Bengaluru, Mar 30: Union Home Minister Amit Shah will launch his Lok Sabha poll campaign in Karnataka from April 2, BJP state general secretary V Sunil Kumar said on Saturday.
Shah will hold a meeting with the Bharatiya Janata Party and its ally Janata Dal (Secular) leaders at 9 am on April 2.
He will also hold a meeting with the party workers from Bengaluru North, Bengaluru South, Bengaluru Central, Bengaluru Rural and Chikkaballapura Lok Sabha constituencies at the Palace Ground at 11 am the same day.
The union minister will then hold a meeting with the senior leaders from Chikkaballapura, Tumakuru, Davangere and Chitradurga Lok Sabha constituencies.
The home minister will hold a road show at Channapatna on April 2 evening, Kumar said.
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The BJP has fielded its candidates at 25 Lok Sabha constituencies and left three other seats for its ally JD(S).
Among its 25 candidates, the BJP has fielded JD(S) patriarch and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda's son-in-law Dr C N Manjunath from Bengaluru Rural constituency against three-time MP and Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar's brother D K Suresh.
The general elections in Karnataka will be held in two phases on April 26 and May 7 for 28 constituencies.
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Bengaluru, Jan 14: A fire broke out at Bangalore Bioinnovation Centre (BBC) on Tuesday morning and there were no casualties, Karnataka Minister Priyank Kharge said.
The BBC is a Government of Karnataka undertaking which is located at the Electronic City in Bengaluru.
"The preliminary estimation of loss sustained by startups ranged from Rs 80 crore to Rs 110 crore. The estimated loss to BBC properties was approximately Rs 42 crore. No loss to life," Kharge's office said in a statement.
The minister who holds the Information Technology and Biotechnology portfolio said the fire mishap occurred on the second floor of the facility which was recently revamped to house more number of startups.
The second floor was completely gutted, while extensive damage was also sustained to first and ground floors due to the interconnected HVAC lines, the Minister's office said.
The fire severely damaged common infrastructure of BBC, including the Bangalore Bio Bank, Cleanroom facility, Flowcytometry, HVAC units, AC units, among others.
Various equipment of the Incubated startups were also damaged, according to the minister.
"The list of startups gravely affected includes - Fermbox (3 labs), Phyxx 44 (3 labs), Ajitha prodrug (1 lab), Galore Tx (1 lab), Ikesia (1 lab), Immunitas (2 labs) Yokogawa (1 lab). Several other startups were also affected (Including Atrimed pharma, 4basecare, Anabio, Anava bio, Pandorium, Oxonexe Presude Lifesciences, Zhichu among others," the statement read.
The fire in the startup room on the second floor broke out "due to improper management of flammable solvent in the lab".
"All BBC startups were previously informed not to store and use any large volume of inflammable chemicals in their labs and a separate open storage area was provided for the same," said the statement.
A fire broke out at the Bangalore BioInnovation Center earlier today and the cause of the blaze is yet to be ascertained.
— Priyank Kharge / ಪ್ರಿಯಾಂಕ್ ಖರ್ಗೆ (@PriyankKharge) January 14, 2025
It is heartbreaking to witness years of hard work and dedication by our entrepreneurs reduced to ashes. I want to reassure them that the government stands… pic.twitter.com/qwD61Vxs58