Central team to visit Kerala for assessing rain damage
Thiruvananthapuram, July 19: Even as the death toll in Kerala due to rains climbed to 17 with the recovery of one more body, the Centre on Thursday assured that a central team will soon visit the state to assess the damage caused in at least eight districts.
The assurance was held out when Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and an all-party delegation called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi in the morning and urged for immediate help in the matter.
The Prime Minister's Office issued directions that a central team led by Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiran Rijiju be deputed to Kerala to assess the situation.
The body was recovered in Palakkad district on Thursday, taking the death toll due to heavy rains in the past 11 days to 17. Two persons in Ernakulam district are reported missing.
More than 10,000 persons have been put up in relief camps in four central districts.
A dairy owner in Muttukadu in Ernakulam district complained that no official help was forthcoming to rescue his 23 cows marooned in a waterlogged area.
"Of these, 15 cows are expecting and thus it is risky to transport them. I could manage to take out only two cows. I am very upset because no one from the Animal Husbandry Department turned up to provide some medical relief to the animals. If rains stop for a day, I could move these cows to a safe area," Shyam said.
Though rain intensity subsided on Thursday after one week, Alappuzha and Kottayam continued to reel under heavy rains, with normal life thrown out of gear.
The worst affected is Kuttanad, which covers both Alappuzha and Kottayam districts, with vast tracts of paddy fully under water. Area residents said it will take a week for normalcy to return.
The Alappuzha District Collector announced a holiday in all educational institutions on Friday.
The Alappuzha authorities have made arrangements to send medical teams to affected areas as outbreak of water-borne diseases looms large in several waterlogged areas as rain intensity wanes.
Several parts of Kottayam received good rains on Thursday, causing inconvenience to residents living in low-lying areas of the district.
The Meteorological office predicted more rains in the central districts of Kerala in the next 18 hours.
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Vajpayee was 'second Nehru' of Indian politics: Sanjay Raut
Mumbai, Dec 25: Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut on Wednesday described late BJP stalwart and former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee as the "second Nehru" of Indian politics.
Talking to reporters here, Raut also said whenever "raj dharma" is under threat, the country will remember Vajpayee, whose birth centenary is being observed on Wednesday.
The Sena (UBT) leader said even though his party was not with the BJP, Vajpayee will always be remembered.
"The present day BJP may be maligning the legacy of (India's first prime minister) Pandit (Jawaharlal) Nehru, but Vajpayee was the second Nehru. He was the Nehru of non-Congress parties," the Rajya Sabha member claimed.
"Despite being a staunch Hindutvawadi, Vajpayee believed the country belongs to all. The BJP under Vajpayee was all inclusive and people believed the party wanted to keep India united and strong," he said.
Raut said even Pandit Nehru appreciated and blessed Vajpayee.
"(Shiv Sena founder) Balasaheb Thackeray had tremendous respect for Vajpayee and valued his word," he said.
"Whenever 'raj dharma' is under threat, the country will remember Vajpayee," Raut said.
Asked whether the Shiv Sena (UBT) will contest the local body elections independently, Raut said, "Let the poll schedule be announced, you will know...but we have begun the preparations."
The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) is a constituent of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) along with the Congress and Sharad Pawar's NCP (SP).
Thackeray snapped ties with long-term ally BJP after the 2019 Maharashtra assembly polls over the issue of sharing the chief ministerial post.
In the last month's state polls, the ruling Mahayuti, comprising the BJP, Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar's NCP, won 230 of the 288 assembly seats, while the MVA managed to secure only 46 seats.
Elections to various civic bodies in the state, including the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), are overdue.
The undivided Shiv Sena controlled the cash-rich BMC for 25 consecutive years - from 1997 to 2022.
