Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy strongly condemned the barbaric act of terror in Sri Lanka and expressed grief over losing five members of his party in the Church blast.

Speaking with mediapersons before his departure from Kaup after undergoing nature therapy at Sai Radha resort here on Tuesday, he said he had lost his friends who were like his family in the incident.

Families of Hanumantharayappa, Ranganna, Shivanna, Lakshminarayana and Ramesh should become strong to bear the loss. The five members were like the pillars of his party and that the party has lost 50% of its strength in Nelamangala, due to their demise, the chief minister said. 

Kumaraswamy said he has directed the chief secretary to take measures and hold talks with the Sri Lankan Embassy to get the bodies back to Karnataka. A request has been made to conduct post mortem within 24 hours and an air cargo has been arranged to fly the bodies, which are likely to reach by Wednesday morning, he added.

Delayed by two hours

The chief minister was delayed by two hours on his return to the state capital as the driver of his car had driven the vehicle into sand resulting in all four radials of the car buried deep in sand.

Kumaraswamy was supposed to depart at 8 am. Due to the incident he left Kaup at 10 am. Earth movers and tractors were used to lift the car. The chief minister later took a lift in a jeep and then departed by his car.