Bengaluru, Oct 23: Former Prime Minister H DDeve Gowda and ex-Chief Ministers H D Kumaraswamy andSiddaramaiah welcomed the Delhi HighCourt order on Wednesday granting bail to Congress leader D K Shivakumar in a money laundering case, filed by the Enforcement Directorate.

As the news about Shivakumar getting bail broke, his supporters and Congress workers celebrated by bursting crackers and distributing sweets in Ramanagara, Belagavi, Tumakuru, Kanakapura, Mandya and near his Bengaluru residence.

"Delhi High Court granting bail to D K Shivakumar has increased common man's trust in country's judicial system. I welcome the court's decision," Gowda tweeted.

Shivakumar, a seven-time MLA, was arrested by the EDon September 3 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

"Getting bail from Delhi high court is happy news," Siddaramaiah told reporters at Bagalkote.

He alleged that Shivakumar was being politically targeted.

"...let them (ED) investigate, but sending to jail duringinvestigation is not right. On proving to be guilty one can besent to jail, but sending while the investigation is still onis not right. Vengeance politics is not right..," he added.

The 57-year-old Shivakumar is under judicial custody and presently lodged in Tihar jail.

Both the Congress and Shivakumar have claimed he was beingtargeted by the BJP-led government at the Centre by "misusing" investigating agencies.

"Delhi High Court granting bail to D K Shivakumar is a matter of happiness. On Monday I had met Shivakumar and tried to boost his courage, and expressed hope about him getting bail," Kumaraswamy tweeted.

The JD(S) leader who met Shivakumar at Tihar jail on Monday had said that the Congress leader was "bold" to fight "vengeance politics".

Shivakumar and Kumaraswamy, both Vokkaliga strong men, have been bitter political opponents in the old Mysuru region,until they came together for the formation of Congress-JD(S) coalition government, after 2018 assembly polls.

Shivakumar was a key minister in the Kumaraswamy cabinet and played a major rule in the stability of the coalition government until it collapsed in July, following resignation of several MLAs of the two parties, eventually leading to installation of the BJP government.

His arrest had lead to widespread protests, especially in Ramanagara, Bengaluru rural, Mandya and other parts of old Mysuru region.

It had even taken a caste colour with thousands of people belonging to the Vokkaliga community taking out a rally recently in Bengaluru protesting the arrest and expressing solidarity with him.

Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.



New Delhi, Dec 5: Investors' wealth surged Rs 15.18 lakh crore in five days of market rally that took the BSE benchmark Sensex up over 3 per cent.

In the past five trading days, the BSE barometer has jumped 2,722.12 points or 3.44 per cent.

Rallying for the fifth day running on Thursday, the 30-share benchmark Sensex jumped 809.53 points or 1 per cent to settle at 81,765.86. During the day, it soared 1,361.41 points or 1.68 per cent to 82,317.74.

The market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms surged Rs 15,18,926.69 crore to Rs 4,58,17,010.11 crore (USD 5.41 trillion) in the last five sessions.

The NSE Nifty surged 240.95 points or 0.98 per cent to settle at 24,708.40 on Thursday.

"Nifty surged for the 5th straight day, closing 0.98 per cent higher at 24,708, despite intraday volatility. It joined global markets in optimism, following new highs on the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq. Bank Nifty also gained 0.63 per cent, while IT stocks rallied 1.95 per cent," Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd, said.

From the 30-share pack, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, Titan, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Finance, ICICI Bank, Tech Mahindra and HCL Technologies were the biggest gainers.

NTPC, Asian Paints and IndusInd Bank were the laggards.

As many as 2,141 stocks advanced while 1,825 declined and 117 remained unchanged on the BSE.

"Indian equities staged a strong rebound during the day, fuelled by robust buying in heavyweight stocks across various sectors and positive market sentiment. The upmove was further supported by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs), who turned net buyers, contributing over Rs 5,000 crore in the past two sessions," Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Research, Wealth Management, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd, said.

Among sectoral indices, BSE Focused IT soared the most 1.96 per cent, while teck jumped 1.92 per cent, IT by 1.81 per cent and telecommunication 0.95 per cent. Bankex (0.68 per cent) and consumer durables (0.66 per cent) also advanced.

BSE services and realty emerged as the laggards.

The BSE midcap gauge climbed 0.27 per cent and the smallcap index went up by 0.16 per cent.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 1,797.60 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.