Popular yesteryear actress Chitra passes away
Chennai(PTI): Popular yesteryear actor Chitra died here on Saturday following a cardiac arrest, sources close to her family said.
The 56 year-old multi-lingual actor, more popularly known as 'Nallennai' (gingelly oil) Chitra following her association with a top oil brand, is survived by husband and daughter. She passed away at her Saligramam residence here. Family sources said the funeral will take place in the city today.
Born in Kochi, Kerala, Chitra who earned the sobriquet 'Nallennai' after the gingelly oil advertisement in which she acted became popular, rose to fame in the Tamil film industry in the 1990s.
She has acted in a number of films alongside top stars including Rajinikanth, Sarathkumar and Prabhu.
Introduced as a child artist by Director K Balachander in 1975 in the national award winning Tamil film 'Apoorva Raagangal,' Chitra starred along with other popular actors like Kamal Haasan and Srividya as well.
She has worked in a number of Malayalam, Telugu and Kannada films as well. Chitra was cast as Mary Kutty along with top stars Prem Nazir, Mohanlal and Lakshmi in her first film Aattakalasham in Malayalam in 1983.
She has also starred in some tele-serials. Meanwhile, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Congress leader V D Satheeshan, BJP state chief K Surendran and other leaders condoled the demise of the actress.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
