Date:15/04/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/04/15/stories/2007041507190400.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Man overload

Staff Reporter

BANGALORE: Political heavyweights caused some anxious moments when they were stranded in a hydraulic lift after they garlanded the Ambedkar statue in front of the Vidhana Soudha on Saturday morning.

Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy and other dignitaries got stuck midway after they garlanded the statue on the occasion of B.R. Ambedkar's 116th birth anniversary, sending police and security personnel scrambling for rescue operations.

All of them were brought down safely in due course. Sources said the lift got jammed because of overloading.

The lift was crammed with Deputy Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa, Social Welfare Minister Balachandra L. Jarkiholi, Science and Technology Minister Ramachandra Gowda, Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly N. Dharam Singh and Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president M. Mallikarjun Kharge, among others.

Even as the lift halted midway, security personnel placed a heap of chairs with the help of which some of the dignitaries disembarked. Mr. Kumaraswamy was one of the last to get down this way but Mr. Dharam Singh was unable to get down thus. However, by then the lift was decidedly lighter and Mr. Singh came down safely.

Later, to a question on elections to the urban local bodies, Mr. Kumaraswamy told reporters that he would not comment on postponement of the elections as the matter was before the High Court. The Government had sought six weeks' time on Friday to hold the elections. After the court gave its ruling, the Government would take the decision, he said.