Congress fighting a 'lost battle': MP CM Yadav
Raipur (PTI): Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav has said the Congress is fighting a "lost battle" and its first list of candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections does not have any prominent nominees for seats in MP.
Yadav, a senior BJP leader, was talking to reporters at the Swami Vivekananda Airport in Raipur on Tuesday before returning to Madhya Pradesh after concluding his day-long tour of Chhattisgarh, which is also under the saffron rule.
The Congress on Tuesday evening announced its second list of 43 candidates for the Lok Sabha polls, likely to be held in April-May. Of the 43 candidates, 10 are from Madhya Pradesh, where the the grand old party managed to win just one seat (Chhindwara) out of total 29 in 2019.
The first Congress list released last week had 39 candidates, including party MP Rahul Gandhi, who represents Kerala's Wayanad in the Lower House of Parliament, but it did not cover any seat in the BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh.
Asked about the Congress list of Lok Sabha candidates for Madhya Pradesh, Yadav said, "The Congress is fighting a lost battle. No prominent names featured in this list. On the contrary, the BJP's first list of candidates carried the names of Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji and several other leaders."
The BJP leader claimed prominent Congress politicians are reluctant to contest the upcoming polls.
"We all can understand that the upcoming time is going to be very bad for the Congress as its big leaders have already left the ground and its results are visible," Yadav said.
#WATCH | Raipur, Chhattisgarh: Madhya Pradesh CM Mohan Yadav says, " ...We can all say that the coming days are really bad for Congress, their big leaders are leaving and the result is visible. Today, I visited several places (in Chhattisgarh) including Raipur and… pic.twitter.com/1nLhOG9Fqt
— ANI MP/CG/Rajasthan (@ANI_MP_CG_RJ) March 12, 2024
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MP cruise boat tragedy: Search ops expanded to trace four missing passengers
Jabalpur (PTI): Army divers and disaster response teams on Saturday expanded their search at Bargi Dam in Madhya Pradesh to locate a man and three children still missing after the cruise boat tragedy that claimed nine lives two days ago, officials said.
With 28 of the 41 identified passengers onboard the ill-fated cruise boat rescued safely, police are preparing to register an FIR in connection with the accident that occurred at the reservoir in Jabalpur district on Thursday evening, they said.
The search radius has been expanded to 5 km in the backwaters of the Bargi Dam, located downstream of the Narmada River, area sub-divisional officer of police (SDOP) Anjul Ayank Mishra told PTI.
Nine people drowned in the incident, while 28 were rescued, and efforts are ongoing to trace the missing persons, he said.
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According to the police, more than 200 rescuers, including around 20 Army divers airlifted from Agra, began the search operation at 5 am on Saturday to trace Kamraj, an employee of the Ordnance Factory in Khamaria, his son Tamil (5), Vijay Soni (6) and Mayuram (5).
Mishra said that an inquest case has been registered and the post-mortem of nine deceased persons has been completed.
"Our priority is to search for the missing persons. We will soon register an FIR," he said.
Investigators have said that CCTV footage near the boarding point showed 43 people heading towards the ill-fated boat, and the names of 41 persons, who boarded the vessel, have been ascertained so far.
Collector Raghvendra Singh confirmed that a search is underway for four missing persons.
The rescue operation, being carried out by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and local divers, was briefly affected around 9 am due to strong winds.
The state government on Friday ordered a probe into the incident and dismissed three crew members after survivors alleged negligence and safety lapses, including failure to provide life jackets.
The government also banned the operation of similar vessels in the state.
The boat, operated by the state tourism department, sank during a sudden storm around 6 pm on Thursday, and the wreckage was retrieved from the dam water on Friday, after the rescuers confirmed that there were no more bodies inside.
Eyewitnesses have said that strong winds made the water choppy, prompting passengers to raise an alarm and ask the crew to steer the vessel towards the riverbank.
A survivor alleged negligence by the crew and described a last-minute scramble for life jackets.
