Left Democratic Front in Kerala set to be expanded
Thiruvananthapuram, July 22 : Kerala's ruling CPI-M-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) will holds discussions on expanding the grouping, which has six constituents, by inducting seven "friendly allies", in its meeting this week, said informed sources.
Presently the LDF consists of Communist Party of India-Marxist, the Communist Party of India, the Janata Dal-Secular, the Congress-S, and the Nationalist Congress Party, all of whom have representation in the assembly and the Kerala Congress-Skaria Thomas, which has no lawmaker, and had seven allied parties.
These are the National Secular Conference, the Kerala Congress-B, the Communist Marxist Party-A, the Revolutionary Socialist Party-Leninist - all having a legislator each, while the Janadhipathya Samrakshana Samithi-Gowri, the Indian National League and Kerala Congress-Democratic are currently unrepresented in the house.
A source in the know of things told IANS that a move to expand the LDF has been on the cards for a while and will come up at its meeting here on Thursday.
"What is to happen is this all the allies would be asked to discuss themselves and report back at the next LDF meeting, when the decision would be arrived at," said the source.
Of these affiliated parties, the Kerala Congress-Democratic, led by former Lok Sabha member Francis George, is one which the CPI-M is certainly keen to have on account of its presence in good numbers, especially among the Christian community, in Idukki, Kottayam and Pathanamathitta districts.
The LDF leadership however has to ensure a clear-cut understanding with the new entrants, that if they are taken into the fold, there should be no attempts to demand ministerial berths, like Congress-S, whose lone legislator is minister since the party has been long been in the LDF.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
US service member missing after Iran shot down fighter jet rescued
Washington (AP): A US service member who had been missing since Iran shot down a fighter jet has been rescued, President Donald Trump wrote in a social media post early Sunday.
The crew member had been missing since Friday, when Iran downed a US F-15E Strike Eagle. A second crew member was rescued earlier.
Trump wrote that the aviator is injured but “will be just fine,” adding that he took refuge “on the treacherous mountains of Iran.”
Trump added that the rescue involved “dozens of aircraft” and that US had been monitoring his location “24 hours a day, and diligently planning for his rescue.”
The war began with joint US-Israel strikes on February 28 and has killed thousands, shaken global markets, cut off key shipping routes and spiked fuel prices. Both sides have threatened, and hit, civilian targets, bringing warnings of possible war crimes.
The fighter jet was the first US aircraft to have crashed in Iranian territory since the conflict in late February.
Trump said last week that the US had “decimated” Iran and would finish the war “very fast.”
Two days later, Iran shot down two US military planes, showing the ongoing perils of the bombing campaign and the ability of a degraded Iranian military to continue to hit back.
The other jet to go down was a US A-10 attack aircraft. Neither the status of the crew nor exactly where it crashed was immediately known.
A frantic US search-and-rescue operation unfolded after the crash of the F-15E jet on Friday, focusing on a mountainous region in Iran's southwestern province of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad.
Iran also promised a reward for anyone who turned in the “enemy pilot.” Iran's joint military command on Saturday said that it also struck two US Black Hawk helicopters Friday, but The Associated Press couldn't independently verify that.
