Civility a rare virtue in Indian politics, says Tharoor after Defence Min visits him in hospital
Thiruvananthapuram: Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Tuesday called on Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, who is in hospital after suffering head injuries while performing a ritual at a temple here.
Tharoor, the Thiruvananthapuram MP and party candidate in the April 23 Lok Sabha polls, was injured when the hook of a weighing scale came off and its iron panel hit his head during the "Thulabharam" ritual.
He was admitted to the Thiruvananthapuram Medical college hospital Monday, and is expected to be discharged later Tuesday.
The former union minister later tweeted, "Touched by the gesture of @nsitharaman, who dropped by today morning to visit me in the hospital, amid her hectic electioneering in Kerala.Civility is a rare virtue in Indian politics - great to see her practice it by example!".
'Thulabharam' is a Hindu ritual in which a person is weighed against a commodity such as flowers, grains, fruits and similar articles in temples and the equal value or quantity is offered as donation.
Monday being the Malayalam new year day ('Vishu'), Tharoor performed the ritual by offering sugar equal to his weight in the morning before embarking on his poll campaign.
Sitharaman had reached Kerala Monday night and held a road show at Thiruvananthapuram along with BJP candidate Kummanam Rajashekaran along the coastal stretch, besides addressing a campaign meeting at Attingal for Shobha Surendran.
C Divakaran, the CPI and left front candidate, who is opposing Tharoor, also visited him at the hospital.
"Very gracious of my LDF rival C Divakaran to call this morning to express concern about my well-being.Said he had spoken to the Hospital Superintendent to assure himself I would be ok," Tharoor said.
Divakaran asked Tharoor not to be demoralised,.
"I'm not: I'm more determined than ever to see this through!," Tharoor said.
The Thiruvananthapuram constituency is witnessing a fierce triangular fight among the ruling CPI(M)-led LDF, Opposition Congress-led UDF and BJP-led NDA.
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Congress leader Venugopal urges LS Speaker Birla to revoke suspension of 8 opposition MPs
New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader K C Venugopal urged Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Monday to revoke the suspension of eight opposition members, saying they were suspended "unfairly".
Raising the issue during the Zero Hour, Venugopal said Parliament has seen countless protests but suspending MPs is a "disturbing new trend" that cannot be allowed to continue.
Birla said a decision of the Lok Sabha cannot be discussed on the floor of the House and disallowed Venugopal to speak further.
Later, in a post on X, the Congress leader said he had raised concern over the "unfair suspension of 8 Opposition MPs for this Session".
"Rose in the Lok Sabha to raise concern over the unfair suspension of 8 Opposition MPs for this Session. Parliament has seen countless protests but the suspension of MPs is a disturbing new trend, which cannot be allowed to continue. This suspension should be revoked immediately," he said.
The eight opposition members were suspended during the first part of the Budget Session for "unruly" behaviour. They were suspended for the entire session.
The suspended members are Gurjeet Singh Auja, Hibi Eden, C Kiran Kumar Reddy, Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, Manickam Tagore, Prashant Padole, Dean Kuriakose (all from the Congress) and S Ventakesan (CPI-M).
The suspended MPs have been protesting against the government on various issues while sitting on the steps of Parliament's Makar Dwar. Several opposition leaders, including Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, have joined them from time to time.
