BJP leader Sonali Phogat's last rites held in Haryana
Hisar (Haryana) (PTI): The last rites of Haryana BJP leader Sonali Phogat, who died under mysterious circumstances in Goa, were held here on Friday even as a large number of people turned up to pay their last respects.
Phogat's teenage daughter Yashodhara lit the funeral pyre as she and the other family members bade her a tearful adieu at the cremation ground in Rishi Nagar.
Phogat, who started her career as a news anchor, later found fame on video hosting platform TikTok and also acted in a few movies.
On Thursday evening, her body was brought to her farmhouse here from Goa to enable people pay their tributes.
Haryana Minister Kamal Gupta, the BJP MLA from Hisar, and another party leader Kuldeep Bishnoi were present.
On August 23 morning, Phogat was rushed to St Anthony Hospital at Anjuna in North Goa, where she was declared dead. Her husband, too, had died under mysterious circumstances a few years ago.
Though initially, it was assumed that she may have died due to a heart attack, a post-mortem report mentioned that there were "multiple blunt force injuries" on her body, prompting the Goa Police to press charges of murder against two of her associates Sudhir Sagwan and Sukhwinder Wasi.
Her brother Rinku Dhaka had filed a complaint against the two men at Anjuna Police Station on Wednesday.
On Thursday, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had said his government will consider handing over the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation if the Phogat family wanted so.
On Friday, Kuldeep Bishnoi said he had spoken to the chief minister and urged him for a CBI inquiry.
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No need for guv: DMK leader Kanimozhi
Chennai (PTI): Senior DMK leader Kanimozhi Karunanidhi on Friday reiterated her party’s opposition to the office of the governor amid uncertainty over government formation in Tamil Nadu after a fractured election mandate.
Speaking to PTI Videos, Kanimozhi emphasised that the DMK’s demand for the abolition of the governor’s post remained unchanged, especially as questions arise over constitutional propriety during the current political transition.
"Our position that we do not need a governor at all is something the DMK has never changed at any point in time," she said.
When asked about the governor’s actions following the election results—particularly the delay in inviting the leading party to form the government—Kanimozhi pointed to what she described as the "inherent friction" between the office of the governor and the political interests of the state.
She said the current situation "raises a lot of questions" and requires introspection regarding constitutional procedures.
Kanimozhi described the election results as lacking a "clear mandate", which she identified as the primary reason for the prevailing political uncertainty in the state.
"What the people decide is supreme," she said, adding that while the mandate was not decisive, it must be respected.
The Thoothukudi MP attributed the ongoing delays and "many confusions" to the absence of a decisive majority for any single party.
She firmly dismissed rumours about the DMK potentially supporting the AIADMK from outside to help stabilise the government.
She described such reports as mere "speculation" and "rumours".
"We can’t be responding to every rumour," she said, declining to comment on the AIADMK’s claims regarding its numbers to form the government.
The political situation in Tamil Nadu remains fluid as stakeholders await the governor’s next constitutional step in an Assembly where no party has secured a clear majority.
The DMK and AIADMK—both of which suffered significant losses to the TVK—are reportedly exploring tactical manoeuvres to navigate the hung Assembly.
The TVK, with 108 seats and the support of Congress’s five MLAs, is still short of the majority mark. The DMK and AIADMK secured 59 and 47 seats, respectively.
