Congress MPs, MLAs to donate month's salary to flood-hit Kerala
New Delhi, Aug 18 : The Congress on Saturday demanded that floods in Kerala should be declared a "national calamity."
All elected representatives of the party would donate one month's salary towards relief efforts in the state, it said.
The decision to donate salaries was taken at a meeting of Congress general secretaries, party in-charges of states, legislative party leaders and state unit chiefs, which was presided over by party chief Rahul Gandhi.
Gandhi had earlier in the day urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to immediately declare the floods in Kerala as "a national disaster."
Briefing reporters after meeting of Congress office-bearers, party communications in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala said the Modi government should come forward to help Kerala where over 180 people have died and property worth over Rs 3,000 crore has been damaged due to floods.
"It was decided that all Congress MPs in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, Congress MLAs across India and party MLCs will donate one month's salary, which will be sent through the AICC for relief measures in Kerala," Surjewala said.
He said it was also decided that all Congress governments will come forward to help the people of the state.
Surjewala said Punjab government has already donated Rs 10 crore to the Kerala Relief Fund and JD-S and Congress- government in Karnataka has also donated Rs 10 crore to the relief measures. The government in Puducherry has also donated Rs 1 crore.
He said special relief committees will be formed in adjoining states including Karnataka, Tamil Nadu apart from Puducherry. Material collected by Congress workers will be sent to the people of Kerala.
Surjewala said the party also noted with concern the grave situation due to floods in Karnataka and some other parts of the country.
"Modiji should stop discriminating in matters of flood relief. The Prime Minister must rise above party-politics and come forward to help Kerala, Karnataka and other flood-affected states. The Prime Minister should declare Kerala floods as a national calamity," Surjewala said.
Overflowing rivers and a series of landslides in Kerala have resulted in the death of 180 people as of Saturday morning, with over 3 lakh others forced to move to some hundreds of relief camps.
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Sharad Pawar, Ajit Pawar share dais at Satara event, second time in a week
Pune, Apr 12 (PTI): NCP (SP) head Sharad Pawar and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar shared the dais at an event in Satara on Saturday.
This was the second time this week that the two leaders were seen together.
Sharad Pawar on Thursday attended the engagement ceremony of Ajit Pawar’s younger son Jay Pawar near Pune.
Pawar senior and his nephew Ajit, who heads the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), are on opposite sides of the political divide in Maharashtra since the latter rebelled against his uncle in 2023 and joined the then BJP-Shiv Sena government.
In a social media post after the Satara event, Sharad Pawar said the meeting of the Managing Council of Rayat Shikshan Sanstha was held on Saturday at Chhatrapati Shivaji College.
“During the meeting, the council decided to launch a monthly magazine titled Rayat. The aim is to include diverse and informative articles on topics like education, science, technology, health, literature, sports, social issues, art, culture, and global affairs, and to ensure wide dissemination of this content,” he said.
Besides, it was also decided to start courses on Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, IoT, Robotics, and 3D Printing, he said.
“It has been decided to start a ‘Center of Excellence’ in Satara. It was also decided to undertake many such visionary initiatives. I, as the president of the organisation, thank all the members of the Managing Council for their cooperation,” he added.
रयत शिक्षण संस्थेच्या मॅनेजिंग कौन्सिलची बैठक आज 'छत्रपती शिवाजी कॅालेज, सातारा' येथे पार पडली. या बैठकीत संस्थेने 'रयत' मासिक सुरू करण्याचा निर्णय घेतला. जेणेकरून शिक्षण, विज्ञान, तंत्रज्ञान, आरोग्य, साहित्य, क्रीडा, सामाजिक, कला, संस्कृती, जागतिक घडामोडी वगैरे वैविध्यपूर्ण व… pic.twitter.com/ZmyBEFLcWH
— Sharad Pawar (@PawarSpeaks) April 12, 2025
