BJP hits out at Vajpayee's niece for 'politcising his death'
Shillong, Aug 24 : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday hit out at Karuna Shukla, the niece of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, accusing that she was politicising his death.
The BJP charge came a day after Shukla accused the ruling BJP of politicising the former Prime Minister's death by carrying the ashes across India for electoral gains in 2019 general elections.
"She (Shukla) is with the Congress and had also contested elections on their ticket. She is trying to politicise it (Vajpayee's death). It is unfortunate... We believe this far beyond and above politics," BJP spokesperson Nalin Kohli told journalists here.
"But we don't see it as a political exercise. Some people have also pointed out why BJP is taking Atal's ashes across the country. This is not the first time this has happened...it's happened with several Prime Minister before Atal -- Nehru's ashes and Indira Gandhi's ashes also went to several states," Kohli said.
"I think that opportunity to people to offer their homage is not a political opportunity but a mark of respect," he said.
Meanwhile, several leaders across party lines and religious leaders of various faith offered floral tribute to the urns containing the ashes of former Prime Minister at BJP headquarters in Shillong.
Kohli said the idea of taking Vajpayee's ashes to different states across the country was an opportunity for those who loved him and wish to pay their respects now that he is no longer with us. "It was opportunity for that."
"Vajpayee was the longest serving non-Congress Prime Minister. He was a person who was loved across party lines," Kohli said.
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Odisha: Medical College expels 5 MBBS students from hostel for ragging juniors
Berhampur (Odisha), Nov 2: Five MBBS fourth-year students of government-run MKCG Medical College here were expelled from the hostel for allegedly ragging juniors, an official said on Saturday.
Earlier the five students have been rusticated from the campus for six months. The punishment was imposed as per the decision of the anti-ragging committee meeting held on Wednesday, the official said.
"The anti-ragging committee has taken such a hard decision to arrest further occurrence of ragging incidents in the medical college campus," said SP (Berhampur) Sarvan Vivek M, who is one of the members of the anti-ragging committee of the college.
Suchitra Dash, in-charge Dean of the college, however, declined to comment on the development.
The SP said they were also investigating separately against these students based on the FIR lodged. The statement of the students have been recorded by the police on Friday, he said.
While one second-year MBBS student has given a written complaint to the college authorities alleging ragging by senior students, three other complaints of ragging were lodged by parents of the students with the National Medical Council (NMC).
The NMC had directed the college authorities to inquire into the allegations and take action against the students.
After receiving the complaints from the NMC, the anti-ragging committee of the medical college inquired into the matter.
In February this year, the medical college authorities had suspended two fourth-year MBBS students for two months for ragging a second-year student.
