Daijiworld Media Nework - Udupi (SP)

Udupi, Apr 24: Karnataka chief minister, H D Kumaraswamy, has termed the Easter day carnage in Sri Lanka by way of serial bomb blasts as grossly inhuman.

"The deaths of over 300 persons in these incidents has shocked and pained the whole world. Many from India including some from Karnataka died in these incidents. My prayers are with the families distresed by deaths. I pray to the Lord to grant them the strength to bear this pain. Five leaders from my party are among those who died. They were pillars of strength for my party. Their deaths have sent shock waves through my party and their respective families," he said.

Kumaraswamy said that he had never even in his wildest dreams thought that such a thing could happen. "Our party leders, Hanumantharayappa, Ranganna, Shivanna, Lakshminarayan and Ramesh, were very close to me. Their deaths have severely curtailed our party's strength in Nelamangalal by 50 percent. We have lost a few stalwarts who were honest and who found happiness in conducting social service. I have issued instructions to the chief secretary of the state and we are in constant contact with the Sri Lankan authorities. Seven of the mortal remains have been identified," he stated.

Kumaraswmay said that the authorities are in regular contact with the people in Sri Lanka. He said that the concerned have been requested to speed up postmortem processes. "We have handed over responsiblity of doing the needful to Krishnappa and Srinivasa Murthy. We have arranged for private air cargo to transport the mortal remains to India. We will receive these mortal remains of people from Karnataka soon," he explained.