Surjewala meets Muniyappa amid speculations of him leaving Congress
Bengaluru, Aug 28: Amid recent speculations about him quitting the party, Congress national General Secretary in-charge of Karnataka Randeep Singh Surjewala on Sunday met veteran party leader K H Muniyappa and held talks.
There were speculations about the former Union Minister joining the BJP following his meeting with Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and Health Minister K Sudhakar on August 26.
However, Muniyappa, who is upset with the State Congress leaders for their decision to admit a couple of local leaders in Kolar into the party without his knowledge, had immediately clarified that there is no question of him leaving the party and that his meeting with CM was regarding the development of Adi Jambava mutt .
Both AICC General Secretary and Muniyappa maintained that today's meeting was personal in nature as they share a cordial bond from the time of Surjewala's father.
"I had come here to meet him (Muniyappa) , as also to discuss the Bharat Jodo Yatra of Rahul Gandhi and the campaign related to it in Karnataka, as also to see that the downtrodden sections which he has championed for the last three decades of his life- their issues are addressed by the Congress party in a most effective manner," Surjewala told reporters after the meeting.
Noting that it was a personal visit, Muniyappa said they also discussed organising the party and bringing it back to power in the state.
"I have already aired my concerns to the high command- Sonia and Rahul Gandhi- also to Surjewala earlier and will wait for their decision.....I'm in the Congress party and will remain in it. There will be certain ups and downs in a large party and one can do nothing about it," he said responding to a question.
Muniyappa, a veteran leader, who has been a member of Lok Sabha seven times, had recently expressed displeasure over State Congress president D K Shivakumar and Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah keeping him away while deciding on admitting local leaders M C Sudhakar and Kothanur Manjunath into the party.
He is also said to be upset at few of his own partymen for causing his defeat in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, and particularly angry at former Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar, who is Srinivaspura MLA in Kolar district, for the the way in which Congress affairs have been managed in the district, which has for long been a Congress stronghold.
Muniyappa had openly hit out at Ramesh Kumar on several instances.
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2 Indian nationals part of crew of luxury cruise ship that reported hantavirus outbreak
London (PTI): At least two Indian nationals are part of the crew of the Dutch vessel MV Hondius which reported a hantavirus outbreak with five confirmed cases and three deaths so far, according to the BBC.
The luxury cruise ship, operated by Oceanwide Expeditions, began its journey on April 1 from Argentina’s Ushuaia and is expected to arrive in Spain’s Canary Islands on May 10.
About 150 passengers and crew from 28 countries were initially aboard the luxury cruise, but dozens disembarked on the island of St Helena on April 24, according to the report.
Of the 28 nationalities onboard, 38 are from the Philippines, 31 from the UK, 23 from the US, 16 from the Netherlands, 14 from Spain, nine from Germany, six from Canada, and two crew members from India, among others, the BBC reported.
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The World Health Organization said on Thursday that five of the eight suspected hantavirus cases had been confirmed.
A 69-year-old Dutch woman, confirmed to have the virus, has died; her Dutch husband and a German woman were also among the fatalities. Their cases are being investigated.
The UN health agency has said the outbreak is not the start of a pandemic.
Maria van Kerkhove, an infectious disease epidemiologist at WHO, told a news briefing that the situation is not the same as six years ago with Covid-19 because hantavirus spreads through “close, intimate contact”.
Van Kerkhove said “this is not Covid, this is not influenza, it spreads very, very differently”. She said authorities had asked “everyone to wear a mask” on board the MV Hondius.
Those in contact with or caring for suspected cases, she added, should “wear a higher level of personal protective equipment”.
Hantavirus typically spreads from rodents - but in the latest outbreak the transmission between people was documented for the first time, the WHO said.
Meanwhile, health authorities are racing to trace dozens of people who have recently disembarked from the Dutch vessel MV Hondius.
Oceanwide Expedition said 29 passengers, of at least 12 different nationalities, had left the MV Hondius in St Helena, the British Overseas Territory.
It also said the body of one deceased person—now known to be a Dutch man - was taken off the vessel.
Seven of those who left the cruise liner were British nationals.
