Kerala BJP panel fails to identify new president
Kochi: The core committee of the Kerala Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that met here on Sunday failed to reach consensus on new state party chief. Since the resignation of P.S. Sreedharan Pillai, named the Mizoram Governor in October, the state BJP has failed to identify his successor. According to sources, at the Sunday meeting three names — K. Surendran, M.T. Ramesh and Sobha Surendran — came up for discussion. They all are below 50 years of age. The meeting was chaired by national organisation secretary B.L. Santhosh. While Surendran is being backed by the faction headed by Union Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan, Ramesh has the support of former state BJP chief P.K. Krishnadas. Former Union Minister and the lone BJP legislator in Kerala O. Rajagopal wants Sobha Surendran as the new president. The party’s national leadership wants to end the stalemate and is expected to name the new president by the end of this month or early January. (IANS)
Cong protests Chouhan’s kis khet ki mooli taunt at MP CM
Bhopal: The Madhya Pradesh Congress on Sunday held a protest over the alleged use of intemperate language by senior BJP leader Shivraj Singh Chouhan against Chief Minister Kamal Nath. Congress leader Vibha Patel claimed Chouhan, while delivering a speech at a protest in Sagar over fertiliser shortage, said ‘Kamal Nath kis khet ki mooli hai’ (rustic way of brushing aside someone as insignificant and inconsequential). Police stopped protesting Congress workers, holding ‘get well soon mama’ postcards and roses, some 500 metres away from Chouhan’s residence here. “During a protest on Saturday at Sagar, Chouhan used foul language saying ‘Kamal Nath Kis Khet Ki Mooli Hai’ (Who do you think you are Kamal Nath?) etc. This is a sign that he (Chouhan) has lost his mental balance,” Patel said. However, state BJP spokesperson Rajneesh Agrawal said Sunday’s protest was a bid by the Congress to divert attention from the issue of fertiliser shortage. “BJP held a big protest on Saturday at Sagar against the problems faced by farmers due to shortage of fertiliser. The Kamal Nath government failed to make plans for urea storage and distribution. Now, the Congress is trying to divert attention by raking up the non-issues,” he said. (PTI)
India to launch spy satellite, 9 others
Chennai: India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rocket would launch the country’s latest spy satellite RISAT-2BR1 and nine foreign satellites on December 11, said the Indian space agency. According to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the rocket numbered as PSLV-C48 will lift off at 3.25 p.m. with RISAT-2BR1, a radar imaging earth observation satellite weighing about 628 kg. The rocket will blast off from the first launch pad at Sriharikota rocket port in Andhra Pradesh and place RISAT-2BR1 into an orbit of 576 km. The satellite will have a life of five years. Piggybacking on the Indian satellite would be nine foreign satellites from the USA (multi-mission Lemur-4 satellites, technology demonstration Tyvak-0129, earth imaging 1HOPSAT), Israel (remote sensing Duchifat-3), Italy (search and rescue Tyvak-0092) and Japan (QPS-SAR – a radar imaging earth observation satellite). These international customer satellites are being launched under a commercial arrangement with NewSpace India Limited (NSIL). (IANS)
Rahul to campaign in Jharkhand
New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is scheduled to address Public rally in Jharkhand on Monday for the ongoing assembly elections in the state. The first rally will be at Barkagaon, Hazaribagh and the second at Mesra in Ranchi. The official program released by the Congress said that at 12.30 p.m. he will be addressing a rally at High School Ground in Barkagaon which falls in Hazaribagh district and the second rally is at 1.45 p.m. at Mesra Ground in Ranchi. This is the second time Rahul will be campaigning in the state after he addressed a solitary rally in Simdega. Jharkhand is having 5-phase elections with two phases already concluded. The state had second phase of polling on December 7, in 20 Assembly seats amid few incidents of violence in which one person was killed. The Congress is contesting on 31 seats in alliance with the RJD and the JMM. (IANS)
Sonia not to celebrate her birthday
New Delhi: In the wake of assault on women and casualties due to fire in Delhi, Congress President Sonia Gandhi has decided not to celebrate her birthday. The longest serving Congress president will turn 73 on Monday. Sources close to the Congress said that she is unhappy with the rising crime against women in the country and also the apathy shown towards the victims. After gruesome rape and murder of Hyderabad veterinary Doctor, another rape survivor was burnt to death in UP’s Unnao. Sonia Gandhi took over as party president in 1998 and stepped down in 2017 to pave way for her son Rahul Gandhi who resigned after the poll debacle in 2019. During Sonia Gandhi’s tenure Congress saw successive government from 2004 to 2014 but was routed in 2014. (IANS)
