If Rahul Gandhi remains in Wayanad, it will suffer same fate as Amethi did under him: Smriti Irani
Thiruvananthapuram: Union Minister Smriti Irani on Monday took a dig at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi stating that if he "remains" in Wayanad, it would suffer the same fate as Amethi in Uttar Pradesh when he was the MP from there.
Mr Gandhi was the MP from Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency before his conviction and sentencing for two years by a Gujarat court in a criminal defamation case. The Gujarat High Court has reserved its verdict on the Congress leader's plea for a stay on the conviction.
After inaugurating the state-level Women Labour Convention organised by the Kerala unit of Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) in Thiruvananthapuram, Ms Irani said she had the "good fortune" of being the one who "sent away" Mr Gandhi from Amethi.
"The reason for that was that while he was an MP from Amethi, 80 per cent of the people there did not have electricity connections, there was no District Collector's office, no fire station, no medical college, no Kendriya Vidyalaya or Sainik School and the district hospital had no dialysis centre or X-ray machine.
"Once he left, all these facilities and infrastructure was made possible there. Therefore, if he remains in Wayanad, it too shall suffer the same fate as Amethi. So, you (people) have to ensure he does not remain here," the Union Minister for Women and Child Development said.
The minister further said that wherever she is, be it in Delhi or Amethi, she worries a lot about Wayanad and therefore, decided to convert 250 anganwadis there into 'saksham' (capable) anganwadis.
A saksham anganwadi is a centrally sponsored scheme under which anganwadis in states and Union Territories provide a package of six services -- supplementary nutrition, pre-school non-formal education, nutrition and health education, immunisation, health check-up and referral services -- to all eligible beneficiaries.
Ms Irani also spoke about the various central government schemes, initiatives or policies implemented in Kerala for women safety, financial security of the people and social welfare of the citizens of the state.
On the issue of alleged lack of women safety in the state, the minister referred to the recent killing of a young doctor -- Vandana Das -- in a taluk hospital in the state and said it was surprising such an incident occurred despite the presence of police officers there.
She questioned why despite various central government initiatives, like training personnel to help victims of cybercrime, distributing forensic kits and facilitating setting up of more fast-track courts, and the financial support being provided to strengthen the law and order system in Kerala, there was a "lack of intention" on the part of the administration to ensure women safety.
"So when one hears of crimes against women in the state, one is forced to ask why despite all this central help, including financial support, to strengthen the systems, there is a lack of intention on the part of the state governments to ensure women safety," the minister said.
Union Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan, who also spoke at the event, expressed a similar view on the issue of women safety, especially in their workplaces.
He said that having 'night walks' where women in large numbers take to the streets does not indicate or ensure their safety as in reality they often have to return home late from work all alone.
Later in the day, both Ms Irani and Mr Muraleedharan met Dr Das' family at their residence at Muttuchira in Kaduthuruthy area of Kottayam district and consoled the parents.
Prior to returning from there, they also paid tributes at the ossuary built near the house in memory of Dr Das.
Earlier in the day, Ms Irani, in her speech, contended that while the ruling Left front in the state makes claims of working for the welfare of the poor, it was the Centre which was trying to ensure economic justice and financial security to the people of Kerala. "The Left only makes claims," she alleged.
The BJP leader further alleged that the Left front was only known for strikes and worked for their own political development.
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FIDE Women's World Cup final: Humpy draws with Divya in first game
Batumi (Georgia), Jul 26 (PTI): Young Indian International Master Divya Deshmukh held her nerves to hold stalwart Koneru Humpy to a draw in game 1 of the FIDE Women's World Cup final, with both players having their share of opportunities to take the lead here on Saturday.
The draw with black means Humpy, the two-time World Rapid champion, holds a slight edge going in the second and final game under the classical chess rules in the two-game mini-match, and should the deadlock continue, games of shorter duration will be played to determine the winner.
Humpy employed the Queen's gambit accepted as black and it turned out to be a pretty fascinating game right out of the opening as Divya, 19, came up with a piece sacrifice early to deny the black king the right to castle.
Humpy was the first to err and, according to computers, Divya had things under control on the 14th move. However in her bid to recover the extra material, the Nagpur girl, who has secured a place in the Candidates tournament with her sterling performance here, missed a promising continuation.
What followed the exchange of all minor pieces and the ensuing queen and rook endgame gave enough counter play to both players. The game was eventually drawn after Humpy sacrificed her rook to force perpetual checks.
"The game saw an extremely sharp battle with the game ending in a draw in 41 moves. On move 7, Divya made her aggressive intentions clear by offering another pawn,
which looked like home preparation. Humpy made a practical decision of refraining from taking the pawn and a balanced position was reached by move 10 by white," said Grandmaster Pravin Thipsay, an Arjuna awardee and the first Indian to get a chess Grandmaster norm.
"However, instead of developing the undeveloped Knight, Humpy retreated the centralised Knight on move 10, giving huge positional advantage to Divya. Divya could have gained huge positional advantage on the 12th move by moving a rook. However, she chose to play for King side attack by sacrificing a piece instead.
"Humpy, too, erred at this stage and instead of moving the King to Queen side, moved it to the King side. Divya, on move 14, could have obtained a crushing attack by threatening a mate by developing her Queen. Instead she chose to exchange a pair of Bishops first, which enabled Humpy to defend her King by returning the piece," said Thipsay.
"Players thus reached a balanced Queen and two Rooks ending. Divya continued to play ambitiously and tried to attack Humpy’s King but the latter defended accurately and the game was drawn in 41 moves by perpetual check," he added.
In the play-off for the third place, Chinese players Zhongyi Tan, the former women's world champion and top seed Lei Tingjie also decided to split points out of a Queen’s gambit declined game.
The opening raised visions of a close contest between the two but having been knocked out of title race in the previous round, none of them wanted to take any huge risk. It was still a middle game when the players shook hands.
With the top two positions sealed for the Indians, the berth to the next Candidates is also assigned, while the player finishing third will also get an entry to the premier event scheduled for 2026.
Results: Divya Deshmukh (Ind) drew with Koneru Humpy (Ind); Zhongyi Tan (Chn) drew with Tingjie Lei (Chn).
