is not an anti-social organisation and it strives for protection of the Hindu community and gomata (mother cow).
Kumar, who was the state convenor of Bajrang Dal, said the organisation is a team of activists who are ready to undergo any sacrifice for the Hindu cause.
He wondered whether the Congress wants to ban Bajrang Dal just because the BJP banned the PFI last year.
Social Welfare Minister Kota Srinivas Poojary said the Congress does not know the difference between a patriotic organisation and an anti-social outfit.
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BJP MLAs and leaders in Dakshina Kannada district also deplored the pledge made by the Congress in its manifesto. Mangaluru North MLA Bharath Y Shetty said the assurance clearly proves that the Congress is totally 'anti-Hindu'.
Mangaluru South MLA Vedavyas Kamath said the Congress, as always, is resorting to appeasement politics, while BJP Dakshina Kannada district president Sudarshan Moodbidri said the promise has exposed the "mindset" of the Congress.
Meanwhile, Bajrang Dal workers on Tuesday evening carried out a protest in front of the district Congress office against the party's pledge to ban the organisation.
Raising slogans against the Congress move, they also burned a copy of the Congress manifesto.
The Congress on Tuesday promised a ban on Bajrang Dal in its Karnataka election manifesto, a move denounced by the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi who alleged that the opposition party which had "locked up" Lord Ram now wanted to target Lord Hanuman's devotees.
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Los Angeles county wildfires could be costliest in US history, early estimates say
Los Angeles, Jan 11: The wildfires that erupted this week across Los Angeles County are still raging, but already are projected to be among the costliest natural disasters in US history.
The devastating blazes have killed at least 11 people and incinerated more than 12,000 structures since Tuesday, laying waste to entire neighbourhoods once home to multimillion-dollar properties.
While it's still too early for an accurate tally of the financial toll, the losses so far likely make the wildfires the costliest ever in the US, according to various estimates.
A preliminary estimate by AccuWeather put the damage and economic losses so far between USD 135 billion and USD 150 billion. By comparison, AccuWeather estimated the damage and economic losses caused by Hurricane Helene, which tore across six southeastern states last fall, at USD 225 billion to USD 250 billion.
“This will be the costliest wildfire in California modern history and also very likely the costliest wildfire in US modern history, because of the fires occurring in the densely populated areas around Los Angeles with some of the highest-valued real estate in the country,” said Jonathan Porter, the private firm's chief meteorologist.
AccuWeather factors in a multitude of variables in its estimates, including damage to homes, businesses, infrastructure and vehicles, as well as immediate and long-term health care costs, lost wages and supply chain interruptions.
The insurance broker Aon PLC also said Friday that the LA County wildfires will likely end up being the costliest in US history, although it did not issue an estimate. Aon ranks a wildfire known as the Camp Fire in Paradise, California, in 2018 as the costliest in US history up to now at USD 12.5 billion, adjusted for inflation. The Camp Fire killed 85 people and destroyed about 11,000 homes.
The LA County wildfires, which were fuelled by hurricane-force Santa Ana winds and an extreme drought, remained largely uncontained Saturday. That means the final tally of losses from the blazes is likely to increase, perhaps substantially.
“To put this into perspective, the total damage and economic loss from this wildfire disaster could reach nearly 4 per cent of the annual GDP of the state of California,” AccuWeather's Porter said.
In a report Friday, Moody's also concluded that the wildfires would prove to be the costliest in US history, specifically because they have ripped through densely populated areas with higher-end properties.
While the state is no stranger to major wildfires, they have generally been concentrated in inland areas that are not densely populated. That's led to less destruction per acre, and in damage to less expensive homes, Moody's noted.
That's far from the case this time, with one of the largest conflagrations destroying thousands of properties across the Pacific Palisades and Malibu, home to many Hollywood stars and executives with multimillion-dollar properties. Already, numerous celebrities have lost homes to the fires.
“The scale and intensity of the blazes, combined with their geographic footprint, suggest a staggering price tag, both in terms of the human cost and the economic toll,” Moody's analysts wrote. The report did not include a preliminary cost estimate of the wildfire damage.
It could be several months before a concrete tally of the financial losses from the wildfires will be possible.
“We're in the very early stages of this disaster,” Porter said.
