Cafe blast: Police probing different angles including business rivalry, says HM G Parameshwara
Bengaluru, Mar 3: Karnataka Home Minister Dr G Parameshwara on Sunday said business rivalry, impending elections and terrorising investors coming to Bengaluru in view of a stable government in the state are some of the angles which the police are working on to crack relating to the blast at a city eatery.
The explosion took place at Rameshwaram Cafe in Brookefield in East Bengaluru on Friday. A man wearing a cap, mask and glasses is the prime suspect in the case and is still untraceable. According to him, eight teams are working to crack the case and they are accompanied by the National Investigation Agency, National Security Group (NSG) and Intelligence Bureau (IB) are assisting the teams.
Parameshwara said one of the angles being probed was to see if it was to terrorise Bengaluru in view of the impending elections.
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"Elections are approaching. If any organisation is behind it, or if there are some other motives behind it to terrorise people to make Bengaluru look unsafe...," the Minister added.
"As many investors are coming here in view of a stable government, this might have been done either to stop investors from coming to Bengaluru or due to some other unknown reasons," Parameshwara said.
The Minister said business rivals might have done it out of jealousy. That is one of the angles, which is also being discussed.
He said The Rameshwaram Cafe has 11 units and the owners were planning to set up their 12th unit, for which advance deposit was also paid.
"We will crack it (the case). We will not leave it. However difficult this case may be, our department will bust it," he asserted.
The Minister appealed to people to rely only on the statements issued by him, police and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and not on speculative ones.
To a question related to a pressure cooker blast in Mangaluru on November 19, 2022, Parameshwara said there was similar assemblage of explosives and other equipment as was in the incident in Mangaluru but that comparison doesn't mean the same gang was behind the blast at Rameshwaram Cafe.
"The way the battery and timer have been used seems similar. We have to take it (investigation) forward. We don't know whether the same organisation did it or the same people did it," the Minister said.
He also said it was a low intensity bomb as the explosives used were of low intensity and even the quantity might be less.
If the quantity was more then the intensity would have been higher, he observed.
According to him, there could have been casualties if the bomb had gone off horizontally and not vertically. "I too visited...and saw bolts and nails there. They all went up. If they had gone off horizontally then many people would have got hurt. It could have caused deaths too. Luckily all of them went up...," Parameshwara explained.
Speaking about the suspect, the Minister said police have procured about 40 to 50 CCTV footages.
"There is information that he came by a bus...26 buses passed there around that time. We went through all the 26 buses. We have found the bus in which he travelled. He was wearing a cap, mask and glasses. We are not getting clarity there as well," he said.
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TMC says Mamata Banerjee 'most suitable' to lead INDIA bloc
New Delhi, Dec 8: The Trinamool Congress on Sunday raised the pitch on the demand to make its chief Mamata Banerjee the leader of the INDIA bloc, with party MP Kirti Azad saying she is the "most suitable" for the job as she is the only leader who has repeatedly defeated the BJP.
West Bengal Chief Minister Banerjee's statement signalling her intent to take charge of the opposition alliance drew support from NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar who described her as a capable leader, while RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav stressed that the decision must be reached through consensus.
"We have no issue with Mamata Banerjee leading the bloc, but keeping in mind there are so many senior politicians in the anti-BJP coalition, there's a need to sit together and take a collective decision on choosing a leader," Yadav told reporters in Kolkata on Sunday.
Asked about Banerjee's remarks, Pawar said on Saturday that the Trinamool Congress chief has the right to show her intent to head the opposition alliance.
"She is a capable leader in the country and has the right to say it. The MPs she has sent to the Parliament are hardworking and aware," he told reporters in Kolhapur, Maharashtra.
In an interview to a news channel on Friday, Banerjee expressed dissatisfaction with the functioning of the opposition INDIA bloc and indicated her readiness to take charge of the alliance if given an opportunity.
She said she could manage the dual responsibility of running the opposition front while continuing her role as the chief minister of West Bengal.
Her statement comes at a time when voices of discontent have emerged within the opposition INDIA bloc following the recent electoral setbacks for the Congress, including in Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir and Maharashtra.
In a video statement, Azad said that a discussion is going on these days on the issue of the need for leadership change in the INDIA bloc.
"Senior leaders, including the seniormost Sharad Pawar ji, have also said Mamata Banerjee should be made the leader of the INDIA bloc, " Azad said.
"There is a need for change. Mamata Banerjee is the only leader who has repeatedly defeated the BJP and Modi ji, and in the recent byelections in West Bengal, BJP was thrown out of Bengal," he said.
"She has a lot of experience, she herself said she has created the INDIA bloc, and she has said that she is ready to lead the bloc if she gets an opportunity. She has been an MP, Union Minister, and since 2011 she has been the Chief Minister of West Bengal," he said.
"It is time to make Mamata Banerjee the leader of INDIA bloc. With her experience she is the most suitable for this job," he added.
