BJP names Lakshminarayana as its Andhra chief
Vijayawada, May 13: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday announced the appointment of Kanna Lakshminarayana as its President in Andhra Pradesh.
BJP President Amit Shah named Lakshminarayana as the new head of the state unit. He succeeds K. Haribabu, MP from Visakhapatnam.
The development came as a surprise as Lakshminarayana announced last month that he will quit the party and join the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP).
The 62-year-old leader, who hails from Kapu community, had aspired for the top post but after the BJP leadership indicated that he will not be given the responsibility, he decided to switch loyalties.
He had even fixed the date to join main opposition party but postponed his move, citing ill health. BJP sources said the party's central leaders persuaded him to wait till the Assembly elections in Karnataka.
Lakshminarayana, a five-time state legislator from Guntur district, severed his nearly four-decade association with the Congress to join the BJP in 2014, a few months after the elections.
He served as minister and held various portfolios in the cabinets of Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, K. Rosaiah and Kiran Kumar Reddy.
He was given the responsibility to head the BJP weeks after state's ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) pulled out of BJP-led NDA at the Centre over the issue of special category status to the state. Later, the BJP also pulled out of the coalition government in the state.
Lakshminarayana will have the big task of leading the party's campaign for the 2019 elections which it may have to contest alone amid criticism from rivals for going back on the promise of according special status to Andhra Pradesh.
The BJP, which fought the 2014 elections in alliance with the TDP, bagged four Assembly and two Lok Sabha seats. The coalition won 17 of the 25 Lok Sabha seats and 106 of 175 Assembly constituencies.
BJP leaders point out that the party had polled about 7 per cent votes in the 2014 Lok Sabha and over 2 per cent in the Assembly polls. They claim that the party has huge scope for improvement in vote share and seat tally.
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Ex-RG Kar principal Sandip Ghosh's medical registration cancelled
Kolkata (PTI): The West Bengal Medical Council (WBMC) on Thursday cancelled the registration of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital's former principal Sandip Ghosh, an official said.
Ghosh, who is in CBI custody, has been removed from the list of registered medical practitioners maintained by the WBMC, he said.
His licence was cancelled under various provisions of the Bengal Medical Act of 1914, the official said.
He is an orthopaedic surgeon and without the licence, he cannot practice.
Ghosh was arrested by the CBI on September 2 for his alleged involvement in the financial irregularities at the hospital amid the protests over the rape and murder of the on-duty trainee doctor. He was later accused of evidence tampering in the rape-murder case.
Aniket Mahato, one of the leading faces of the junior doctors who have been agitating over the death of their colleague, described it as a "victory".
"This is a victory for our deceased sister. The cancellation of Ghosh's medical registration should have been done the very next day of his arrest. We are happy that the West Bengal Medical Council has finally taken this step," he said.
The West Bengal Doctors' Forum (WBDF), however, described the decision to cancel Ghosh's medical licence as an "eyewash" and an "attempt to save him".
"Registration of Sandip Ghosh has been cancelled as per rules 25 a (2) of the Bengal Medical Act 1914. As per these rules, two-thirds of the council members must vote in favour of the decision to cancel the registration of any medical practitioner. In the case of Ghosh, no such meeting was conducted. Also, at present, a quorum is not possible due to the resignation of a few members and the death of one member. So this order is legally not tenable and just an eye wash," Dr Rajiv Pandey of the WBDF told PTI.
Claiming that the registrar of the council cancelled the licence on verbal communication of WBMC president Sudipta Roy, Pandey said it "was not acceptable".
Ghosh was appointed the principal of the RG Kar Medical College in February 2021. Amid the protests, he resigned from the post.
The notice regarding the cancellation of Ghosh's registration was sent to his Beliaghata and New Town residences.
